Bell, Mr. Baldwin, Mr. McCurdy and I walked together down the lane toward the laboratory. Mr. Baldwin and Mr. McCurdy were a lot younger than Mr. Bell, and I could tell they wanted to go faster, but they walked at Mr. Bell’s pace. Mr. Bell smoked his pipe as we went, and he seemed to be in deep thought. For a few moments, nobody said anything. Then Mr. McCurdy spoke. “I made a model of it,” he said. “You did?” said Mr. Bell. He raised his eyebrows. “I’ll fly it for you, Doug,” said Mr. Baldwin. “Not likely,” said Mr. McCurdy. He was grinning. “I’ll be flying that aeroplane myself.” “And the wings?” said Mr. Bell. “Thin and flat. It’s the only way to get the lift we need.” He sounded like he was apologizing. Mr. Bell shook his head. I had the feeling they had talked about this a lot before.
