Almost an Angel by Deb Stover

Author:Deb Stover
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Deb Stover

* * *

Zach was no miner.

If Shorty hadn't been so adamant about the location of the gold, Zach wouldn't have even bothered. The fact that where he'd been told to concentrate his efforts was just inside the entrance helped matters considerably. If he'd been expected to venture back inside the dark mine, where the air quality and integrity of the shaft might have been in question, Zach would've abandoned his efforts before he'd even started.

After a week of banging and scraping away at the wall, and carting what seemed like a ton of rock outside to the sunlight, Zach hadn't found anything even remotely resembling gold.

Real or fools'.

He should be designing and testing airplanes, not digging in a wall of rock with a pickaxe. He mopped the perspiration from his brow, then stepped outside for some air.

The mild autumn weather seemed to be holding for a while. He shuddered internally as he recalled the night he'd almost frozen to death.

He gazed overhead as an eagle winged its way upward. The giant bird soared with such ease. Seeing the wings spread in flight tugged at Zach's lifelong love of flying. Airplanes had been an integral part of his life since the age of three, when his father had taken him up in a single engine Cessna just for fun.

And what fun it had been.

At that tender young age, Zach Ryan had known his life would revolve around airplanes. He'd obtained his pilot's license at seventeen and logged many hours in the air alongside his father. But that had been long before the boating accident took both his parents' lives. Before Zach had turned to the bottle for solace. Long before Jake's death.

The eagle vanished behind a peak and the chasm of silence swallowed Zach within its empty embrace again. Los Angeles should know such silence, just once. It was the most peaceful feeling he'd ever known.

And the loneliest.

The wind whipped up the face of the mountain, reminding Zach of the updraft such terrain often created. Images of gliders drifting through the canyon below flashed through his mind.

Could he design and build one?

His pulse raced. He took a step nearer the edge of a steep drop-off about twenty yards from the Maggie-O. The wind continued to tease his hair and whistle around his ears. It was a perfect launch-site for a glider.

Orville and Wilbur, look out.

But what would he use for materials? It wasn't as if fiberglass and plastics were readily available. There was wood, fabrics of various sorts. It was worth a try. But not to change history–just for himself. The Wright brothers could still have their place in history.

Of course, he dare not test it from this particular place the first time. It was a long way to fall if it didn't work.

A very long way.

Zach chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair as he turned back to the mine. He stared at the hole in the side of the mountain for several minutes. Shorty Lamb must have been imagining things.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.