An older man walked through our office door and left it open. He stopped in the middle of the room and planted his feet well apart under a short, plump body. He looked a bit dazed.

"Your airplane is following me," he declared.

Henry and I exchanged puzzled looks. We could hear the Cessna 172 taxiing onto The Flying Circus ramp. Barry was returning with a student.

"I don't know what you're talking about, sir," I said.

"It's spying on me," he continued. His voice was edgy but not loud. "Everywhere I go, it's there, overhead, watching."

"You must be mistaken," I replied. I didn't know what else to say.

"No, I'm not!" he said. "It was over my house. I followed it here. That's the plane."

He gestured out the door toward the Cessna.

I decided the man was crazy although he didn't look it. He could have passed for anyone's kindly uncle. I was about to comment on his state of mind but Henry acted first. He calmly approached him and extended his hand.

"I'm Henry Rains," he said.

The man accepted the handshake but didn't offer his name.

"I'm the owner here," Henry said, "but I didn't know one of my airplanes was following you."

"Well it is," he replied. "When I go to the shopping plaza, it's there, watching. When I'm at the legion, it's there too. This afternoon it followed me to the post office."

"What's your name?" Henry asked.

"Andrew Penny," the man replied.

"That airplane is being used for flying lessons," Henry explained patiently. "The pilots have been practising takeoffs and landings at the airport. I don't think they were spying on anybody."

Illustration by Francois Bougie


Barry walked through the open door with his student. Andrew Penny stared at them.

"You were following me," he announced.

Before Barry could say anything, Henry introduced him.

"Andrew, this is Barry McDay. He is one of the flying instructors here. Barry, this is Andrew Penny. We were just discussing how airplanes in the circuit are always flying over him."

"Please to meet you Mr. Penny," Barry said politely. He offered a handshake. Penny took it. "I hope we weren't disturbing you," Barry said.

"You were spying on me," Penny replied. He stuck his chin out to emphasize his statement.

Barry looked at Henry for help.

"You finish with your student, Barry," Henry said. "Andrew, would you allow me to buy you a coffee? I'd like to hear more about this problem."

Henry placed his hand on the man's shoulder and steered him toward the coffee maker.

"Yes, I'd like a coffee," Penny replied. "I take cream and sugar but I'll fix it myself."

Leanne was off so I went behind the desk to fill in an invoice for Barry's student. I kept one ear on the conversation at the coffeepot.

"Where do you live, Andrew?" Henry asked our visitor as he poured two cups of coffee.

"On Penny Road, north of here," the older man volunteered without hesitation. He opened a packet of sugar.

"In the old white farm house?" Henry asked.

Penny looked up from pouring sugar into his cup. "You've been spying on me too?"

"No, no, not me," Henry said quickly. He changed the subject. "You said you went to the legion. Were you in the war?"

"Yes sir," Penny said proudly. He stuck out his chest. "Queen's Rifles. Straight into Germany."

He snapped his right hand in a salute.

"It must have been tough," Henry commented and sipped his coffee.

Penny switched his look from proud to suspicious.

"You think I'm shell shocked. Has my wife been talking to you?"

"No, not at all," Henry said. "I'm just trying to help."

"Well you can help by telling those people to stop spying on me."

They both paused and sipped their coffee. Henry tried a different approach.

"Why would they be spying on you, Andrew?"

Penny put his coffee down quickly and pointed a spirited finger at Henry.

"So I'm right, they are following me!"

"I didn't say that," Henry replied quickly. "They were just flying around the airport practising takeoffs and landings."

"I saw them. They were looking at me."

"Have you ever been in a small airplane before?" Henry asked.

"No," Penny replied and picked up his coffee cup again.

"You and I should go flying. I'll show you that our airplanes are not spying on you. Would you go up with me?"

"You want me to go flying?"

"Yes."

"In one of your airplanes?"

"That's right. We can take the one that just came down."

"The one that was following me?"

"The one that was just flying around the airport."

"You want me to go right now?"

"Right now," Henry said. He took a last swig of coffee and put the cup down.

"Okay."

I signed out Henry and handed him the logbook and keys for the Cessna.

"Have a good flight," I said to his new passenger.

"Thank you," he replied.

He sounded a bit nervous but he managed a little smile.

I watched out the office window. I could see Henry showing Penny the parts of the airplane. He helped him into the right front seat of the Cessna and then climbed into the left seat. After a few minutes the airplane's engine was started. I could hear Henry on the office monitor asking the Circus ground controller for taxi instructions for circuits. The airplane headed for the runway.

I was still in the office when they returned about 20 minutes later.

Penny was the first one through the door. He looked back at Henry.

"So you're with the police."

"No," Henry replied loudly, "I'm not." He sounded frustrated.

"Well, you must be working for them."

"No, I'm just a pilot. I'm not working for anyone."

"You're a pilot who spies on innocent old men!" Penny declared. He approached the flight desk and looked across at me. His face was set in a scowl.

"May I use your washroom?"

"Certainly," I replied, pointing to the far corner of the room. "Help yourself."

Penny shuffled toward the washroom. Henry handed me the aircraft logbook.

"I take it things didn't go well," I said.

"You got that right," he replied, shaking his head in frustration. "I thought if I stayed in the circuit, I could show him that our traffic was practising takeoffs and landings and not following him."

"I don't think it worked, Henry," I said sarcastically.

"You're not kidding. We took off from Runway 06 and turned left. I pointed to the airport and said that we would be keeping the runway in sight. He looked the other way. `There's my house,' he said. `I can see my backyard. I can see everything!'

"I turned downwind toward the city. `There's the legion,' he said, `and there's the mall, the post office and the grocery store. You have been spying on me!'

"I turned back toward the runway and landed. I don't know where he got the police idea but all I accomplished with the flight was to confirm that airplanes are following him. The poor old guy is definitely crazy but you know, from up there you can see everything. I understand his point."

"Now what are you going to do?" I asked.

"I don't think there is anything I can do. I'm just going to hope he doesn't come here every day to bother our customers or worse, start taking potshots at them."

"Well, we'll hope he's not loading the gun in the washroom right now."

Penny came out of the washroom apparently unarmed and walked over to the flight desk. He ignored Henry and looked at me with a frown.

"Did you have a nice flight?" I asked cheerfully.

The scowl softened a bit. "Yes, thank you, I did."

"Was that your first time flying?"

"Yes, it was."

"Well maybe you'll come back and fly with us again sometime."

"I'd like that," he replied pulling out a little Scotch purse. "How much do I owe you?"

Henry started to say something but I waved him off. I knew he was going give the flight away but I could see the roll of money in Penny's purse and it looked like it was all $50-dollar bills.

"A sightseeing flight for one, two or three people is $45," I said.

"That's cheap," he declared and dropped a rolled-up fifty on the counter. "No wonder there are so many airplanes up there spying."

"Would you like a receipt?" I asked, handing him a $5-dollar bill.

"No thank you," he replied. He turned and handed the five to Henry. "Thanks for the ride, sonny. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes, and I want to fly closer to my neighbor's place so I can see what he's building in his back yard."

Henry stood there with the $5-dollar bill in his hand. He didn't know what to say.

I checked the booking sheets. "Same time tomorrow would be fine," I said.

"I'll see you then," Penny said.

He opened the door and walked out without closing it.