The morning was bright with a strong wind blowing from the hills to the sea. Off in the distance stood an old multi-storied house. A blowing sea of grass and wild flowers separated it from the two figures on the crest of a small hill. The sun was out but the wind was in control here as it whipped over the hills and ruffled the hair of the man and played with the uncut curls of the small boy that stood beside him.

"No," the large blond man explained as he kneeled in the tall grass beside the small boy, "like this, Nicholas." He spread the silk material out in the grass before them and placed the wooden pieces on top of the red silk. He began to secure the pieces together with the nylon fishing line that he had purchased for the occasion. The corners of the silk material flapped in the wind and the man smiled at the little boy beside him, "Looks like we have the perfect day for kite flying."

The small boy plopped down in the grass beside him and watched with wonder as the man began to fit the wood together and wound the fishing line where the wooden sticks met in the center. Chip smiled, as the little boy would glance up at him and grin before turning his attention to what the older man was doing.

"Now, you can buy a paper kite at the store," Chip explained to Nicholas, "but it isn't nearly as good as making your own kite and flying it." He quickly finished tying the wood together and folded the silk into the shape to fit the pieces of balsa wood before tying it with the same fishing line. "Can you tie this?" he asked the small boy.

Nicholas moved his fingers to the fishing line and 'assisted' Chip in tying the last knots around the silk, securing it to the wood. "Now what?" the boy demanded, jumping up from the grass.

Chip grabbed the small boy's hand and pulled him back down to the kite, "No, we aren't finished yet." he explained. He pulled some yellow material from his pocket and showed it to Nicholas, "You need to make a tail for the kite."

"Like NeNe's kitty's tail?"

"Nope, not like a kitty's tail." Chip answered. He pulled a pocketknife from his jeans pocket and made a small cut in the fabric, then tore the material into a long strip. He handed the strip to Nicholas. "That's your kite tail."

Nicholas examined the strip of cloth, clearly disappointed that they were not going to borrow the tail from his NeNe's cat and use it. He started to shove it back to Chip when Chip tore another strip of cloth and began to cut it into about six inch pieces. Nicholas watched as Chip dropped about 12 pieces into his lap.

"Don't let them blow away!" he warned as he pocketed the knife and turned his attention to the original strip of material that he had given Nicholas. Nicholas was holding it aloft and letting the wind play with it as he held on to the end of it. "That's the idea," Chip agreed, "but we need to add weights to the tail."

"Fishing weights?" Nicholas asked.

"No." Chip answered, picking up the small strips of cloth.

"That's not heavy." Nicholas replied, smiling at Chip. He obviously adored the older man, who he considered l an Uncle and he was clearly amused by the activity that was going on in the grass.

'Uncle Chip' had come over to his house a few hours earlier to find Nicholas's father trying to install a new water heater in the kitchen. Nicholas was fussy and quite unhappy that something had more of his father's attention than he did and his father was beginning to get annoyed with the boy's constant whining for attention. The youngster had been closed inside with his father for several days while it rained and his father had already scheduled several projects around the house. Even though they had several days together prior to the water heater arriving, Nicholas had decided that his father should do nothing but play with him. 'Uncle Chip' had arrived in the nick of time, just as his father was threatening to make the little boy take another nap that day.

"Why don't I take Nicholas with me?" he had suggested. "You can put in the water heater and I will wear him out for you?"

"Just what do you plan to do?" Lee Crane had asked him.

"Go fly a kite." Chip replied with a smile on his face.

"Fly a kite? Sure." Lee replied. He turned to his son, "Nicholas, you want to fly a kite with Chip?"

"Kite...?" Nicholas had seen pictures of a kite but had never seen an actual kite. That wasn't something that very many adults seemed to do. "Yeah." he nodded, turning to Chip. "Can I fly it?"

"Sure, partner!" Chip picked the child up from the floor. "I'll have him back in a few hours. We'll be over on the hills."

"Okay." Lee replied turning back to his tools. "Chip!" he called as the duo turned to leave the kitchen, "Thanks a lot. I mean it."

"No problem." Chip replied as he and Nicholas left the kitchen. He smiled at the small boy, "Nicholas, I've been waiting for the day that I have a kite flying partner! I used to do this a lot when I was a kid."

Chip dumped the small strips of cloth into a pile next to Nicholas. "Give me that long piece." He stated, pointing to the piece of silk that Nicholas was playing with. "We need to add the weights to the tail."

Nicholas handed over the strip of cloth to Chip and scooted over next to him to watch what Chip was doing. He watched as Chip secured the cloth strip to the bottom of the kite with another piece of nylon fishing line.

Chip then moved the kite over in front of the small boy and stretched out the tail and reached for the first of the small strips of the silk. He finished that then held out his hand to Nicholas. "Move over here." he instructed, moving Nicholas in front of him as he moved the kite back into place and gave the small piece of silk to Nicholas. "Can you tie a knot?"

"I can tie my shoes." Nicholas announced, pointing to his sneaker, which was untied. He flashed his Uncle Chip a quick grin.

"Well, tie your shoe and then we will tie the cloth onto the kite tail."

Nicholas labored over tying his shoe and then seemed pleased with the result. He stuck it out for Chip's inspection and then turned his attention to the kite.

"Tie a bow knot?" he asked, looking up at the man.

"No," Chip answered. "Just tie a knot and then tie another one on top of the first." Taking Nicholas's hands in his, he helped the young boy pull the ends of the cloth to secure it to the tail of the kite. "You have to pull tight!"

"Okay." Nicholas quickly agreed, as he played with the piece of cloth.

Chip watched for a few minutes before helping the small boy continue his task. Once they had tied all the pieces down the length of the material, Chip held the strip aloft as the wind caught it and tried to pull it from his hands.

Chip then tied the tail on to the kite base, resting his knees on the tie he then began to attach the string to the corners of the kite. "This is to help control the kite." He explained as Nicholas watched him.

"Do we have to run?" Nicholas asked. "I can run fast!"

"Well, today we are lucky. We won't have to run today because the wind is blowing really well."

"Yeah, Daddy says that the wind always blows up here." Nicholas agreed.

"Are you ready?"

The little boy's eyes danced with delight and he rose up from the grass. He watched Chip hold the kite aloft and then release it into the wind. Chip took a couple steps back releasing the string as the kite rose higher in the air, spinning wildly in the wind.

"What's it doing?" Nicholas asked, amazed at the wild antics of the kite.

"It's trying to fly." Chip answered his question. "I need to give it more string."

"Give it more string, Uncle Chip!"

As Chip released more string the kite became calmer and rose higher in the air. Chip took out the stick that he had in his pocket and motioned the boy over to him. He kneeled in the grass as the young boy came over to him. Chip put one end of the stick into the boy's hand and the other end into his other hand. Chip watched the cardboard string roller spin as the string spun off, following the kite's wild ride. He reached over and stopped the spinning roller, while Nicholas watched him.

"No, Nicholas, you need to be watching the kite."

"Why?"

"Look up!" Chip told him.

Nicholas looked above him to see the kite way above his head, dancing in the wind. "Oh, wow!" He remarked.

"You are now flying a kite, Nicholas." Chip told him.

Chip and the young boy stayed on the hills nearly two hours, taking turns trying to control the kite as it moved on the winds coming in from the canyon below. Finally a powerful gust broke the string and the kite shot forward and sailed out, higher and higher, over the ocean.

Nicholas stood amazed, holding the useless spool of remaining string as the kite moved further away.

Chip kneeled beside him, "Sometimes if the kite's are really special, they break free and go flying by themselves, just like your kite did." He explained to the child.

Nicholas turned to look at Chip and then noticed his father coming toward them in the tall grass.

"Daddy! Daddy!" He yelled, running to his father. His father picked him up as he pointed to the rapidly smaller form of the kite. "See! It's flying by itself now! We set it free!"

Lee nodded at his son, "Yes, so I see."

"Yeah! When I get big, I'm going to go looking for it!" Nicholas announced.

Lee looked over at Chip before answering. "Yes, I'm sure that you shall." They watched until the kite disappeared from their sight. Lee, still holding his son, turned to Chip. "Lunch is ready. Why don't we go in?"

The two men started back toward the house. The little boy, still being carried by his father, looked back into the afternoon sky and waved goodbye to the kite that was no longer there.