Archie sat with his head in his hands rubbing his temples to relieve the stress and fatigue that was giving him a headache. The focal point of this stress was a huge map of the world covering the wall in front of him. Sitting under the glow of a spotlight, it dominated the room.
Pinned to the map were a series of ribbons tracing the stopovers of a flight from London to Sydney, Australia. The ribbons marked the route taken by Archie’s brother, Ed, who was trying to fly from England to Australia in under four days.
The last ribbon hung limp and unpinned because Ed had failed to reach Singapore from India. He was several hours overdue.
“Send another telegram!” roared a voice from the corner of the room.
Archie looked up and saw the menacing outline of his father, surrounded by a cloud of tobacco smoke as he stepped out of shadows into the spotlight. The man at the desk next to Archie scurried away to do as he was told.
Archie sighed.
“There’s no point Father.” he said. “We sent one only a half hour ago and they said they’d reply as soon as they heard anything.”
Archie’s father spun round and glared at him. His face was scarlet with rage and his huge walrus moustache twitched. He pulled the cigar out of his mouth and stabbed it in Archie’s direction.
“This is your fault you know! You couldn’t help yourself could you? He’s out there now because you dared him to do it!
Archie opened his mouth to reply, but there was nothing he could say. He’d been waiting for this accusation all night and his father was right. He’d goaded Ed into the flight, teasing him that there was no way he could match Archie’s own achievements as an aviator.
And now Ed was missing. Telegrams from the area reported huge unexpected storms sweeping across Ed’s path. Ed would be lucky if his little de Havilland Comet airplane hadn’t broken up in mid air, smashed to pieces by the violence of the storms.
Archie stood up and began to walk out of the room.
“Where are you going?” his father yelled after him.
Archie didn’t stop.
“On my way to make amends,” he said over his shoulder as he opened the door.
“It’s it bit late for that now! What on earth can you do?” the old man asked.
Archie stopped at the door and looked back at his father.
“I’ll just have to go and find him.” he said as he walked out.