The Airplane (3 of 3)

I must here say, that our airplane had no propeller but we counted on the engine to be powerful enough to shoot us down the street and into the air without a propeller. Come to think of it, I doubt very much whether the clutch controls were still intact to connect the engine to the wheels.
Our airplane was sitting in front of Mr. Anderson’s house. He had seen the contraption all weekend and now he came out and said, “What are you boys doing?” He was a good friend of my dad so I told him everything. “We’re are trying to get this thing started so we can fly,” I said. He came closer and took a look in our gas tank. He frowned. “Looks like you might need some more gas. Let me get you some.” He was gone in a flash and then back again. He had a plastic milk carton with gasoline in it. He poured a little bit in our tank. Then he made a few adjustments to the engine. “Now try it,” he said.
Well, the great moment had arrived. All my friends crowded around the plane. Alan was at the cord. I was seated on the wings, right in back of the lawn mower engine. It was my job to change the position of the choke after Alan got the engine started. If I pulled it out, the engine would go faster. If I pushed it in, it would stop.
Alan gave a few tugs with the starting cord. Suddenly the engine started! I pulled the choke lever out. Then engine got faster and faster until it was frightening. I started to get afraid. I thought of flying in the plane, up in the sky. But wait, our plane had no controls. I had forgotten about that part. I knew how to fly a plane, but it had to have controls! My friends were cheering that we got the engine started. But I pushed the choke in.
The engine died.
”What did you do that for?” everyone yelled.
“I was worried it would fly and I wouldn’t be able to control it.”

The next day I came home a bit late from school. My friends came running down the street. “Hurry, we need to push the airplane back to your house. One of the neighbors says that if it isn’t out of here by tonight, she’ll call the junk man to take it away.”