A WING AND A PRAYER

I wrote this story because it is a true experience of mine and has two happy endings. It is a heartwarming story that this crazy world of ours could use more of.

• Essay

								
A Wing and A Prayer
                                                                                                                                By Jerry Genovese

This is a true story, I know, because it happened in part, to me. The nice part about this story is that it has two happy endings, that’s right, two of them. I hope it puts a smile on your heart like it did to mine.
                              About twelve years ago, my wife and I were into that “  Ebay” thing. You know, buying at thrift stores and Goodwill stores and selling that item on Ebay. It never amounted to much, but it brought in some extra gas money and food money. One day while in Goodwill, my wife told me to go up to the front of the store and look at a large radio controlled airplane in the box that maybe we could sell on Ebay. I went to look, and to my surprise, there was about a four foot long airplane fuselage in the original box, with a good size gas engine on it. The engine was still wrapped in plastic, and it was clear to see by the condition of everything, that it had never been flown. I knew from experience, that the engine alone sold for about $125.00, and the price on the box was only $25.00, I couldn’t believe it. I went to put the box in my cart, when all of a sudden I realized something, THERE WERE NO WINGS IN THE BOX! How could there be a plane that was never flown, not have the wings in the box? Well, I figured the engine alone was well worth buying it, and I figured whoever did buy it would get a set of wings for it, so I bought it.
             I took pictures of it, and placed the ad on Ebay for $125.00 because I figured I would be chewed down on the price anyway due to it not having any wings. Not the easiest thing to sell, that’s for sure. Well, a couple of weeks go by, and all of a sudden I hear on my phone, that famous “ka-ching” sound letting you know you made a sale on Ebay. I looked to see what item had sold, and son of a gun, it was the plane!  Already paid the full price and never even tried to negotiate!  So I packed it, and shipped it out the next day, feeling really good about the decision to take it. I notified the buyer that it had been shipped, and happened to ask him if he was going to build a set of wings for it. He texted me back, and wait till you hear what he had to say. He told me  that particular model had been discontinued about ten years ago. He had the very same one, and for the last few years would take his ten year old grandson to the park on most weekends, and they would spend the afternoon with him flying, and his grandson watching him and the other fliers. They had a ball. The grandson loved that Cessna plane so much, that he promised his grandson that when he could fly it, he was going to give it to him as his own plane. The boy couldn’t wait for that day. But what was so beautiful, was that the boy kept saying how he would never ever sell it, because “Grandpa made it’. This made grandpa so happy. Well, one day, that special day came. They went to the park, and grandpa got the plane flying. After a while, he said,” OK grandson, it’s time you learned how to fly your plane”. The boy was beside himself. Grandpa gave the boy the remote control, and carefully proceeded to show him what he needed to know to fly the plane. The boy was doing pretty well for a beginner. Well, grandpa got distracted with a friend of his, and before you know it, came the sickening sound of a crash and smash landing, and a thousand pieces flying all over the runway. The boy was crying his eyes out, both at the loss of his plane, and what he did to the plane that grandpa built. Grandpa did his best to console the boy, and tell him that crashing was all part of the hobby. You build them, you crash them, you build them, you crash them, but that didn’t make the boy feel any better, he was devastated. That wasn’t “ just a plane” to him, it was the plane that grandpa built. 
                         Now for the wild part of this whole build-up. The man told me that he couldn’t believe my ad when he saw it, because when he bought the kit, the plane came with TWO SETS OF WINGS, AND HE STILL HAD ONE SET LEFT!. No plane, just wings, and here’s my ad for the plane with “ Just a fuselage, and no wings!” Can you believe that? He also told me how the boy prayed every night that they would find another one of the same plane one day at a garage sale, or in a hobby store, because he wanted “ Grandpa’s plane”. He said that when he saw my ad, it was like God sent an answer to the little boy’s prayers, and he couldn’t order it fast enough. I was so happy with that story, it just made my heart smile, and all I could picture, was a man and a little boy in a field somewhere, flying a remote controlled plane. That sounds like the end of the story, but far from it. About three months later, I received a letter from grandpa. He told me that since he and I had hit it off so well, that he just thought I would like to know what happened. The past Sunday, he had his daughter, son-in-law, and grandson over for dinner. After dinner, he and his grandson went out to sit on the porch. After a while, he said to his grandson, “You know, I haven’t flown in weeks, how about we take one of my planes and go to the field?” Well, the field didn’t hold a very good memory for him, but he reluctantly said, “ OK”. What he didn’t know, was that grandpa had taken the big Cessna out to the field earlier in the day, and left it with one of his friends. He had never told his grandson that he got the body and built a new one. They get to the field, and while they’re sitting on the bench, grandpa picks up the remote control without the boy knowing. The boy is looking at everything, when all of a sudden, the Cessna starts taxiing up the runway in front of them. The grandson looks, then stands up to get a better look, and gets all excited and starts to yell, “ Grandpa, grandpa, look, it’s the Cessna just like yours!” Then, the Cessna turns right, and heads straight towards them. It stops right in front of them, and grandpa says, “ No, not like mine, like yours, this is your new plane Michael.” Grandpa takes the remote control and turns the plane around, and right across both wings, is the name of the plane, “ Answered Prayers”. And on one cockpit door was the name Michael, and on the other door was the name Grandpa. He told his grandson, that when the day comes for him to go to Heaven, anytime he wants to be with grandpa, all he has to do is take the plane to the field and fly it. After it takes off, and it’s in the sky, he’ll jump into it from Heaven, and they can spend time together flying through the clouds. Michael broke down crying his eyes out.
             So basically, there you have it, grandpa had the wings, and I had the answer to the boys prayer. The only thing I could never figure out was how was it, I had a box with a brand new unflown plane, that came from the factory with two sets of wings, yet none in the box I bought. All I can figure is God used me as an instrument to answer that little boy’s prayer, and that’s fine with me. Now tell me your heart’s not smiling.

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