The Boy Who Could Fly Without a Motor by Theodore Taylor Page B

the
Cacciatore Roma,
Hiram K. Forbes and the Roosevelts, the White House lawn, and Dr. Buxtehede were still very fresh in Jon's mind.

    FOR THE NEXT thirty-two days Jon trudged up and down the fifty-four steps to Clementine's cove, carrying the buckets of red lead, and trying to summon Ling Wu. He thought the isolated cove might help his telepathy signals reach the great magician.
    He also climbed the 155 inner and outer lighthouse steps to the platform, resting at every 10 steps. Perhaps Ling Wu would hear him from up there.
    But tears usually flowed before he reached the top. The buckets seemed to weigh fifty pounds each. The bosun had wrapped padding around the wire handles, but Jon had worn creases in his palms and now wore leather gloves. He'd lost ten pounds, which he could ill afford.
    The bosun volunteered to strap his son on his back, carry him to the cove, and secure him with a rope near the dory rock. He even offered to do the same up on the lantern platform.
    But Jon decided both plans were risky. If Ling Wu saw his father en route to either mental-message-sending location, the magician might forgo his visit.
    Using telepathy, Jon pleaded every day with Ling Wu to return to the cove rock or the lighthouse or any other place on which the magician might choose to alight. Meanwhile the Coast Guard boat circled the cove around the clock to keep the Russians from kidnapping Jon. During the day his father also kept watch with his telescope.
    At last, on the thirty-third day, Jon discovered Ling Wu sitting at the exact same spot on the rock beside the dory where Jon had first met him. His skin was red with anger. He'd changed clothing. His gown was now a shining green; his pants were coal black; his shoes were silver-colored, as was the tiny hat on his head.
    He said, "You miserable heathen, you tick on a cow's back—"
    "Where have you been, Ling Wu? I've been trying to call you for more than a month."
    "None of your insignificant business where I've been."
    "I'm in deep trouble, Ling Wu."
    "I know you are. You didn't listen. I knew you wouldn't listen. You upset your brain cells flying back from that fishing boat without practice. I warned you to be careful."
    "I apologize."
    "That's not enough. Not only did you not listen, you broke your vow. Are you ready for dragon's bile and flaming straw and the shark's back?"
    "Please, don't do that to me!" cried Jon in alarm. "Please forgive me, Ling Wu. I made mistakes. Don't boil me in dragon's bile. Don't sentence me to a lifetime of carrying weights around so I don't go to the moon. I plead guilty. I was lonely. The whole world was passing me by. I had no friends except Smacks. I felt trapped on this rock."
    Ling Wu looked west, toward the horizon.
    "Have you ever been lonely, Ling Wu, really lonely?"
    The magician looked north, toward San Francisco. Then he looked up, with his silly spyglass, at the lighthouse, at Jon's father. "Hmh."
    "Please, Ling Wu. There's an old magician in Chinatown who said he knows the five-thousand-year-old cure."
    "Shue Ming?" Ling Wu asked scornfully.
    Jon nodded.
    "He knows nothing! The best of Shue Ming is turning kerchiefs into doves."
    Jon wasn't interested in Shue Ming's best, nor was he interested in Dr. Buxtehede opening his skull to adjust his misbehaving brain cells. "Please, please, O great, great magician, I'll never fly again, I—"
    Ling Wu's eyes, which matched the green of his gown, bored into Jon's soul. "This is not about flying, insignificant beetle. It is about your word to me, which you have broken. Repeat after me: I, Jon Jeffers, will never again speak the name of Ling Wu. I will honor my bond of silence."
    Jon held up his right hand, as if being sworn in at the Celestial Court. In a voice as clear as a trumpet, righteous as a psalm, truthful as the Three Kneelings and Nine Knockings, Jon repeated each word: " 'I, Jon Jeffers, will never again speak the name of Ling Wu. I will honor my bond of silence.'"
    Ling Wu