Meelie was the first off the plane, climbing hastily out and racing into her father’s arms. Felix stood, his legs so shaky that he had to sit back down until his breath slowed and the trembling stopped. Even then, it seemed his knees might give way at any moment.
But Maisie just sat behind the wheel, looking stunned. She watched the scene unfold before her—Pidge and her father hugging Meelie, Felix standing awkwardly in the crowd, the pilot explaining aerodynamics in a very loud voice to anyone who would listen.
“It’s that girl who saved them,” the pilot said, pointing to Maisie.
“But how?” someone asked.
“Luck. Blind luck,” someone else said.
Meelie stepped out of her family’s embrace.
“I will never, ever get on an aeroplane again as long as I live!” she announced.
Her father tousled her hair. “You won’t have to worry about that,” he said. “These things are just for show, anyway.”
He glanced at Maisie, still perched in the plane. “Despite what your friend Maisie thinks,” he added with a grin.
Slowly, Maisie stood and climbed down from the plane. Her hair was wet and plastered to her head and face. Her feet sank into the soaked grass as she sloshed toward the others. Nothing seemed real to her. This place. The plane ride. The tailspin and her white-knuckled rescue. None of it.
Meelie stared up at Maisie with wide, admiring eyes.
“See?” she said. “You are brave. You can do anything you set your mind to.”
Maisie nodded, letting the idea sink in.
“Maybe you’re right, Meelie,” she said.
“Let’s get home, kids,” Meelie’s father said. “Get you out of these wet clothes and get some warm food into you.”
Felix threw his arm around his sister’s shoulders.
“You were amazing,” he told her.
“I was, wasn’t I?” Maisie said.
“And modest, too,” Felix teased, giving her shoulder a squeeze.
“You know what?” Maisie asked. “I’m ready to go home. I think that between the gorilla and the plane, I’ve had enough excitement for a while.”
Felix sighed. “All we have to do is find the person, give him the compass, get a lesson—”
“Stop!” Maisie interrupted. “Let’s just figure it all out. Soon.”
Meelie’s mother had baked chicken and creamed corn and roasted potatoes waiting for dinner. And a big bowl of Meelie’s favorite: radishes. She’d made biscuits, too, and she put a small pitcher of honey beside them.
“So?” she said after they all had sat down and piled food on their plates. “Was the fair exciting?”
Meelie and Pidge glanced at Maisie.
“No,” Maisie said, forcing her voice to sound casual. “Fun,” she added, chewing on one of the flaky biscuits. “But not exciting.”
“We saw an aeroplane!” Pidge blurted.
Her father cleared his throat. A warning for her to keep their adventure to herself.
“I’d like to fly in one of those,” her mother said dreamily.
“It’s awful!” Meelie said fiercely. “The wind is in your face the whole time, and it’s so noisy you can’t even hear yourself think and then the stupid thing almost crashed.”
Everyone stared at Meelie.
But it was her mother who spoke first. “You went up in an aeroplane?” she said, her nostrils flaring in anger.
“I . . . ,” Meelie began.
Her mother turned to her father.
“You let her go up in one of those flying machines?” she demanded.
“Why, you just said yourself how much you’d like to fly in one!”
“Yes, but I’m a grown woman! Children shouldn’t ride in aeroplanes!”
“I didn’t,” Pidge said quickly. “I stayed right on the ground and watched.”
Her mother looked from her husband to Meelie and back again.
“It was an adventure!” Meelie’s father said.
“It was terrible,” Meelie said, taking another piece of chicken as if to end the entire conversation.
“Good,” her mother said. “Maybe that will teach you a lesson, Miss Amelia Earhart.”
Felix gasped.
“Uh-oh,” Pidge giggled. “You know you’re in trouble when Mother uses our real names.”
“You’re . . . you’re Amelia?” Maisie sputtered. “Earhart?”
“What of it?” Meelie said.
Maisie and Felix broke into big grins.
“Oh,” Felix said. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
Maisie poured some honey on another biscuit.
“Do you know what I think, Meelie?” she said, still grinning. “I think you will fly in an aeroplane again. And I think you’ll love it.”
Mr. Earhart laughed. “You certainly have a lot of predictions about these aeroplanes, Maisie.”
“I did a big report on aviation in school,” she said.
Mr. Earhart laughed harder. “A big report?” he said. “There’s not much to say about it, is there? You’ve got the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk but not much else.”
“I don’t care what you say, Maisie,” Meelie said. “I’m done with flying machines.”
“Amelia Earhart,” Maisie said smugly, “I’m willing to bet that you fly all the way across the Atlantic Ocean in an airplane. Alone!”
Meelie rolled her eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything more ridiculous in my entire life.”