Chapter 6

When we finally land, of all the places we end up on the haystack that Bogg so wished for. "A haystack!""Yeah it sure is better than the hard ground that's for sure." "Green light?" Bogg takes the Omni off his belt and opens it. We can see that it is flashing red. "Ok, I don't understand, why isn't it green?

Bogg closes it back up and clips it back to his belt. "Still red, now where are your planes, kid?" "You're asking me Bogg?" I do not understand any of this. "We put Orville and Wilbur back on the right track, they got to be around here somewhere." I'm just guessing Bogg ok?" "I suppose red could mean that something else is wrong." "You think?"

We sit on the haystack. "Oh, we'll find out soon enough. " Right, Bogg." We do not even notice the plane behind us, until it starts to shoot at us. We climb off the haystack as fast as we can and I hear Bogg yell at me. "Run, Kid!"

I do not even think twice and shout back at him, "Right behind you!" I barely get a look at the plane, but I recognize it from the pictures in my history books and I am pretty sure it is the Red Baron. We find a broken wagon and dive under it for safety. "I can't believe I just got shot at by the Red Baron?"

We watch as the Red Baron is circling overhead. "Terrific, wonderful, we get airplanes into the war so they can blow us to bits." "Quick complaining Bogg." "Who was that guy?" Bogg asks and then I remember that he probably did not pay attention in class, when they were covering the Red Baron. "You should of been paying attention in class, instead of looking at that woman Bogg."

"It was red, Richthofen." I look at Bogg and notice he has no idea who that is. "Figures, he wouldn't know who it is." "Richthofen?" "The guy with Mary?" Bogg asks me. "Um, no Bogg." "Rickenbacker." "Richtohofen is the Red Baron." "Do I need to explain to you who he is?" I look and notice two airplanes on the ground and I notice one of them. "Hey, is that Eddie?" "What are they doing here?"

"Mary, we got to get them out of there." "I agree with you Bogg." We run to where they are and stop when we get up to where the planes are and before I can stop myself. "Eddie, Mary!" Eddie has this look on his face as if he does not recognize us. "Who are you?" "Don't you know who we are?"

I say my name, "Jeffrey Jones." Bogg looks down at me and must know I am confused. "That was another war, kid." "Oh, so that's why they don't remember us." Bogg puts his hand out. "I'm Phineas Bogg, this is Jeff, my son." "You're son?" "We're here to help you."

Bogg asks Eddie, "You okay, that arm looks pretty bad." "He got shot again?" "I'm alive, which is more than I can say for the guys in the escort plane." "They are dead?" "We were on our way to an Entertainment troupe on the front lines when the Baron shot us down." "There has to be a reason he shot you down Mary."

"Hit the deck!" Eddie shouts and we all dive under a plane for safety. I notice the Red Baron flying overhead and then this glove lands on the ground. "Oh no, the Red Baron wants a duel in the air." Eddie walks out as the Red Baron flies out of sight for now. He picks up the glove with his good arm and holds it in the air for us to see it. "Why didn't he fire?" Mary asks. "Because he wants to duel Mary."

Eddie walks back holding the glove up that is the Red Baron's. "He wants me, top German meets top American." "Just like I learned it in school." Only thing is that in the history books there isn't anything about Eddie being injured when he fights the Red Baron." There's no way he can do it himself Bogg."

"But you can't go up in one of those, not in a two-seater, he'll cream you." "Don't you know that?" Bogg pats me on the shoulder. "It's all right, kid, he's not going to." "What are you talking about Bogg?" Bogg walks over to Eddie. "Take off your jacket and scarf at this distance, he'll never know the difference." "Are you crazy Bogg?"

I can tell Eddie does not like the idea, even though he is clutching his arm and I can tell he must be in pain. "Forget about it, pal." Bogg puts his hand on Eddie's injured shoulder and Eddie winces in pain. "You're in no shape to take him on." "What are you doing Bogg?" "Not in one of those." Bogg let's go of Eddie's shoulder.

"Fly Mary out of here, we'll take care of the Baron." "Did I just hear you right, Bogg?" "It's worth a shot." I can tell Eddie has no choice. "You know how to fly one of these things?" "No, he doesn't, Eddie." Bogg chuckles. "Did Marie Antoinette have great legs?" "Nice line Bogg."

Eddie takes off the jacket as The Red Baron is flying overhead. "If you go first, will he wait for me?" Bogg asks. I watch as Eddie takes off the cap from his head. "Yeah, Baron doesn't shoot an unarmed plane." "That's a good thing Bogg." "His code of honor, he'll never attack." "Bogg, I don't know if I like what is happening here." Eddie shakes Bogg's hand. "Good luck, pal."

"Well, I don't know who you guys are, but thanks a million." Mary bends down and kisses me on the cheek. "Uh, yuck." Mary walks up to Bogg and I can tell by the look in his face that he wishes she remembered him. "You know, I get the strangest feeling that we've met somewhere before." "You did Mary."

"Maybe in another war." Bogg takes Mary into his arms and kisses her. "Listen, if you're ever in Hollywood…" "What about Doug?" "Ok, who's is this Doug?" "Who's Doug?" Mary kisses Bogg. "Oh, brother." We watch as they get into the plane. "Good luck." I shout at them. "Hey, why'd you lie to him, you can't fly one of these things." "So tell me why Bogg." Bogg looks down at me. "I didn't lie, I never lie, Marie Antoinette had terrible legs."

Bogg heads to the plane as I wipe off where Mary kissed me. "Girl cooties." Bogg heads to the plane as I walk behind him, he waves to the Red Baron with the glove in his hand to signal to the Red Baron. Bogg starts to get into the plane. "Hey, you're not leaving me behind." Bogg notices it. "Climb down, kid. I'm doing this solo." "No way Bogg." I climb up where he can see me and I yell at him. "Oh, no, you don't, if you go down, I go down." "Got that Bogg?"

Bogg yells back at me, "Forget it!" "Who's gonna shoot the gun?" "Yeah Bogg tell me." Bogg is strapping the cap on and I do not think he realizes what I am trying to tell him. "No discussion, that's it. Get down." I do not listen to him and then Bogg grabs me and asks, "Hey, where's the clutch?" "You're hopeless Bogg.""Is he that dense?" Finally I explain to Bogg,

"The thing doesn't have a clutch." Bogg gets that annoyed look on his face and finally points to the back and I climb in. "I can't believe it." "Smart kids give me a pain." I finally sit down in the plan and I cannot believe what is happening. "This is so cool." Bogg gets the plane started and we start to take off. "Hold on, here we go." I wave to Mary and Eddie as we watch them take off in the other plane. "Remember the Main." I look at Bogg and I cannot believe what he just shouted.

"Remember the what?" "Wrong war again Bogg." The plane starts bouncing a little and I notice the trees up ahead and Bogg is not doing anything to make us go up, so I scream at him, "The stick." "The stick, what about the trees?" "Do you want us to get killed?"

We are going to hit the trees if we do not get up in the air. "The stick, pull up on the stick!" "You better hurry Bogg." Bogg grabs the stick finally. "Oh, that stick." He pulls on it and we go up over the trees."That was close Bogg."

We are over the trees. "We're flying." Bogg is so happy about it. "Yeah, but for how long." I look to see where the Red Baron is and he's coming down and he starts to shoot at us in the behind us and I shout to Bogg so he knows. "He's right behind you, get him off your tail." "If you don't we're doomed."

The Red Baron is still behind us and I can tell Bogg does not know what to do so I shout at him. "Pull up!" Bogg grabs a hold of the stick and pulls on it and we go up. We lose the Red baron. "But for how long." I shout at Bogg. "That's it, we lost him, we lost him!"

Bogg is still pulling up on the stick and we start to go to far up so I warn him, "Put the nose down, we're gonna stall!" "If you don't we're gonna be dead meat Bogg." "We're gonna what?" Bogg asks me. "We're gonna crash you idiot." The plane starts making a nosedive and I scream to Bogg. "Pull up! Pull up!"

Bogg must be struggling with the stick. "I can't!" and then I remember "Then push down!" "If you don't get us out of this nose dive, we are gonna crash and then die Bogg." Bogg gets us out of the nosedive and we start to fly straight. "That was too close, Bogg." "Where is he now." I look behind us and see the Red baron behind us. I shout to Bogg, "He's right on our tail!"

Bogg yells to me, "Shoot him." I turn around and notice the gun there and the trigger. "I'm gonna shoot this gun." I shoot at the Red baron with the machine gun and he flies overhead. "I wish my friends could see me now, they would never believe it."

I start to look for the Red baron so I know where he is. He is right behind us again and I am aiming for him. "This is way harder than I thought it would be." "Shoot him!" Bogg yells at me. "I am!" "Can't you see that I'm trying to hit him Bogg?" "Then hit him! Bogg yells back at me. "Easy for you to say Bogg, you are not the one trying to shoot him down."

I look to see where the Red Baron is. "He's coming right at us!" I yell at Bogg. "Is that man crazy?" I aim the gun at the Red Baron and keep my finger on the trigger when I notice that the Red Baron starts to fly different and I see the smoke coming out of his plane. "I think I hit him, I am pretty sure I did."

I still cannot believe it so I keep shouting; "I got him!" "I got him!" "I shot the Red baron down!" Bogg looks so happy, he shouts, "We got him!" "That's it. Green light, kid. We did it!" When Bogg tells me that it is a green light, I am so happy I start to cheer. "We did it." I shout. "What a relief Bogg."The engine starts to sputter and black smoke starts to come out. "Uh-oh." Bogg starts to panic. "We're going to go down, kid." "Get us out of here Bogg."

Bogg shouts to me, "Hold on, kid. Hold on." "Does this mean you're gonna get us out of here?" I grab Bogg's jacket and close my eyes as I put my face into my arm and wait, "Oh please get us out of here." "Don't fail me now." I know he must be talking about the Omni and I wait for him to hit the button. We disappear and we are flying through the colors again. "I don't mind this at all now, it's better than being spattered on the ground somewhere."

We land in some field and I get up, pull off the goggles, and cap that I was wearing. I notice the little model airplane has fallen out of the jacket and I reach over and pick it up. I hold up the model airplane. "We're alive." "Yeah, we made it." "And Eddie and Mary?" Bogg looks at me. "Green light, kid all the way." I smile happy that we fixed what was wrong.

It does not take me long to notice that Bogg does not look too happy about something and then I realize why. "You liked her, didn't you?" "Me? No." "Come on Bogg." "What makes you say that?" "You're kidding right?" "I don't know, it's just the way you looked at her." I stand up, "Sort of mushy, not like Agnes." "Not to mention gross Bogg." Bogg got up, pulled off his cap, and started to walk, so I started to walk with him. I could tell he was annoyed. "Yeah, well, forget the way I looked at her." "Yeah, but can you?"

We continue to walk as Bogg continues to tell me. "We're voyagers, kid, we have no time for romance." "Hey that's fine with me Bogg." I shout back. "Right, voyagers. No romance." "Think you can remember that Bogg?" As we continue to walk, Bogg keeps shouting. "Time is our oyster." "What does that mean?"

Even though I have no idea what Bogg is talking about, I shout back at him, "Oyster, right." "Quarter to no man." "No man." "And we can do anything, change anything, be anything." Voyagers!" "Voyagers!" I shout back at Bogg. "Being a voyager isn't too bad, I guess."

We hear cannons going off and stop where we are. "Are those cannons I hear?" "You hear that? Sounded like a cannon." "Well, duh." "Where are we?" I ask Bogg. Bogg unclips the Omni and opens it up, he reads it, and I can see the red light blinking. "England. 1066, Pearl Harbor."

I think for a minute and then realize where we are. "That's it, that's what's wrong." "Huh?" They did not have cannons in 1066." I think for a minute and figure it out. "Battle of Hastings." "Battle of what?" Bogg asks me as something lands near us. "Let's find cover!" Bogg and I look to see the soldiers on the horses coming right at us. "Let's get out of here Bogg!" "Oh, no Bat's breath!" Bogg grabs me as I shout. "Not again!"

"If you want to learn more about the Wright brothers, Eddie Rickenbacker, and the early days of flying. Take a voyage to your nearest public library. It's all in books."