38 Rockwell's Brilliant Idea

38 Rockwell's Brilliant Idea Peanut and Little-Bit stood at the edge of the ravine looking down at the remains of the bridge hanging next to the cliff face. ' So what do we do now?' asked Little-Bit. 'I'm not sure, LB. All I know is that Mrs M said that we've got to be at the lake before it gets dark.' 'So, about that door said Rockwell from behind them. He was still sitting in the snow. 'Have either of you got any bright ideas as to how we can get down to the lake?' asked Peanut, peering over the edge. ' Well, you could always just jump off the cliff,' suggested Little-Bit cheerily. 'Very funny.'

Actually... that might just work,' said Rockwell. There was a look of intense concentration on his face. Peanut frowned. 'Well, there's no doubt that we'd get there quickly if we did that. It's just that we would be a bit too, y'know, dead. 'Not necessarily.' Rockwell stood up, strolled towards the sisters and looked over the edge. Then he licked his finger and looked up into the sky. He nodded. 'Interesting. 'What are you doing?' asked Peanut. I'm coming up with a brilliant idea,' he said drily. 'You could jump off of the cliff if you had the right equipment. ' What. equipment? A parachute?' said Little-Bit. 'There's not enough height for a parachute. Some sort of simple wing design would work, though. With something to hold on to suspended underneath it. 'I don't understand,' said Peanut. 'Funnily enough, I was reading about thermodynamics last night and, apparently, if you are high up on a cliff edge, for example, holding an aerofoil, or a wing, above your head, and you run at about fifteen miles per hour, you'll get enough air moving over the upper surface of the wing to make the pressure above it drop considerably. This will generate the lift that will enable you to... take off. 'You mean that you would fly?' 'Well, you would glide, certainly. Once you were over the

edge of the cliff and in the air, gravity would slowly pull you back to earth, but at the same time you would be propelled forward.' He looked down at the lake. 'In theory, you should be able to jump off the edge and steer yourself down. Peanut handed Rockwell the pencil. ' Sounds brilliant. Show me what this wing looks like.' But, I can't draw! I'm rubbish at art!' 'Nonsense. Just imagine that you're drawing a diagram in your physics exercise book and that you're really trying to impress old Death Breath. Rockwell started drawing a shape in front of him. The line, as always, seemed to flow from the tip and hang, suspended in the air. ' Whoa! This is so cool,' he said. Peanut smiled. A few minutes later, Rockwell's diagram was finished. ' There. What do you think?'

'Not bad, for someone who can't draw. Not bad at all, said Peanut. ' This one will be just perfect for me and Little-Bit. Now you need to draw another one for you and Doodle.' 'Me and Doodle? No way. I told you, I still want to go home. Oh, come on, Rockwell, we need you. I can't carry Doodle as well as LB. And anyway, don't you want to find out if your brilliant idea works?' 'Yeah, come on, Rockwell. Don't be such a baby,' said Little-Bit. Doodle wound himself in a figure of eight around Rockwell's legs. Rockwell shook his head. He knew when he was beaten. ' Well, I guess I could stay a little longer. It would be kind of cool to test out my idea in a real-world environment. But just so you know, I still want to go home as soon as I can. OK?' 'Whatever,' said Peanut happily. 'You draw, I'll get colouring.