It's been 4 days since I slept in my own bed and I am feeling rode hard and put away wet, said the trucker sitting alongside me.
I know just how he feels, I thought to myself, since I feel like someone that won a four day dance marathon myself.
I dragged my butt onto a stool and managed to ask for some black coffee.
After 3 cups I was starting to wake up and soon began to look around at the people in the shop and wonder where they came from and where they were going.
I was sipping my hot coffee and looking off into space when the fellow in the booth behind my stool starting talking softly, but not softly enough. I still heard him like a pin dropping.
The best I could figure out, it was a man telling someone about a wonderful thing that happened to him at work that day.
Starving for a juicy story to tell my wife when I get home, I tried to act like a rabbit and twist my ears backwards so I could hear better.
His conversation went something like this.
The man said that while he was daydreaming at work today he had a fantastic idea for a solar powered airplane.
His face looked like the face of a man that had just re-invented the wheel. He said that he drew up the paperwork for his airplane, signed and dated his documents, and then took everything straight over to the research and development department to run his idea up the flagpole and see if anyone saluted.
He said into the phone that he expected to hear the whole department start laughing at him. When they didn't laugh he said that it gave him all the oomph he needed to present his airplane idea in front of all of the bigwigs.
He told how that instead of hearing the laughter he expected, he said that he heard a buzz start around the room and he saw people getting together in the conference room and making a lot of phone calls.
Before I knew what was happening, he said, my boss came into my cubicle and asked me to join them in the conference room.
He told how they gave him a seat at the head of the table and a big cigar. He said that from the look on their faces he just knew something big was about to happen. He said that he was sure they just wanted to let him down easy.
Our overexcited friend said his boss told him it was decided, in record time, that an airplane like his is an idea whose time is right now and we want you to build it. The relief, or was it shock, that showed on his face left no doubt about how totally he was taken by surprise.
Well, by now I was so excited to hear more of this guys' phone call that I almost fell off of my squeaking stool, straining my ears to hear better. My neighbor was so involved in his phone call that he didn't seem to hear me. He just continued his story just like he is the only person in the room.
The poor person on the other end of the phone call couldn't get a word in edgeways as the tale continued. I thought to myself that listening to one side of a phone conversation is kinda like hearing the music but not the song.
My neighbor said that next he was told, since the airplane is my invention, the decision has been made to promote me to project manager to build and test my airplane.
He said he was totally speechless when his boss gave him more unbeleiveable news. He told me that a ton of perks and a big raise came with the job.
At this point he stopped talking so I snuck a peek his way and there he is sitting with a look on his face like he just won the lottery and taking a lot of deep breaths. After he seemed to calm down a little, he went on to say they gave him a pause to think about what they just said before the boss continued.
As a government employee you are probably aware that we fund the project, and when letters of patent are awarded for my airplane, the patent must be assigned to the government. You also agree that the government has the right to unlimited use of this invention without paying any fees or royalties for the life of the patent.
As my boss is asking me if I will accept the job, I just kept hearing my boss saying that I get a big raise and I get to build my airplane.
He stopped talking for a minute then he laughed out loud and said that he didn't even take enough time to blink before he said yes.
Behind his excitement his eyes said to me that he was not sure his airplane would fly, but his closing words into the phone said it all for me. I love you and I'll be right home he said.
As I was driving home I heard myself say that I don't have any juicy story to tell my wife but I do have a story about a real airhead to tell her. It tickles me to know that I was there at the birth of a solar airplane.
A Solar Powered Airplane that flies day and night.
It's about time, you say.
A solar powered airplane that flies both sideways and up and down.
A modern day high tech marvel, you say.
Where can I get one, you ask.
I am sad to say that they are not for sale in today's world.
You see, Mr. William Phillips got his letters of patent for his dream solar airplane that flies both day and night on solar power, his airplane that flies both up and down or forward. His airplane that flies better the higher it goes and the closer to the sun it gets, on the 15th of November 1983.
