“That was Billy Bishop, air marshal for the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was coming in from Nova Scotia. I heard the pilot say that Bishop had just met with Winston Churchill. And now he’s on his way to a secret meeting with Roosevelt. Can you believe that? They’re setting up a pilot recruiting office in New York; Bishop is gonna try to get the FBI to turn a blind eye to the US Neutrality Act.” The mechanic nudged Ollie’s arm. “What did he say to you?”

“We just talked about flying.” Ollie picked up his suitcase and left.

Ollie made his way to the train station, but the gate was locked. Realizing he would have to wait until morning for the station to open, he found a park bench and sat down. As his eyes adjusted, he saw a bearded man rummaging in a garbage can. Ollie watched the man pick something out, brush it off, and put it in his mouth. He wondered if the man was just a casualty of the Depression or if he had been injured like his father and had the course of his life changed. Unable to stand by and watch him rummage through fly-infested food, Ollie reached into his pocket and took out some change. As he approached, the bearded man raised an empty milk bottle. Ollie slowly held up his hands, kneeled, and placed the change on the sidewalk.

By the time Ollie returned to his bench, the man had picked up the change and disappeared. Exhausted, Ollie curled into a ball and closed his eyes.

Minutes later, a concussive blow to the head jolted Ollie from his sleep. In a daze, he fell from the bench. Cold pavement pressed against his cheek. His head throbbed. Touching his scalp, his fingers turned wet. With blurred vision, he watched a dark figure rummage through his suitcase. He tried to stand but lost his balance and fell. As his vertigo subsided, he struggled to sit up and noticed that his attacker had fled. The contents of his suitcase were strewn like confetti over the grass. And beside him were the shards of a broken milk bottle.

CHAPTER 5 - PORTLAND, MAINE

CHAPTER 5

PORTLAND, MAINE

Ollie rubbed his aching head, feeling as if the man who had robbed him had also performed a lobotomy using a butter knife. He gathered his strength, stood on wobbly knees, and collected the remnants of his personal items that were spread across the grass. Ollie found most of his possessions, including his flight book and the picture of his parents. The only thing missing was his money: the proceeds from selling the car and even the couple of dollars he had stashed in his wallet. He scanned the park for the man who had robbed him, but he was nowhere to be found.