Crop Duster

In my younger years, I’d always daydream wherever I went, especially during tough times. When I closed my eyes I heard plane motors turning and air blowing, almost feeling it blow against my face. The trade magazines for pilots I bought gave me a clear idea of what to daydream. They’d be filled with illustrations of new planes, new world records, a profile or two on a famous pilot. I always wanted to be written about just like them. These daydreams were often all I had when I was a kid. At school, these daydreams happened more frequently. Once I started taking Calculus class, It truly crushed my spirits when I first started. I dreaded it so much. My heels would drag right through the door of the classroom and up to my desk. The desk, strategically placed up front for me to pay attention, would only offer me to rest my head, thinking of a better world for myself up in the skies.

The only saving grace I had from the class was my friend Matsuo. A short stocky kid, he as well shared my feelings towards Calculus class. He downright hated it, surpassing my moderate disinterest for it. Whenever I asked him for answers to the homework I always would regret it. He would open up with a massive tirade about how terrible math is, followed by a more severe indictment of our teacher, and who exactly her husband’s mistresses were. 

His remarks all made me laugh at the time. I even proclaimed some myself, to a lesser degree of skill and containing far less swearing. I reasoned it as the common pent up steam of schoolboys needing to be blown off. Just something any other boy our age could be found proclaiming to a peer. However these little outbursts weren’t enough for Matsuo. He needed a bigger vent for his frustration. Within a month of the class beginning, all but Matuso and I had begun grasping the concepts. In my notebook, I doodled planes instead of taking proper notation. Remembering back, Matsuo did nothing instead of work, opting to sit with his head down. Our mutual disinterest in the class came at a price at that point. Our teacher began to punish us with the wooden ruler in front of the class if she perceived us as slacking off. It hurt horribly to be whacked by the ruler. Staggering back to our desks we’d curse her under our breath. We started to call our teacher ‘The Witch’ at this point. Obviously I’m exchanging the real name we called her with something more appropriate. This is where Matsuo’s bigger vent came into play. A little hobby of his were pranks. So, he applied his skills with great passion, inflicting a long string of pranks on The Witch throughout the term. I laughed merrily whenever one was pulled off.

To think my involvement was in any way passive would be a mischaracterization, I had been his partner in many of his plots. We’d walk home together in the autumn air, our hair being lightly blown by the wind dancing in the fading day, while we plotted out our next move. The conversations were as child-like and inane as can be, which often spring boarded from one idea to another as they came across our mind. Once we hit the main commercial street in town, I began to suggest clever pranks involving items from each store we passed. When we passed a hardware store, I said we should leave a tack on The Witch’s chair to see if she feels pain, too. Sure enough she did and the following day she yelped, shooting up in the air like a rocket. There was a stationary store in town that sold a pen with vanishing ink, so we of course replaced all her pens with them. It became a fun little game for us.

The class would chuckle at our various pranks but we would laugh ourselves crazy. The Witch always knew it was us, no one had the gall to provoke her lest they receive a beating. We simply took ours in stride for our work. It seemed like a small bump in the road to all the fun we were having at her expense. Her patience with us would grow even shorter as the term went on, opting to beat us just as we entered the classroom, while the rest of the students covered their eyes. This worked for some time to keep our pranks subdued, but it only let them fester within us, the ideas of revenge, eventually blossoming into Matsuo’s idea for our final prank.

On that fateful Monday morning, I had been waiting for class to start and doodling pictures of planes in my notebook. The sky outside, after a few days of showers, appeared a bright blue and the sun shone its beautiful light onto the desks and across the floor of the classroom. A nice day to fly up there, I thought. Suddenly, Matsuo tapped me on the back, causing me to whip around anxiously. His eyes looked into mine and I looked back, confused, searching my mind for a way to address him. Only he beat me to it, giving me a solemn nod and I returned with a frenzied nodding up and down, quickly turning back to my doodling. 

Another few minutes passed and The Witch had yet to show up. Had we finally been freed from Calculus? No prank had been planned today, although we still knew the ruler would come down, prank or not. The Witch then came in as if she escaped inside from a blizzard. She breezed across the room, letting her bag fall expertly by her desk, while her whole body plummeted into her desk chair like a boulder. No words were said and all I could see was her head down to the desk. The whole class watched the display quite puzzled. It’s time to teach not to sleep, I thought, then I turned back to Matsuo who looked preoccupied with nothing. I decided to get to the bottom of this situation. Through the stack of papers and binders on The Witch’s desk, I saw through them to her face, scrunched up with worry. A very anxious worry, the nail biting kind seemed to plague her. Then her beady eyes caught my gaze. I tried to look away but it was too late, she beckoned me to come towards the desk. My body moved against me and I found myself staring down at her slumped on her desk. I didn’t notice it but Matsuo came up too, to see behind the curtain I suppose. 

The Witch began to mumble something under her breath. Regret, failing the youth, despair, something of the nature that we couldn’t hear nor understand at the time. She rubbed her face and looked up to us, regaining her commonly wicked composure just like that. “Boys, I am at my wits end. Nothing I do works. You two especially haven’t put a moment of effort into this class. No homework done, abysmal tests. This entire period should be dedicated to making examples of the both of you.” she said aloud so that the whole class heard. We shuddered, she sounded very serious. “However. I’ve been given an opportunity to hopefully set you two straight. This week there is an air show in town and my husband will be participating,” she explained, no emotion in her tone. I was jumping for joy in my mind. Could she be saying what I was thinking? I thought better and kept my dreams bottled up as best as I could.  “My husband needs to clean his crop duster up for the air show. A full detailing is needed. Washed and fluffed. I immediately thought of you two. You boys need to learn the value of hard work then maybe you can make it in my class. You got it? After school, you’ll see my husband and he’ll give you your instructions.” She gave us an address on a slip of paper and told us to sit down. When I sat down I couldn’t sit still for the rest of the class. All I could imagine was that crop duster. My notebook filled up with doodles of the plane before we departed to see it. 

Matsuo began to drag his heels while we walked the dirt road to the address. The golden opportunity clearly was lost on him. Only work ahead for him but not for me. I would’ve died to be close to a plane at that age, even cleaning one meant I could appreciate it like I’ve done in my daydreams and notebook. A farmhouse matching the address came into view and we walked up the property between the trees. In the back, I could spot a field of crops of some kind but not the plane yet. Once we got to the door, I brought out my little aviator cap and put it on, feeling real proud. I puffed up my chest. Matsuo behind me slouched and spit onto one of the windows. He smiled coyly. The door then opened catching us both by surprise. The Witch’s husband welcomed us in, hanging our bags up for us. 

The dining room was where we were debriefed on our punishment, but for me it kept sounding like a reward. The husband was straight forward. Clean this, don’t touch that, take these buckets and rags, get out the door. The water weighed a ton to our tiny bodies making us drop some on the way to the duster. And there it stood right out back. The crop duster. Shining bright yellow in the lot behind The Witch’s house. I hurried to its side while Matuso maintained his stubborn pace. The rag flowed marvelously through my hands and onto the plane’s exterior, letting me lavish it with soapy water. It became a little dance I performed just for the plane.

The crop duster began to look beautiful again. A plane fit for a pilot, not just a farmer. I went to grab the container of finisher polish but decided to invite Matsuo on the task. He seemed in a foul mood so I thought it best to cheer him up. I found him at the back of the plane, laying on his back with a dry rag in hand. In all my excitement I hadn’t noticed his lack of help. 

Matsuo looked up at me dimly, “You wanna have some fun?”

I thought I had already been having lots of fun so at the prospect of more, I agreed wholeheartedly. What happened next must have been sheer luck because out from Matuso’s pocket he pulled an ignition key. He told me it was for the plane. With a small lob it fell into my hands and I examined the ignition key closely. It looked so shiny, so deliciously interesting to me. I knew exactly what Matsuo was getting at. Time to take a plane for a joyride. 

Next I found myself being pushed in through the door of the plane and into my seat. My head instantly locked onto the control board. It made my head spin with all the information presented to me. I grabbed onto the control wheel instantly, feeling its cool leather grip, then pulled it up and down, up and down. I heard Matsuo get in behind me. There was no seat so he crouched in the rear, it must have been very cramped. I decided to strap in and fasten the safety belt to my body. The keys then came out and the plane came to life. All the loud, mechanical sounds thrilled me. I began pushing the pedals and turning the wheel. It was moving just like how I read in my trade magazines, taxiing it just like the pros up to the runway. The runway stretched for some ways, so I had plenty of time to lift off. I brought it up to speed real fast and left the ground behind us. We went over the crops and were in the air. A small weight on my consciousness went away after finally flying. Matsuo cheered for me.

By the time I couldn’t see the farmhouse anymore I knew we were truly up in the air. The clouds were in the distance, the town down below looked ever so small now. It felt so nice. The ride felt real smooth after I got the hang of it too. I thought I could fly forever. 

After some time in the air, Matsuo grew bored of our escapade. He began complaining like a child much younger than ourselves. Like a baby. I couldn’t believe him, after all, it was his idea. With a heavy heart I turned the plane around to fly back to The Witch’s house. We began to fly back in silence when Matsuo decided to play tricks on me. He’d cover my eyes, which disorientated me causing us to nose dive before I quickly regained control. The tricks kept coming and I’d keep telling him to stop. It was during one of these exchanges that I heard a sputtering sound from the engine, then no more sounds at all. Only the wind blew. My hand raced to the key. I turned it several times but the engine did not turn back on. I began to panic. The emotions took over and I began to scream while Matsuo cried. We were in a complete nosedive down to the ground. The world rapidly came closer into view. All the weight of the plane hurtled to the ground and I could see us explode into a big orange fireball. I had a moment of clarity to pull the plane up and I did, pulling the control wheel as hard as I possibly could. I heard a resounding bang right behind me cutting through the wind. I levelled the plane out before promptly cutting through a few thin trees, landing roughly in a forest.

 When the plane came to a rest I miraculously wasn’t injured. The safety straps I fastened for myself were quite useful. I turned my head to see if Matsuo was okay but couldn’t find him. I stood up to get a better look, and peered over my seat to see him lying completely still. After that I stepped out of the plane to wait for help. Some time after we were found, the police told me Matsuo had died. Whiplash caused him to hit his head rather hard on the cabin ceiling. 

I returned to class the week after, sobered from the encounter. In the downtime I had studied the material thoroughly, finally getting the hang of it. The Calculus midterm came around and I aced it. I soon forgot my mischievous personality from before. The world seemed less carefree than before so I worked very hard. After Calculus, many teachers called me a model student, seating me in the front row for all to watch. I took my notes neatly, paid attention, and I made the honour roll. All went well for the rest of my schooling, no incidents of note. I ended up studying mathematics at a top University and landed my dream job at a research institute. My head is simply filled with numbers now. Sometimes I sit in my office, daydreaming of equations, trying to figure out the perfect way to solve them. When I think deeply, I’m often drawn to my office’s window overlooking a grand horizon. Looking just right, I can spot jet planes flying past, climbing up the sky and into the clouds. I’ve always respected the pilots who fly them, it’s a highly skilled profession. Pilot school is no joke.

Back to my office window. There were a lot of new junior staff just like me when I arrived. And when new offices were built, not everyone would be allowed to have one. All the senior staff had offices so they were just up for us junior staff. And since there were so many of us juniors, it was put up to a lottery. I ended up winning the lottery. I won the only office with a window. I guess I’m lucky for that.