Wild Lily Read Online Free PDF Page B

admiration.
    Then she remembered that taking off was easy; it was the landing she had to worry about. And it was true. They rose into the air so effortlessly that Lily did not feel the ground leaving them; only her eyes registered with amazement the grass receding, the lake opening out below, and what seemed the whole of Surrey gradually laid out like a map below, its beautiful trees and commons and tiny villages all spread about in summer abandon. It was so beautiful, the look of it, the feel of it, that Lily felt tears of pure delight springing into her eyes. (Or was it the lack of goggles?) Whatever, she laughed out loud, and vowed that even if she were to die, it would be worth it, this euphoria, never before experienced, at one with the birds, with the stars had it been night time, with God even: she thought she would burst with it.
    And then higher and higher, and Antony was turning round and jabbing with his finger, pointing, and when she looked she saw what could only be the sea. Lily had never seen it before – a pale slender fingernail across the horizon, faintlycurved, empty, the edge of the world. She screamed with delight, because no one could hear her, and she wanted to shout and sing and dance, it was so wonderful. If he killed her now, it would be worth it. What a blessing she sat behind him so that he could not witness her performance – lucky there were straps to hold her down.
    Perhaps conscious of her excitement, Antony flew south towards the sea and she saw it properly, with steamers heading down the Channel, and a smattering of tiny sails, and the towns fronting themselves along its edge, close-roofed and tidy, and the yellow sand spotted with tiny tiny people, like ants.
    How wonderful that she had volunteered for this wonderful outing out of pure bravado, not even guessing what she might see! Only the fear of dying had possessed her, and now even that, as the time for landing edged nearer, had faded into a mere unease. The flying had been so effortless, so easy, no wobbles, no bumps, that her faith in Antony had increased. As he turned and came lower over the more familiar boundaries of her home ground she settled in her seat and started to pray to the useless god that she didn’t believe in.
    ‘Please, God, I will believe in you if you get me down safely. I thank you for this wonderful flight.’ She knew that God liked thanks and praise; he got fed up with only being asked for stuff.
    The aeroplane came down lower and lower. Lily could almost feel Antony’s concentration flowing out of his tense body into her face. She prayed for him. He was looking overthe side to see how far up he was, and she could see the beginning of the lake over his shoulder. Someone on the lane below looked up and then ducked, so that Lily thought they were too close. She shut her eyes and felt a bile of fear rise in her throat. The engine was making stuttering noises. Oh no God – Please! She cried out; the aeroplane wobbled and bumped down, rose and bumped again, but not nearly as alarmingly as the day before, and then ran fast down beside the lake and it was as if they were in a car, driving fast round Brooklands.
    They were down, but how did it stop, this flying bird? There were no brakes, but something held it because although they passed the grotto by quite a distance they came to a halt just where Lily’s father had got tired of mowing the grass, marking the edge of the airfield. Antony then taxied it in a big circle and came back to the grotto where he turned the engine off. Lily saw his body slump with relief. He half turned to her, smiling, and the boys who had been waiting by the grotto came running up, all laughs and shouting.
    ‘Great stuff, Ant! You didn’t kill her, after all!’
    ‘Very smooth! Brilliant!’
    ‘Really good,’ from Cedric, his red farmer’s face shining with congratulation.
    They both climbed out. Antony jumped down and then looked back into his cockpit and dragged out what looked a