The girl was 7 years old then. It was a cold February evening. The mountains and valleys were covered with a layer of white fluff. Sparky was sitting in the Dusty hangar. Her occupation was to watch F-14 fighters in the aviation encyclopedia, as well as to draw simultaneously. While painting the drawing with crayons, her wings swayed slightly. Yes. She owned the wings of the F-14 military fighter. She knew it was coming from this machine. She also knew he was an adopted child. But Sparky had never been through it somehow. The family gave her this information gradually and gently and it worked well. They told her that biological parents are not always able to look after their own children.
The Piston Peak firefighters, on the other hand, knew her history.
Sparky was born thanks to the government's "Our Children" program. The authorities wanted mixed (vehicle-human) pairs to be able to have their own offspring. However, this program was shut down very quickly due to social problems. Not all vehicles and people liked these "hybrids". Some of the children born in this way have hurt religious feelings (contrary to God's will). Also, then unknown terrorists kidnapped "mixed" children and killed one family in the process. Sparky had never known that gloomy part of her past.
Dusty watched the movie in silence on the old TV. With his wing he gently ruffled the girl's not very long, orange-red hair. She just looked at him and went back to looking at old photos of the F-14 machines. These particular "beasts" impressed her. She was aware that some elements she had inherited from her mother or father. But she felt that genetically transmitted traits were unfair.
The fire-fighting plane felt his senses slowly drift away to dreamland.
„Why is genetics so unfair?"Sparky asked loudly. Her question awakened the young firefighter a little. For several seconds he thought about the answer.
"Maybe mother nature wanted you this way and not another," Dusty tried to sound like a sage. He wished Windlifter were around. There was silence again. Only a pile of snow fell from the roof to the ground.
This time it was Sparky who thought about the next blue as the sky, large eyes watched the F-14 flying in the photo.
"It's a pity that nature didn't anticipate my dream of being a firefighter," the seven-year-old sighed.
"I thought your father was against it," said Dusty, looking at the little girl.
Sometimes he saw "little" arguments between Blade and Sparky about her firefighter career. The helicopter never even allowed her to watch the firefighting operation from the air.
But has he ever blamed the Piston Peak Air Attack Leader? Dusty heard that Blade may have lost his only daughter several times. Besides, he took the role of father very seriously. Sparky, too, could never count on a lonely flight without someone else's care.
„If I were as strong as the F-14,"a little girl thought „I could carry water tanks and put out fires like a hero."
"You don't have to be strong to be a firefighter," explained Dusty, "people put out fires too."
"But my height," Sparky complained, "if I were as big as this fighter ... And I'm unimpressively small."
The plane was falling asleep again after all. He couldn't control his eyes closing.
„Don't complain, it's not bad,"yawned the young firefighter „after all, you are a child of the beasts of the sky."
Blue-eyed looked at her forearms. Inside them lay the weapons inherited from Grumman. She had a radar and a gun in her left forearm, and a rocket in her right forearm.
„Why do I need such things then?"She grimaced seeing the weapon „it does not serve to save someone else's lives."
„Eh ..." Dusty sighed absently.
Sparky couldn't hear any specific words from her companion.
„Hey, are you alive?" she lightly banged her fist on his wing „listen to this."
Dusty liked the chatter-Sparky "mode". He liked to listen to her, even when he was very tired. After all, she couldn't always tell what was on her mind.
„Yes?"
"The Tomcat can fly at 2480 km / h," she said with a little embarrassment, „and my dad forbids me to exceed 100! Only old people fly like this!"
"This is cruel," Dusty whispered.
The plane wanted to make her feel sympathetic. In his mind, however, he couldn't imagine the seven-year-old rushing like a "thoroughbred" fighter.
"It's a pity that this plane doesn't work for the Park," the girl sighed, "he'd be a great firefighter."
"I'm sure," Dusty muttered sleepily.
He closed his eyes again. The child moved "cunning" and perceptive eyes to the already sleeping plane. She decided there was no point in whining further. Besides, she felt sorry for the missed talk about geometrically shapeshifting wings. They were very helpful! They not only helped with slowing down or landing! Sparky could fit in relatively tight spaces, or she wouldn't hit anyone in a crowd.
Dusty had a light sleep already. The little girl hoped her friend had lost his alertness. Feeling very warm in the hangar, she took off her thick purple sweater. When she stopped coloring she decided that a small "raid" on the candies would be okay. She would have had sweets from life, at least. Sparky set the crayons aside. She and Dusty had the greatest secret from other firefighters.
It was hidden last year's Halloween candy. Last Halloween, she ate too much candy. She threw herself at the caramels like a hungry animal. Raphael's box was emptied in five minutes . Jelly beans were a kind of icing on the cake. After giving her body too much sugar, she had excess energy. She couldn't sleep, and when she did, she had nasty nightmares.
After this mishap, Blade forbade the girl to eat sugar in the evening before going to bed.
But the little fire plane kept the rest of the Halloween loot in a "secret" hideout. Sparky knew there was a plastic pumpkin full of sweetness on the lowest shelf behind the cartons. So she went there and then reached for two candies with her hand.
"Don't eat too much," Dusty asked.
„Were you just awake?"The girl raised dark eyebrows.
„Not when I hear a little thief,"the plane chuckled softly.
"But these are my candy," Sparky wrinkled her freckled nose slightly, "and otherwise keep it to yourself."
"Yes, yes," muttered Dusty smiling.
There was silence again. The child resumed drawing. The only listening in the room was the soft clatter of caramels against the teeth. It seemed that this blissful state would last for another hour. Someone knocked on the hangar door. Later some icy air entered the building. Blade Ranger has arrived. The helicopter immediately looked at his daughter.
„Time to go home," he said without further ado.
Sparky immediately swallowed the caramels to decompose the evidence. And she started collecting crayons and sheets of paper and picked up a rather thick book at the same time. She put these items on the shelf because she knew she would come back here one day. Her father was busy filling out reports more than once, so the girl was with someone from the team at that time. But not everyone was hiding candy.
„Can't I hang out with Dusty for a while?"
„No," she got a short answer.
Her wings drooped a bit when she knew it was the end of the day for her. Besides, Sparky didn't want to start an knew the parent would be stubborn anyway. Without whining, she wore a cardigan, red jacket and warm leaving, the girl looked at the plane one last time.
„Good night, thanks for listening to my grumble," she flashed a broad smile, „you are a great friend."
„Good night sweet and best jet," said Dusty.
Sparky laughed softly and went outside to begin her hike home.
Blade looked at the fire plane as well, but said nothing. Deep down, however, he valued his daughter's friendship with Dusty. She had very few friends living in Piston Peak.
Sparky stared at the dark but starry sky with a smile on her face. She loved to look at them. The sight made her feel free. Therefore, the natural ability to fly was important to her. And she wanted her wings to help others.
„Will I ever be a firefighter?"she asked Blade, „I'll possibly join the military."
There was supposed to be a funny joke with this army.
„I will eat my own rotor than I will let you participate in the firefighting," action replied the helicopter.
„Then when will I be able to at least help people in need?"
„Tomorrow when clearing snow from the runway."
"Ewwww," she frowned.