Free Last Out From Roaring Water Bay by Joe Lane

like Billy. It had been a long shot anyway and though I hate the word defeat, it was pointless pursuing something that was going to lead nowhere.
    I shoved the replica plane in Billy’s hands and his eyes suddenly brightened. At least I would leave him happy but it left me at a dead end. Where I went from here I’d no idea other than I’d be dragging my feet for the rest of the day wondering what I could have achieved. I was about to rise from the bench when Billy, twisting the plane through the air playing, said something quite unbelievable.
    “It’s like the one…that got shot down,” he said, and without any prompting.
    I tried not to show too much excitement but inside I was bursting at the seams.
    “What do you mean, Billy?”
    Billy tapped his new toy with his finger. “There… there were…two of these planes. Have you…got another one for me?”
    “No Billy, I’m sorry, but I promise I’ll bring you another one the next time I come to see you. Would you like that?”
    Billy’s head was nodding so hard that I thought it was attached to a piece of thick rubber.
    “You saw two planes in the sky?” I prompted him before he forgot.
    “Two planes…yes two planes-two planes and they all fell down!”
    “In what way did they fall down?”
    Billy stopped playing with the replica. His face went blank. I assumed it must be his usual expression when thinking hard. Finally he said, “One was…chasing…the other one.”
    Billy’s account of events was really beginning to interest me.
    He put his hand to his mouth sniggering. “I play…chasing. I chase…all the girls, kissed them…when I catch them.”
    “Yes, Billy I bet that’s good fun. Now forget about girls. We can talk about them later. Remember the planes. What did you mean by the planes chasing each other , were they playing chasing games? Perhaps they were having fun too? Maybe they were fooling about, to show their flying skills.” I demonstrated with my hands.
    “Oh no…I saw it…I was in my…plane, flying… through the field. I was only…a small plane. I was hiding. No one saw me. I was…scared…I hid…in the long grass.”
    “What did you see, Billy?”
    The plane…behind the other one…its guns… shooting…rat-tat-tat-tat-tat. The plane…it made the other one…crash. I watched it…it came down from the sky…smoke coming…from here.” He demonstrated the entire scene with the replica Spitfire very convincingly.
    “You’re sure of what you saw, Billy? It was a long time ago.”
    “It was…on fire…it crashed in the field. I never…saw it again.” He smiled impishly, “I set fire…to my paper airplanes. Matron doesn’t like me doing that.” His face saddened. “She shouts at me…for being a bad boy…send me to bed early…with no supper. I’ve stopped doing it…now. I like my supper!”
    I looked at him incredulously and wondered if this nursing home was the right place for him. I guess it was ideal.
    Billy glanced at me with speculative eyes. “You believe me…don’t you?”
    “You must understand, Billy. What you’ve told me would sound ludicrous to someone who never saw those two planes. Two friendly Spitfires battling against each other over the skies of England when effectively, they should be fighting Germans? It doesn’t make any sense.”
    Poor Billy, he never understood a word I’d said. He was happy twisting the replica plane through the air in his imaginary battle, rasping the sound of an attacking Spitfire.
    As for Billy’s account of that day it was so far fetched it wasn’t surprising no one believed an illiterate boy during the war. If just one person had taken the time to verify his story, well, I wouldn’t have found the wreck when I did, nor find myself in the precarious position of looking over my shoulder every five minutes waiting for the inevitable hit-man. I left Billy in peace flying his new toy and headed back to the Mansion.
    Before leaving Three Trees I had a quiet word