My Grandson Loses His First Kite

by Grampa
(Victoria, BC, CANADA)

Today we had enough wind to test a Dragon kite my grandson got for his 7th birthday. We headed over to the school field to give us plenty of mostly tree-less space.

When we first got the kite in the air, he was a little frightened of it. But by the time it was 50 feet in the air, he was so enchanted by the kite's spinning tail and the tug on the string that he wouldn't let anyone else fly it. I cautioned him a couple of times about the one big oak tree in the area and left him to his fun.

Next thing I saw, the tree had snagged the kite string and in a panic, my grandson let go of the spool. I watched for the next 15 minutes while he threw sticks, trying to dislodge the string from the tree. When the stiff breeze finally pulled the kite free, it, its string and spool went scooting over the school building.

We ran around the school hoping to see our Dragon lying on the lawn. Alas, all we found was the handle of the spool next to a fence. Beyond the fence was a set of condos, then a busy street and a shopping mall. We hiked over to look for signs of our kite, but could find nothing.

We figure it is half way to Hawaii by now (even though Hawaii is south of us and the kite headed straight east).