Chapter 3 - A Flying Start (3)

As it turned out, they didn’t have enough money for an economy class flight.

“I’m sorry, sir,” said The Stork Behind The Counter. “We had to raise our prices because of the shortage of edibles for our flyers. And since that unfortunate accident when our top-flyer crashed into the barbed-wire fence with a total loss of lives, we’ve lost a lot of customers. There are a lot of vicious rumours going round that he wasn’t qualified for above-cloud flying and that he was flying under the influence. Oh but sober flyers are so difficult to find nowadays!”

“Crashing? Influence? Maybe we should walk, Dex,” said Sinister, suddenly not at all keen on using Storky’s Quality Flyers.

“Nonsense! We’ll be safe, I’m sure. What is the cheapest airfare you have?” inquired Dexter.

“Well, sir, let’s see. Currently we have a special we’ve just started for low-budget customers. We call it Sub-economy class. That’s the cheapest we have.”

“We’ll take it! cried Dexter excitedly. “How much?”

“That will be A Lot of Silver, sir,” replied The Stork Behind The Counter.

Dexter paid over A Lot of Silver and saw with alarm that he had only A Bit of Silver left. The stork handed over the tickets and said “The next flight will attempt to leave in ten minutes, sir.”

“Attempt to leave?” stuttered Sinister, now clearly terrified. “Dex, please, I’ve got an awful feeling about this.”

“Oh, come, you’re not afraid of a little flying are you?” teased Dexter, mostly to hide his own discomfort because he too had a bad feeling about their proposed aerial adventure.

They started walking towards the airfield but were soon stopped by the same stork, now hurriedly dressed as a customs official. With a stern look on his face, the stork threw a feathered arm into the air and glared down at them.

“One moment! Anything to declare?” he bellowed in an authorative voice.

They showed him their bags and he searched it closely. The Amazing Eyewear System seemed to intrigue him but not surprisingly he found nothing when he put the glasses on. Reluctantly he handed their bags back.

“Got to be sure, you know,” he grunted. “We’ve had a few passengers trying to hi-jack our flyers and others trying to smuggle babies across the border. There’s a huge market for Landscape babies in Portrait. They say King Incarnate is trying to bring down the level of intelligence of his people. Keeps them from trying to seize the crown from him, I suppose.”

After these formalities, they reached their flyer. It was a huge stork with lovely long wings and a strip of chairs fastened to his back.

“Hey, how are you man?” asked Sinister, hoping to befriend Flier Stork-Seven-Three-Seven.

“Oh, okay, I guess. I’m not feeling too great today. A bit under the wing, to be sure. My therapist says that I should let go of all the anger and hurt inside and realise my true potential. I’m depressed and phobic, he said. But I’m cured, I really am. I’ve almost completely lost my fear of heights.”

“This way, gentlemen”, intervened a stewardess, a young stork, saving them from further disheartening discussions with their flyer.

‘This way’ turned out to be under the stork’s body. Just behind its legs.

“Wait! This can’t be right! Isn’t this the baggage compartment?” asked Dexter nervously.

“No, sir, this is quite right. Your tickets quite clearly state, ‘Sub-economy’ and therefore you must sit under the Economy class, which is on top in front of the tail feathers”, replied the stewardess with a sympathetic smile and a firm, icy voice, reminiscent of a nurse. “Enjoy your flight!” She left before they could say another word.