The Moth and the Mountain by Ed Caesar

Author:Ed Caesar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Published: 2020-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

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Wilson refueled at Gabes from reliable tanks. He then traveled hundreds of miles, spending hours and hours in the air, the milky shoreline to his left and a continent to his right. What did he chew on in those lonely, sun-bleached hours? A year and a half earlier, he had boarded a ship to Durban, thinking that a life in Britain’s African colonies was his future. So much had changed in so little time. Back then, he had not met Enid. Back then, he had not found a true way of living. Back then, he had no thoughts of Everest.

At Tripoli, in the Italian-protected province of Tripolitania, he made friends with Regia Aeronautica pilots again. They no doubt regaled him with tales of the riotous motor Grand Prix that had been held in the city weeks earlier—an event watched by thousands and mired by suspicions of race fixing. The air base where Wilson had landed was in the middle of the Grand Prix course. Wilson flew onto another Italian protectorate, Cyrenaica, where he landed at Benghazi, before flying on to Tobruk. He was in Egypt now, which, despite more than a decade of independence from Britain, was still crawling with British soldiers and officials. Wilson arrived in the Egyptian capital seven days after leaving Stag Lane. He had now flown about as many solo hours on his weeklong adventure as he had in training for it. Every time he entered the cockpit, his skills and his confidence improved. In Cairo, he telephoned a stiff-shirted officer in the Royal Air Force delegation to collect his ticket to fly over Persia.

“Oh, yes, Mr. Wilson,” said the official, “there was something through about you a couple of days ago.”

Wilson was passed on to the official’s superior.

“Sorry, old man, there’s no permit here for you. If there’s anything I can possibly do for you, just let me know.”

Wilson had the Persian permit fixed up weeks ago, in early April. He had made all the proper representations through his friends at the Automobile Association, who guaranteed that the document would be awaiting him in Cairo. But now these officials couldn’t find it or said they never had it in the first place. Cairo was full of British government employees. One of them, Wilson thought, must be able to help him. He spent a day visiting officers of His Majesty’s government, none of whom could help.

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