The Airplane (2 of 3)

When we finished the airplane we knew it needed an engine. Alan happened to have just such an engine, an old lawn mower. We nailed the front of the airplane onto the wooden rollers of the mower. Everything was ready, so we started to push the airplane down to the end of our street, a dead end fortunately. Since our plane was heavy we had a hard time. Other neighborhood friends saw what we were doing and came out to help. Late that night we finally got it to the end of the dead end. We wanted to see if we could take off, but it was dark and our mothers were calling us.
It wasn’t until Monday after school that we were able to get back to the airplane. We checked everything to make sure it was air-ready. I checked the gas in the lawnmower engine. It was a bit low, but it would do for a short spin up and over the neighborhood. Alan stepped to the engine and yanked on the cord to start it. It refused to turn over. He had seen his older brothers do it several times and it had always started for them. He fumbled with what he called the choke, pushing it in and out, but not really knowing where it was supposed to be.
We took turns that evening pulling and tugging on the cord, trying to start the engine. The usual crowd of friends gathered in anticipation of our flight. Occasionally they would spell us off on the starting duties.