Three
But talk about it they did, and till late into the night, as they sat in front of the fireplace. Indeed, they decided finally that if they were to help the child to fly, the first thing they needed to do was to learn about flying. It sounded logical but since no one had heard about airplanes in those days, it really was a most challenging thought.
‘Birds fly and we need to learn how they do it,’ suggested the old man’s wife most helpfully.
The old man nodded. ‘You are quite right but I teach geography,’ he replied with a sigh of disappointment, ‘and while that would be handy in finding out the precise location of the place, what I really need to know right now are the principles of flight.’
‘Perhaps the library is a good place to begin,’ said the old man’s wife. ‘Take leave. Tell the principal, who is your friend, that you need a break from teaching.’
The old man had great faith in his wife’s wisdom and so, the very next day, he applied to the village school for a long leave. The principal was most upset and tried his best to dissuade the old man.
‘We shall still live in the village and, in any case, I would be in the library most of the time,’ the old man said. ‘It’s this mysterious dream,’ he added, ‘that I just cannot seem to be able to ignore.’
‘You can’t be serious!’ the principal exclaimed. ‘You’re planning on stopping geography lessons because of a dream? My dear friend, a dream is just a dream. No one has ever heard of anyone following a dream around. It’s like chasing a cloud, or like looking for a raindrop in the ocean.’
‘I would normally have agreed,’ the old man muttered, ‘but you see, for some reason that I am unable to explain, it’s actually the dream that’s following us around! Indeed, neither my wife nor I have been able to think of anything else these last few days.’
‘I find it most bizarre, if you ask me,’ the principal responded. But seeing that his friend was determined, he reluctantly agreed to sanction his leave. ‘On one condition,’ he added, ‘you must promise to come and teach the children if special classes need to be organised. You are the best geography teacher around and all this business about latitude and longitude is most confusing. I quite frankly don’t understand why we complicate matters. A country is either here or there. That’s how we studied it in my days.’
Sighing deeply, the principal continued, ‘Anyway, since you understand such matters, I would need to know that I can rely on your presence when the children need you before their final examinations. If you ask me frankly though, my friend,’ he then said, ‘I simply do not understand what you want to follow up on.’
‘I guess,’ responded the old man, shaking his friend’s hand, ‘it’s all settled then.’ He then sighed, wondering what the future held.