Episode 1: The Toy That Flew

SCENE 1. THE HANGAR ON EPIC CREEK. EARLY MORNING.

THEO (close to the mic, a little out of breath) Theo Finch, Epic Creek. Tape's rolling.

THEO It's six o'clock in the morning, it's freezing, and I'm standing outside the oldest building in Epic Creek. It's a tin shed on the edge of the creek, with a big wooden ramp that goes right down into the water. This is my Aunt Del's hangar. And inside it is the oldest airplane in Epic Creek.

DEL (off, muffled, cross) Come on, you rusty old duck. Come on!

THEO That's Aunt Del. She's a bush pilot. She flies people and mail and medicine to places with no roads. And she's talking to her plane again.

THEO And that's Blue, my cat. He's orange, and he's called Blue anyway. He follows me everywhere.

THEO Okay, Blue. In we go.

DEL (brightening) Theo! And Blue! What are you two doing up this early?

THEO You said if I came at six I could watch you start the engine.

DEL I did say that, didn't I. Well, good news and bad news. The good news is that the Mallard is going to start beautifully.

THEO What's the bad news?

DEL The bad news is I said that yesterday, too.

THEO (into the mic, quietly) For the record, the Mallard is a seaplane. It's got floats instead of wheels, so it takes off from the water. It's dark green, it's covered in patches, and it's older than Aunt Del. She's kept it flying for twenty years.

DEL Want to help? You can hold the torch while I take the carburetor apart.

THEO No thanks. I'll just watch.

DEL You always just watch.

THEO That's my job. I'm a reporter. Reporters watch other people do stuff, and then they tell everybody about it.

DEL Or you could do stuff, and then tell everybody about that.

THEO (quieter) I'm not good at fixing things. Or making things. Remember my science fair volcano?

DEL The one that didn't erupt?

THEO It leaked. It just sort of leaked, all over the table, and everybody laughed. So I quit. I'm not a builder, Aunt Del. Some people just aren't.

DEL (gently) Hmm. Hand me that rag, would you?

THEO Uh oh.

DEL Where is that cat?

THEO He's on your shelf. Your special shelf. Blue, get down from there. Blue. Blue, don't...

THEO Oh no.

DEL (very quiet) Oh.

THEO Aunt Del, I'm so sorry. Is that... what is that?

DEL It's a toy. Just an old toy.

THEO (into the mic, quietly) It doesn't look like just an old toy. It's a little stick, with two tiny propellers made of paper, one at each end, and a rubber band down the middle. One of the propellers has snapped right off. And Aunt Del is holding it like it's a baby bird.

DEL You can stop whispering into that thing. I can hear you, you know.

THEO Sorry.

DEL (sighs, then a small laugh) No. Don't be sorry. It's been on that shelf for forty years. Something was bound to knock it off eventually.

DEL Oh, come here, you. It's not your fault.

THEO What is it, though? Really?

DEL It's a helicopter.

THEO That's not a helicopter. That's a stick with a rubber band on it.

DEL Theo Finch. A reporter is supposed to ask questions before he decides what's true. Want to see?

THEO But it's broken.

DEL The front propeller's broken. The back one still works. Watch.

DEL You wind the rubber band, like this. Tight. Tighter. And then you let go.

THEO (amazed) Whoa! It... okay, it sort of flew. Sideways. Into the wall.

DEL (laughing) With both propellers, it goes straight up to the roof. My grandpa gave me that when I was six. And he told me a story about it. The best story I ever heard.

THEO About a toy helicopter?

DEL About two boys and a toy helicopter. Sit down. And you might want to switch that tape recorder on.

THEO It's always on. And I keep every tape. I've got a whole shoebox of them under my bed.

DEL Good. Keep them. One day you'll want to hear them again.

SCENE 2. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA. 1878.

DEL (telling the story) A long time ago, in the year 1878, in a little wooden house in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, there lived two brothers.

DEL (telling the story) Wilbur was eleven. He was quiet and serious, and he read every book in the house. Orville was seven. He was not quiet, and he was not serious, and he liked taking things apart.

ORVILLE Will. Will! Is Father home yet?

WILBUR Not yet, Orv. Stop looking out the window. You'll steam it up.

ORVILLE He said he'd bring us something from his trip. He promised.

WILBUR He said he might.

ORVILLE Might is almost the same as promised.

WILBUR It is not.

MILTON Hello! Is anyone at home? Or have you all gone to bed already?

ORVILLE Father!

SUSAN Milton, you're letting the cold in. Boys, let your father take his coat off.

MILTON It's all right, Susan. Wilbur, Orville, come here. Close your eyes. Both of you. And hold out your hands.

MILTON Keep them closed. Here we go.

MILTON Now. Open them. And look up.

ORVILLE (gasping) It's flying!

WILBUR (quietly) It's flying by itself.

ORVILLE It hit the ceiling! Do it again! Father, do it again!

DEL (telling the story) It was made of cork and bamboo and paper, and a twisted rubber band. A Frenchman had invented it, a man named Alphonse Pénaud. The boys called it "the bat."

MILTON Careful with it, Orville. It's delicate.

DEL (telling the story) Orville was not careful with it.

ORVILLE Oh. Oh no. It broke. Will, I broke it.

WILBUR Let me see.

SUSAN It's all right, Orville. These things happen.

ORVILLE But it was the best thing we ever had.

WILBUR Then we'll make another one.

ORVILLE We can't make one. We don't know how.

WILBUR Nobody knew how, until somebody did. Look at it, Orv. It's only cork and bamboo and paper. We've got cork. We can get bamboo. We've got paper.

SUSAN And I've got a sewing basket, if you need string.

WILBUR See? We can make one. We just have to figure out how.

DEL (telling the story) So they did. They made one, and then another, and then another. Some of them flew. Then they had a big idea. If a little one flies, a big one will fly even better.

ORVILLE Ready, Will? This one's the biggest yet. Three times as big!

WILBUR Wind it up. Tighter. Now let go.

ORVILLE It didn't go anywhere.

WILBUR No. It didn't.

ORVILLE Why not? It's bigger. Bigger should be better.

WILBUR (thinking) Maybe it shouldn't. Maybe when you make it bigger, it gets heavier faster than it gets stronger.

ORVILLE What does that mean?

WILBUR It means we don't know yet. So we try a different one.

DEL (telling the story) They never did get the big one to fly. Not then. But they never forgot that little toy, either. And twenty-five years later, those two brothers built something else that flew. Something much, much bigger.

SCENE 3. THE HANGAR. MORNING.

THEO Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Wilbur and Orville. Like the Wright brothers? The airplane Wright brothers?

DEL The very same.

THEO The first airplane started with a toy?

DEL The first airplane started with two kids who broke a toy and decided to make their own. That's what my grandpa always said. And then he'd say, "Del, the world isn't made by people who know how. It's made by people who find out how."

THEO (into the mic, slowly) The world isn't made by people who know how. It's made by people who find out how. I'm writing that down.

DEL You're recording it. You don't need to write it down.

THEO I'm doing both.

DEL So. Somebody's going to have to fix this.

THEO Not me.

DEL Why not you?

THEO Because I'll just break it worse. Then it'll be my fault twice.

DEL Theo. Wilbur was eleven. Orville was seven. Neither of them knew how. That was the whole point.

THEO (a long pause) What if it doesn't work?

DEL Then you'll know one way that doesn't work. That's not nothing.

THEO (sighs) Okay. Okay. I'll try. Just once.

DEL Just once.

THEO (into the mic) Attempt number one. A new paper propeller, cut from a page of my notebook. Glued on. Here goes.

THEO It just... fell over.

DEL What did the Wright boys do when theirs didn't fly?

THEO (sighs) They tried a different one.

DEL Mm-hm.

THEO (into the mic) Attempt number two. Thinner paper. Smaller propeller. Bent a little bit, like the one at the back.

THEO Sorry, Blue! But it flew! Aunt Del, did you see? It flew a whole two feet!

DEL (smiling) I saw.

THEO You said just once. That was twice.

DEL And?

THEO (surprised at himself) And I kind of want to do it again.

DEL (quietly, thinking) Again.

DEL Theo. Do you know where the Wright brothers first flew?

THEO Somewhere called Kitty Hawk, right?

DEL Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Big sand dunes and big wind, right by the ocean. My grandpa always said he'd take me there one day. He never did.

THEO Oh.

DEL Forty years I've been saying "one day." And this morning, a cat knocked a toy off a shelf.

THEO Aunt Del. Are you saying what I think you're saying?

DEL How long until school's out for the winter break?

THEO Three days!

DEL Then in three days, you, me and Blue are flying the Mallard to Kitty Hawk.

THEO YES!

SCENE 4. THE HANGAR. THAT EVENING.

DEL Who on earth? Hold on. Hello, Del's Air Service.

CRANE (on the phone, smooth and polite) Good evening. Am I speaking with the owner of a nineteen-forties seaplane? A green one? Called the Mallard?

DEL Who's asking?

CRANE (on the phone) My name is Vesper Crane. I'm a collector. Of rare things. Old things. Special things. And I would like to buy your airplane.

DEL It's not for sale.

CRANE (on the phone) Everything is for sale, Miss Del. It is only a question of the price. Shall we say... a great deal of money?

DEL Shall we say no?

CRANE (on the phone, a little laugh) You've been working on that engine for weeks, haven't you? It's old. It's tired. One day soon it will stop, and on that day you'll wish you had sold it to me. When that day comes, call me.

THEO Who was that?

DEL Nobody. A man in a suit who thinks everything has a price.

THEO He sounded like he always gets what he wants.

DEL Then he's about to be disappointed.

SCENE 5. OVER THE MOUNTAINS. THREE DAYS LATER.

THEO (shouting over the engine) Theo Finch! In the sky above Epic Creek! Tape's rolling! We just took off! The creek is getting smaller and smaller! I can see the school! I can see my house! It looks so small from up here!

DEL (shouting) He doesn't like flying!

THEO (shouting) It's okay, Blue. I've got you.

THEO (into the mic, a bit quieter, under the engine) It's going to take us two whole days to get to Kitty Hawk. Aunt Del says we'll stop at a lake tonight to sleep and get more fuel. Blue is sitting on my lap. He's pretending to be asleep, but his claws are out. I've got the broken helicopter in my pocket, with two new propellers I made last night. Attempt number nine. It flies, mostly.

DEL (shouting) Theo! You know what the Wright brothers' sister said? When people asked her why her brothers kept trying when everything kept going wrong?

THEO (shouting) What?

DEL (shouting) She said...

DEL (sharp) Hang on.

THEO Aunt Del? What was that?

THEO Aunt Del?

DEL (calm, very serious) Theo. Hold on to Blue. And hold on to that tape recorder.

CAMPFIRE QUESTION

THEO (calm, close to the mic, like he's sitting by a fire) Theo Finch here again. Don't worry. You'll find out what happens next time. But before you go, here's my Campfire Question. You can talk about it on the drive home, or at bedtime, or anywhere you like. There's no right answer. Ready?

THEO Wilbur and Orville were seven and eleven when they got that toy, and they never forgot it. What's something you've wanted to make or do since you were little? And what's one thing you could try this week to find out how?

THEO Epic Creek Adventures. Tape's off.