The Flying Machine

by Dustin R. Packwood

Still believing that the world was a place that rewarded the righteous and the brave, the madman has continued to pursue his dream even after that disastrous fall into the ravine that had left him unable to walk for three weeks. The medicine man claims - to this day - that was the most broken patient he has ever cared for. The last event has been so widely discussed about town, it is with no surprise I realize the entire village is gathered around the cliffs, watching him and his latest flying machine with rapt attention. He claims this one will work, and ignores the laughs and comments, but this fall will kill him, so I try to stop him. He looks at me, smiling, his super-inflated eyes blinking behind the thick rims of his ridiculous goggles. Without a word, he leaps - and we laugh at him no more, because on that day we watched him glide above the clouds, into the heavens, further and further away from us non-believers.

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Dustin R. Packwood, author of The Entertainer, has spent all 24 years of his life wishing for a pet dragon. He continues to believe that the world would be a better place with wizards, magic, and kingdoms.