Taking Off — Eric Kraft

To Peter Leroys adult chagrin, his home town of Babbington, a seaside village on Long Island, is being turned into a theme park, centering on the historic day on which he, a fifteen-year-old adventurer, returned after completing 4,000 miles of solo flying to New Mexico and back. The Birdboy was received as a hero then, but the grown man, worried that an intrepid journalist will start digging, decides to prepare for full disclosure of the earthbound truth behind his mythic flight. He reminisces about the aerocycle he built in his parents garage based on drawings from the Impractical Craftsman Magazine; his application to the faux Faustroll Institute for Promising High School Students; and his glorious send-off by the population of Babbington on the journey of a lifetime.