Don't Give Up Your Dream

Abu is one boy who never says 'Die'. The more difficult a situation is, the more he wants to do it. He just likes challenges.

He always says, “Challenges make life interesting.”

He tells his friend, Ricky, he wants to make his own plane. The reply he gets from Ricky is “You're crazy.” The reply does not stop him from trying to make his own plane.

Abu loves aeroplanes. He always asks his father to take him to the airport. There, he can spend hours watching the planes. He never gets tired of seeing them fly.

He watches them land. He watches them take off. And he looks at the plane until he can see only the tail of the plane.

Then, the plane disappears. He is still staring at the sky.

He always tells his parents about his ambition. His ambition is to be a pilot.

He wants to be a pilot flying his own plane.

There are many pilots. But, they do not fly their own planes.

One day, he will own a big company. The company will make planes. He will sell his planes. That is his dream.

His room is full of toy planes. His parents buy toy planes for his birthday every year. His uncles and aunts also buy only him toy planes as gifts.

There are toy planes of all designs and sizes. Some are big, some are medium and some are very small. They are of different colours. He displays the toy planes on the shelves. And he likes his visitors to look at them.

The toy planes are placed in a long row. His friends love to go to his room to see them.

They often say, “I like this one. No, I like that one.” But, they never ask him to give them any.

They know he will never give away any of his planes. He can give them his old books or magazines but never his toy planes.

Abu always tells them, “They are my treasure.”

He tells them, “I need this collection of planes. One day, I will make my own plane.”

His friends laugh when he says this. But they also know he is very serious about planes. He spends his time thinking of them. So they are not surprised. One day, Abu just might have his own plane. He will be flying his own plane!

He thinks of planes every night. His mother tells him, “In class, you do not think of planes. You think of studies. If you do not think of your studies, you will fail in all your tests.”

He replies, “Yes, Mum. I will think of my studies. But, I think of planes at night. I dream about them. I dream of flying my own plane.”

In class, he draws planes on any piece of paper he has. While waiting for class to start, he draws pictures of planes or makes paper planes.

His interest in planes leads to his classmates and friends calling him 'Aeroplane Abu' or 'AA'.

They often say, “Mr Tan catches our AA drawing planes instead of doing his science exercises.”

One night, Abu has this long dream.

In his dream, he tries to make a plane. The dream goes on for an hour.

It is a good dream to him. It starts with him busy in his workshop. First, he draws a design for his plane.

Then, he works on the wings of his plane day and night. He spends many days working on the wings. No one, not even his parents, sees him for weeks.

His workshop has all the tools he needs. The pieces of metal are lying around everywhere. The wings are on the long table. He is working on the wings.

He keeps on measuring them. Then, he touches them again and again.

He is thinking, “These wings will make me fly. I will be flying my first plane.”

Finally, he comes out of his workshop smiling. This is after shutting himself up in the workshop for a month.

He calls Ricky on the phone and says,“Tomorrow I will fly. But, I need your help.”

He adds, “The wings are a bit heavy. I made them out of some scrap metal. I need you to help me drag them up to the top of the hill. With them on me I will fly.”

Ricky says, “Metal! Don't you think metal is too heavy to use for wings? ”

Abu says, “No, I calculated all the angles.”

Ricky just rolls his eyes. “All right. I will meet you at the hill first in the morning. We will try them out.”

He is thinking, “Your wings cannot fly.”

That night, Abu cannot sleep. He thinks of his 'plane' flying high.

Everyone will know about his new discovery. The reporters will flock around him asking him about his machine.

He will tell them about his love for planes. They will take many pictures of him and his machine with the metal wings.

The next morning, Abu and Ricky drag the wings up to the top of the hill. Ricky helps to strap the wings on for Abu.

Abu tells Ricky, “I am going to get a running start. Then, I take off.” He fastens the pair of wings on his shoulders.

“All right. I am ready to go.”

Ricky looks at the metal wings.

“Are you sure these wings are not too heavy?” he asks.

Abu says, “No, they are not. The faster I run, the lighter they will get. The wind will lift me up. I will be flying high up in the air.”

He is so sure he will fly. Nobody can tell him he cannot fly with these wings.

So, Abu backs up about thirty feet and starts running.

But, the wings are too heavy for his legs. He gets lower and lower to the ground till he reaches the hill.

On the top of the hill, his legs become very weak. He skids across the ground and falls flat on his face.

Ricky sees this. He rolls on the ground,laughing his head off. He cannot stop laughing.

Ricky laughs until he and Abu get down from the hill.

That night, Abu goes back to his workshop. He shuts himself in the workshop again.

A week later, he phones Ricky again. “I did it again. I rebuilt the wings, this time, of wood and tissue paper. They are light,so I can jump off the roof.”

Ricky is to meet him on top of the roof this time. He sighs. He knows what to expect this time.

The next morning, Ricky goes to the top of the roof. Abu is ready to take off. He has on a pair of strange-looking wings. They are paper wings.

Ricky is surprised. He asks, “So, you think you are going to jump off and fly with these wings? ”

Abu is too busy fixing the wings to answer. He also thinks there is no need to answer Ricky.

Abu backs up a little and jumps. SMACK! SMACK!

The wings break immediately. He lands on his head in the middle of some bushes.

Luckily, he is not hurt. He is lying in the bushes.

Again, Ricky rolls around on the ground laughing for a minute. He gets up and asks Abu if he is all right.

“Yes, Yes,” says Abu. “I guess the wings are a little weak. I know the shape is just right. I will go back to the workshop.”

“I will make another pair of wings out of another material. Something is not as heavy as the scrap metal and not as light as the tissue paper.”

He adds, “I know what to do about the wings this time.”

Ricky cannot believe what he hears. Abu is going to try again!

Abu goes back to his workshop. This time, he stays there for two weeks.

Working hard, he makes another pair of wings. They are not made of paper or metal.

This time, he will fly. Ricky is very sure of that. He must not fail again.

A month later, he calls Ricky. Of course, he says the same thing.

This time, Ricky knows what to expect. He is thinking, “Another good laugh. I just hope it will not take too long. I have many things to do.”

He is thinking Abu wastes too much time on his planes. Anyway, he agrees to help Abu.

Ricky arrives at his house the next day. He looks at the wings. They look good! No more metal or paper. Abu spends a lot of time improving them.

Abu says, “This time, I made them out of wax and wood. There is a handle under each wing for me to move the wing up and down. I can fly this time.”

“I need you to help me strap them on, ”says Abu.

Ricky helps him to strap the wings on. They fit very well.

There is a belt around his waist. This is to make sure he will not fall off when flying. He looks ready to fly. He also looks confident.

“Here we go!” Abu yells. He backs up and begins running towards the top of the hill. At the edge of the hill, he starts to lift up into the air.

He is flying! He is really flying. He flies higher and higher. It is a great feeling to fly.

“YAHOOO!” he yells again. He is really getting high now.

He is flying above his house. He is flying above his neighbour's house and many other houses. The feeling is great.

Then, he starts to worry. “How do I land?” he asks himself. He also notices his wings are starting to melt.

He is rising so high. The sun is melting the wax on the wings.

Soon, he has tiny wings. And he is going to crash into the trees!

“Oh! Oh! This is going to hurt,” says Abu to himself.

He crashes into the trees.

BANG!

Ricky runs to him and asks, “Are you all right? ”

Abu answers, “I think so. Well, I flew just now. I made my own plane.”

He is hurt with a few cuts, but he is feeling too happy to feel the pain.

His mother comes to wake him up to get ready for school. Abu is still smiling.

She asks, “Why are you smiling early in the morning? Something nice happening today? ”

He tells her, “I had the best dream. In my dream, I made my plane. I flew it in the sky.”

His mother is thinking, “He has his madness about his planes. Even in sleep, he thinks of them.”

And so Abu invents his own plane in his dream. The dream keeps him happy and smiling for a long time.