It’s a beautiful spring day and the birds are singing in the surrounding trees. Only the distant rumble of the guns reminds me how close we are to the fighting. Just as I finish rubbing oil off my hands, I’m stunned to hear a familiar voice over my shoulder. “Here you are, Eddie Boy! I’ve caught up with you at last.” I spin round to see Alec smiling at me. He looks older than I remember, broader across the chest and suntanned, but the smile is the same. My first thought is that he got his transfer to the RFC, but then I notice that he’s wearing a soldier’s khaki uniform. “What are you doing here?” “Now that’s a nice welcome, I must say. I come all the way from Egypt to say hello and I don’t even get a handshake.” “You surprised me, that’s all,” I say, grinning as we shake hands. “How did you find me?” “No trouble,” Alec says. “I just asked the first military policeman I met to point me toward the best Canadian pilot around. He said that there weren’t any good Canadian pilots, but he’d heard there was a prairie kid who could jump really high.”
