By Phileas Moss Esq.
The sun itself seemed to know it was an auspicious day, casting as it did majestic shadows of The Carriage Shed’s great arches across the timeworn brickwork upon which my foot stood, while far above me the ironwork of the building’s glass roof stencilled stark geometric lines across the sapphire canvas of the cloudless September sky.
In the distance, the hum of human endeavour, rattling wheels and squealing brakes continued as though it were an ordinary day, yet this was no ordinary day.
With the last strap tied and final safety checks complete, one by one my engineering team withdrew.
For a moment, silence encased the crowd as I raised my head to full height and surveyed the pigeon pilots on the bench above me. My flight crew, with whom I had placed all my trust, stood smartly in their uniforms adorned with the Office of Tiggy Flight Crew Insignia.
For a moment I faltered, reflecting upon the magnitude of the gravity-defying mission before me.
Then, a voice rang out: “Fortune favours the brave, Phileas!” It was the Duck (you know the one), offering the final encouragement I needed.
And so, despite the tangled knot in my stomach, I raised my upper antennae and gave the flight crew captain one solemn, deliberate inclination to declare my readiness for flight.
And with that, the air above me erupted. The harness tightened. And, with a slight jolt, the earth fell away. I was flying! Oh, what a sight!
The Carriage Shed floor stretched away below me as I had never seen it before. The timeworn brickwork terrain which I had traversed so many times and upon which, only moments earlier, my foot had stood was transformed into an alien landscape, its familiar lines and channels morphed into an unexplored plain while the great arches advanced in long procession ahead of me, marching as soldiers towards war.
It was then that I thought of my ancestors bound to earth and the generations ahead of me who might one day benefit from my brave maiden flight and cried:
“One small flight for snail, one giant flight for mollusc-kind!”
To be continued.