‘Second in the cross-country?’ Dad’s eyes widened and he turned to Spencer.
‘Yup.’
‘Well done, Spence. That’s an excellent effort.’
‘It’s fantastic,’ Mum said.
‘He didn’t come first though,’ Pippa piped up.
‘Pippa!’
‘It’s all right, Mum. She’s right, I wasn’t first. That’s cool.’ He turned to his little sister. ‘You’ll be doing your first cross-country in a couple of years, Pips. We’ll see how you go, hey?’
‘I’ll come first.’
‘Well, congratulations in advance.’
‘Okay, you lot, that’s enough. Listen, I’m off to tennis in a minute, so can I leave you with dinner?’
‘Absolutely,’ said Dad. ‘My talents as a cook are well documented. As you know.’
‘But rather less well practised,’ Mum said. ‘As I also know.’
Mum’s three-stripe Adidas legs and tennis racquet moved quickly towards the door. ‘Bye!’ she called out, not turning to look back.
Once Pippa had finished her dinner and asked to be excused, Spencer said, ‘When can we go out in the Drifter next, Dad?’
‘You’re really enjoying the flying, aren’t you?’
‘Oh, yeah, it’s awesome. Some nights when I’m trying to get to sleep I just can’t get it out of my mind—that feeling. Going into clouds. And then out the other side. Even the pre-flight safety check stuff is awesome.’
‘You might be hooked, champ.’
Spencer nodded and grinned. ‘So, when?’
‘Well ... I’d been wondering about the Stirlings, hadn’t I? The views are incredible.’
‘Sounds great. Soon?’
‘I’ll talk to Mum. Maybe this weekend?’
‘I’m there, Dad. Let’s do it.’
‘You’re a chip off the old block, you are, Spence.’ Dad smiled. ‘Okay. I’ll see what I can do.’
Spencer keyed non-motorised fixed-wing glider into Google and hit search. He and Pippa shared a computer that was set up on a desk near the kitchen. Mum and Dad were really strict about The Computer Rules: he and Pips were allowed to use it for study and emailing, but weren’t allowed to go onto Facebook or any other social networking sites, or be on the computer for longer than an hour at a time.
Wikipedia was first in line and Spencer clicked on the link:
Just reading about it sent a rush through him. It sounded so cool when he read it like that. He could barely believe he—Spencer Gray—had done it.