taking a long time,” she said.
I whisked the letter down. “With you interrupting!”
She seemed to realize she was being a pest, and her haughty gaze fell to the carpet.
The rest of the letter was the usual “yours sincerely” and “thank you for your interest in the Zoological Society,” etcetera, etcetera. It was signed Sir Hugh Snuffler. I saw him in my mind’s eye. Short and balding with a big loud voice.
“Arrogant old farts,” Kate muttered. “As if they’ve explored every inch of the planet. As if anyone has! And what about you?” she fairly shouted.
“What about me?”
“You’ve flown for years, yes?”
“Well, three.”
“And how much of the actual sky have you traversed?”
“Not much, when you put it that way.”
“Exactly. Ships have their routes and, as you say, deviate from them only when necessary. That must leave millions and millions of miles of unexplored sky and sea!”
“I imagine you’re right,” I said, nodding.
“And how long have airships really been flying?”
“Fifty years or so now.”
“Hardly any time at all, in other words. So how can we possibly know they don’t exist?”
“Especially out here over the Pacificus,” I said, surprising myself. “The skyways and sea lanes are much less well traveled, compared to the Atlanticus.”
“Exactly,” she said, beaming.
“Do your parents know you wrote to the Zoological Society?”
“Heavens, no! They would’ve locked me in my room without pen or paper! They’d have been mortified! Telling someone outside the family! Spreading his mad rantings! I wish he’d been my father. Wasting all his stories on my mother. She hasn’t an imaginative bone in her body!”
“But you do. Question is, is this all imagination or real?”
“The coordinates he wrote down, for the island.Do we pass over them?”
“I’d have to check, but I think not.”
“Will you check, though?”
“Yes,” I said.
“And if we don’t pass over, will you tell me when we’ll be nearest the spot?”
“I’ll do that.”
“Will you really?” She seemed amazed.
“Yes.”
“Grandpa thought they were migrating, and this is the same time of year. We could see them.”
I thought of her fancy camera.
“And what if you get a picture? What’ll you do with it?”
“I’ll send it directly to Sir Hugh Snufflynose at the Zoological Society. That’ll set him straight.”
I laughed. “I’m sure it will, miss.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call me ‘miss.’”
“What should I call you?”
“Kate, of course.”
“If I start calling you Kate now when it’s just the two of us, I might slip up in public, and that’d be seen as impertinent.”
“Silly rules.”
“People like you invented them. Not me.”
“Good point,” she said appreciatively, a thoughtfulcrease in her brow. “Really good point.”
“Here’s what I’ll do,” I said. “When I get off duty, I’ll check the charts and find out when we’ll be closest.”
“Thank you. I just hope it’s during daylight.”
“I hope you see them,” I said. “I really do.”
6
SZPIRGLAS
Back in the crow’s nest, nestled beneath the stars. Trying to imagine winged creatures above me, creatures who never needed to land, who’d never felt earth beneath their feet. Sitting under that glass dome, looking up at the sky’s bigger black dome, always put me in a talkative frame of mind. Of course, it was all talking to myself.
Before starting my watch I’d gone down to the navigation room, and Mr. Grantham had patiently let me gawk at his charts. Our projected route was a dotted line, with a few little zigzag markings where we’d deviated because of wind and weather. I looked for the coordinates Kate’s grandfather had written in his journal. There was no island marked on Grantham’s charts, not even a little dot. I could imagine Kate’s look when I told her that. Her nostrils would narrow a bit, her chin would lift, and she’d say something like,
I whisked the letter down. “With you interrupting!”
She seemed to realize she was being a pest, and her haughty gaze fell to the carpet.
The rest of the letter was the usual “yours sincerely” and “thank you for your interest in the Zoological Society,” etcetera, etcetera. It was signed Sir Hugh Snuffler. I saw him in my mind’s eye. Short and balding with a big loud voice.
“Arrogant old farts,” Kate muttered. “As if they’ve explored every inch of the planet. As if anyone has! And what about you?” she fairly shouted.
“What about me?”
“You’ve flown for years, yes?”
“Well, three.”
“And how much of the actual sky have you traversed?”
“Not much, when you put it that way.”
“Exactly. Ships have their routes and, as you say, deviate from them only when necessary. That must leave millions and millions of miles of unexplored sky and sea!”
“I imagine you’re right,” I said, nodding.
“And how long have airships really been flying?”
“Fifty years or so now.”
“Hardly any time at all, in other words. So how can we possibly know they don’t exist?”
“Especially out here over the Pacificus,” I said, surprising myself. “The skyways and sea lanes are much less well traveled, compared to the Atlanticus.”
“Exactly,” she said, beaming.
“Do your parents know you wrote to the Zoological Society?”
“Heavens, no! They would’ve locked me in my room without pen or paper! They’d have been mortified! Telling someone outside the family! Spreading his mad rantings! I wish he’d been my father. Wasting all his stories on my mother. She hasn’t an imaginative bone in her body!”
“But you do. Question is, is this all imagination or real?”
“The coordinates he wrote down, for the island.Do we pass over them?”
“I’d have to check, but I think not.”
“Will you check, though?”
“Yes,” I said.
“And if we don’t pass over, will you tell me when we’ll be nearest the spot?”
“I’ll do that.”
“Will you really?” She seemed amazed.
“Yes.”
“Grandpa thought they were migrating, and this is the same time of year. We could see them.”
I thought of her fancy camera.
“And what if you get a picture? What’ll you do with it?”
“I’ll send it directly to Sir Hugh Snufflynose at the Zoological Society. That’ll set him straight.”
I laughed. “I’m sure it will, miss.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call me ‘miss.’”
“What should I call you?”
“Kate, of course.”
“If I start calling you Kate now when it’s just the two of us, I might slip up in public, and that’d be seen as impertinent.”
“Silly rules.”
“People like you invented them. Not me.”
“Good point,” she said appreciatively, a thoughtfulcrease in her brow. “Really good point.”
“Here’s what I’ll do,” I said. “When I get off duty, I’ll check the charts and find out when we’ll be closest.”
“Thank you. I just hope it’s during daylight.”
“I hope you see them,” I said. “I really do.”
6
SZPIRGLAS
Back in the crow’s nest, nestled beneath the stars. Trying to imagine winged creatures above me, creatures who never needed to land, who’d never felt earth beneath their feet. Sitting under that glass dome, looking up at the sky’s bigger black dome, always put me in a talkative frame of mind. Of course, it was all talking to myself.
Before starting my watch I’d gone down to the navigation room, and Mr. Grantham had patiently let me gawk at his charts. Our projected route was a dotted line, with a few little zigzag markings where we’d deviated because of wind and weather. I looked for the coordinates Kate’s grandfather had written in his journal. There was no island marked on Grantham’s charts, not even a little dot. I could imagine Kate’s look when I told her that. Her nostrils would narrow a bit, her chin would lift, and she’d say something like,
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