The Electric Airplane (a memoir to forget)
by Reid Welch
This text will be replaced by the
flash music player.
In 1962 when I was eight there it flew
in comic book advertisements:
Battery Powered Airplane
Install a penlight cell and Watch It
Fly $3.95 post paid
My childish self intrigued—excited
to think a toy would soar without
a twisted rubber band. Amazing
I saved allowance for one month.
The money was mailed in.
The next week
nothing came. Two weeks later
a white card arrived. They wrote
they had my order and
there was a cost involved:
three dollars and ninety five cents.
Please send us the money
then we will send the plane
To my father with some tears:
"I sent them the money. This says
they didn't get the money."
How he reacted.
He pounded
a note
in capitals
through the ribbon's red half
on his Remington
a condemnation of plane people
as bilkers and breakers
of childhood dreams
that scarlet letter.
That was the end of it.
I did not get the toy—
a three way loss for sure
for me for them for Dad.
Sometime later it occurred
perhaps it is not
a good plan
to overload a plain
old envelope
with loose quarters
dimes and nickels.
All rights reserved by the
author.
Home
List of poems
Submissions/Contact
us