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DOORB    5' The door to adventure

Michaela remembered where to find the invisible door. So, the
next day, while the rest of her family was down by the lake
playing frisbee, she went into the woods and opened the
invisible door.

When she came out the other side, she was standing in an empty
airplane hangar.

"Hello?" she said meekly.

Hearing no answer, she shouted, "Hello?"

But noone was there. This was odd. In the past, the invisible
door took her to places where people needed rescuing or a crime
needed to be stopped. But there was noone here.

She was about to call it a mistake and go home, but she decided
that maybe the rescue or crime was OUTSIDE of the hangar. So,
she closed the invisible door behind her. But as soon as the
door disappeared, she could see what looked like a large
backpack on the floor behind her.

When Michaela examined the backpack, she found that it was
actually a parachute. But she left the parachute and went
outside to look for someone to rescue. Finding nothing there,
she decided that the invisible door must have taken her to the
wrong place. Maybe she would try again tomorrow.

She found the door and went back through it into the woods and
closed the door behind her. Suddenly, she got the idea to try
the invisible door again. So, she turned around and went through
the door again.

This time she came out inside of what looked like a tunnel. A
steel tunnel. No, not a tunnel. This tunnel had windows on the
side. Tunnels don't have windows.

Then she heard the wooshing sound and the dull roar of engines.
This was the inside of a cargo airplane. But it too was empty.
First, an empty airplane hangar, then and empty cargo airplane.
What an odd day this has been!

She turned around and started back through the door, but
suddenly stopped.

Wait a minute! The engines are running! This airplane is flying
through the air!

Michaela looked out the window to see if she recognized the land
below. But instead, her eye was caught by the yellow glow of
fire coming out of one of the engines under the wings.

She ran to the cockpit door and pulled it open.

"Are you okay?" asked Michaela to the pilot.

"How did you get onboard this plane?!" asked the pilot, "This
plane was empty. I unloaded the cargo my self."

Suddenly horns and buzzers sounded loudly. Red lights began to
blink all over the cockpit.

"What's going on?!" shouted the pilot.

Michaela pointed to the wing saying, "One of your engines is on
fire. I came here to help you."

"Well, you're too late." shouted the pilot as he pushed a few
buttons, "The fire extinguishers didn't put out the fire. We're
going to crash."

"Oh dear!" exclaimed Michaela.

Michaela now had to decide whether to go back through the
invisible door and home to safety or to try to do something to
save the pilot's life.

She decided to risk her own life to save the pilot.

(Can you guess how Michaela saved the pilot?)

Suddenly, Michaela remembered the parachute in the empty
airplane hangar.

"I'll be right back!" shouted Michaela as she ran back to the
invisible door.

"Where are you going?!" shouted the pilot as he frantically
tried to control his airplane. But when he looked back, Michaela
was gone.

As soon as Michaela closed the invisible door behind her, she
reopened it again. As she expected, the invisible door took her
back to the empty airplane hangar. She picked up the parachute
and carried it back through the door, then she closed and
reopened the door. Again, the door opened inside of the
airplane. She ran to the cockpit and helped the pilot put on the
parachute.

"Where did you get a parachute?!" exclaimed the pilot, "We don't
carry parachutes on this plane!"

"It's a little hard to explain." replied Michaela, "Hurry! The
fire is getting bigger!"

As the pilot finished buckling the parachute, Michaela went over
and opened the side door of the airplane. As the pilot step
toward the door, he said, "Wait a minute. You don't have a
parachute. I can't just jump out and let you die!"

"Don't worry about me. I have another way home." replied
Michaela, "Now go!"

Just then, the fire burned the wing off the plane and the plane
began to tumble and dive toward the ground.

"Go!" shouted Michaela, "I'll be fine."

So, the pilot jumped as Michaela ran to the back of the plane
and through the invisible door. She got home just in time to see
the evening news on television. 

The reporter, standing in front of a large fire, said, "The fire
behind me is from the crash of an air cargo plane whose engine
caught fire shortly after takeof. The pilot claimed that a
little girl appeared out of nowhere and gave him the parachute
that saved his life. But the owner of the airplane told us that
only the pilot was on board when the engine caught fire.
However, the owner can't explain how a parachute got onboard the
airplane."

Once again, Michaela was a hero, but she couldn't tell anyone,
lest her parents find out that she had been in the woods alone.

©2008 Bob Snook. Conditions for use:
This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties.
Do not sell this story or rewrite it.
You may reproduce and distribute this story freely,
but all copies must contain this copyright statement.
http://www.bobsnook.org/kid  email: bob@bobsnook.org

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