Kite Gone

by Gary Crenshaw
(Hampton,Ga USA)

In 1995 I was flying a plastic single line delta kite made by Spectra Star. It came with four hundred feet of line on a plastic spool winder. I was demonstrating to my then five year old nephew the do's and don'ts of kite flying and as it happened I sorta learned something myself.

The kite was flying steady at the end of the four hundred foot line with just a minimum amount of pull on the line. I handed my nephew the spool while I was digging around in my kite bag for a something with which to secure the line. Then the spool suddenly slipped from his hands and I calmly coached him into walking toward it and try to pick it up.

At this point it was only scooting along in the grass at a slow walking speed. Everytime he grabbed at it it seemed to speed up just a little bit until it had us going at pretty good trot. After a while I decided it was time to step in and help before it got away. At this point the spool began leaping into the air about ten feet at a time. It wasn't long until I was in a dead run as I watched it climb just out of reach toward the clouds.

We just there in the grass and watched her climb totally out of sight. I stood up and started packing up the kite bag and began walking back toward the house when my nephew asked 'How are you going to get your kite back Uncle Gary?' I just pat him on the head and sayed 'Don't ask so many questions kid.'