A pastor stood dead center of the church yard when Edward, from a nearby congregation pulled into the church parking lot. Edward walked out across the church yard toward the parson.

“What in the world are you doing out here?” asked Edward, hunching his shoulders against the chill of the March wind. “I passed by the church over an hour ago and you were standing in exactly the same place. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” said the pastor. How are you, Edward?”

“Great. What the heck are you doing out here?”

“Flying a kite.”

“Why in the world are you standing out here in this wind flying a kite?”

“’Cause you need wind to fly a kite.”

“Why would you be flying a kite?”

“I was bored. I found this kite in the church closet. Kite flying seemed a reasonable thing to do.”

“It’s not reasonable for a man your age to be standing out here in this cold wind flying a kite?”

“Why not?”

“Men your age don’t fly kites, especially from the yard of the church you pastor. Your congregation is going to think you’re nuts, to say nothing of the people passing by.”

“My congregation already knows I’m nuts, Edward.”

Edward watched the pastor pull on the string a bit. He followed the string upward and finally fixed his eyes on the blue kite high above them. Finally, he said, “What’s that white thing hanging from the bottom of the kite?”

“That’s the tail, Edward.”

“Tail?”

“Yes. You need a tail to give some drag to the wind. Otherwise the kite just hops around uncontrollably in wind like this.”

“Interesting,” said Edward.

“You’ve never flown a kite, Edward?”

“Well, actually, no I haven’t. My dad and I tried it once. But he wasn’t very good at it. The string broke and the kite crashed in some woods near our house. I never tried it again.”

“Well, here,” said the parson, “grab hold.” The pastor handed the stick to which the string was tied to Edward.

Edward took it tentatively. The pastor cautioned, “Hold tight, Edward. It’s a strong wind. You could lose your grip.”

Edward felt the pull of the wind against his grip. He stared at the kite, fascinated, feeling its every move in his hand.

“Jerk gently against the pull.” Edward did and the kite danced in the sky.

“Cool,” said Edward.

Edward began to engage the parson in conversation. How did the parson know how long to make the tail? How strong was the string? How long was the string? He pulled against the tension learning to guide the kite’s dance.

After a while, the pastor asked, “Think you could fly that thing long enough to let me go get us a cup of coffee?”

“Sure, I can do that,” said Edward.

The parson walked to his car in the parking lot, got in cranked it up and headed out. Edward yelled out, “Hey, where are you going.”

“I’m heading to the coffee shop. Be back in a sec.”

The parson returned about twenty minutes later. Edward was standing in the same spot, pulling on the string, a smile on his face, watching the kite dance.

“Where in the world have you been? It took you long enough.”

“I ran into some folks at the coffee shop who started telling me there was some crazy person flying a kite in the church yard. I told them it was you.”