Once upon a time, there was a boy named Luke.
And Luke loved making things with paper.
He would spend hours folding sheets, trying to make paper footballs and ninja stars and origami.
But his favorite thing to make out of paper were paper airplanes.
He would try so hard to fold the creases just right, because the better he would fold the paper, The better his planes would fly.
But it seemed like no matter how hard he tried, his airplanes would always wobble or turn right or turn left and crash into the wall.
It was still fun, but also a little frustrating at times.
One day, Luke's dad noticed him sitting on the floor surrounded by crumpled up airplanes.
Hey, Luke, Dad said with a smile.
I see you've been working on your paper airplanes.
You want to see a special kind of airplane that my dad taught me how to make when I was your age?
Luke perked up.
A special airplane?
So dad knelt down and lowered his voice.
This isn't just any airplane, Luke.
It's a family secret.
If I show you, you have to promise not to share this with anyone.
At least not until you have your own kid to pass it on to.
Deal?
Luke's eyes went wide and he nodded eagerly. deal.
So Dad pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and began folding it.
His hands moved carefully, making precise folds that Luke had never seen before.
The secret, Dad said, is in these exact folds.
If you even get one wrong, the airplane won't work.
But if you get it just right, well, Then watch this.
When the airplane was finished, it looked pretty ordinary.
Luke wasn't sure what to expect, but then his dad threw it.
And the airplane zipped out of the living room window and disappeared for a few minutes.
And Luke and his dad just sat there.
And just when Luke was about to ask his dad what the big deal was and why he threw the airplane out the window like that, All of a sudden the paper airplane zoomed back into the house through the window on the other side of the room and it landed perfectly in his dad's hand.
Dad even caught it with his eyes closed.
Wait, what just happened?
Luke said.
Watch this, Dad said.
I'm going to throw this airplane and it's going to fly into the kitchen, down the hallway, into our bedroom, and it's going to fly back holding my nail clippers.
And then Dad carefully threw it, And both Luke and Dad just sat and watched in amazement as it slowly floated into the kitchen and then through the hallway, disappearing for a moment into Dad's bedroom and then flying right back with the nail clippers, just like Dad said it would.
Luke gasped.
How did you do that, Dad?
And Dad grinned.
Well, now it's your turn.
So Luke got to work carefully copying each fold.
But it was harder than it looked.
Each time he tried, the airplane flopped or flew straight into the ground.
But Luke kept at it.
And after he tried 99 times, he sighed and threw down his paper.
I can't do it, Dad.
It's impossible.
Dad put his hand on Luke's shoulder.
It's not impossible, son.
You just haven't done it yet.
And so Luke took a deep breath and he tried one last time.
He folded the paper, focusing on each crease.
When he was done, he held up his airplane.
And dad said, okay, let's see it fly.
And Luke thought of exactly where he wanted this airplane to go.
He held his breath.
And he drew his hand back and he threw that airplane.
It zipped around the room, did three flips, flew upstairs, came back down and finally landed in the kitchen, bonking dad on his forehead.
Dad left.
Well, it looks like someone just figured it out.
Luke grinned from ear to ear.
He could not believe he finally did it.
All it took was a hundred tries to get it right.
And so Luke threw that paper airplane again and again.
And every time, all he had to do was concentrate with each throw, thinking of exactly where he wanted it to go, and it would always do exactly what he wanted it to, no matter where or how crazy he wanted it to fly.
He tried telling it to fly around the house 10 times while doing flips the whole way, and it did it.
He told it to fly down to the end of the street and back, and it did it.
He even wrote a note and told it to deliver it to his friend four blocks away.
And it did exactly what he asked every single time.
And the crazy thing was...
Luke wouldn't even throw it that hard.
It was like the plane understood him and knew exactly what he wanted.
And then it would just take on a life of its own and do whatever he told it to.
Luke could not wait to show his friends.
So the next day, Luke brought his new airplane to school and everyone gathered around to watch.
Check this out, Luke said as he threw the airplane and it zoomed through the classroom, weaving between desks and chairs, before landing neatly back in his hand.
But then the teacher came in and said um excuse me class, but there are no paper airplanes allowed.
Please put it away.
And so Luke, knowing what that airplane could do, tossed it towards the trash can.
But right before it landed in the wastebasket, it quickly flew up and out the classroom door, down the hall and right into his open house backpack.
Why?
Because that's what Luke was thinking when he threw it.
This thing could do whatever he told it to.
At recess, Luke was showing his friends some of the amazing things his plane could do.
When all of a sudden, the school bully, Hank, steps forward.
Hey, let me see that!
He sneered.
And before Luke could stop him, Hank snatched the airplane out of Luke's hands, crumpled it up and threw it on the ground.
No more fun for you!
Ha ha ha! as he turned his back and walked away.
Luke felt his face go hot with anger.
Why did you do that?
Hank shrugged.
It's just a lousy paper airplane.
He stomped away laughing.
Luke picked up what was left of his crumpled up paper airplane.
His heart was broken.
One of his classmates, a quiet boy named Mars, walked over.
Mars got picked on a lot by Hank, too.
That was really cool, Mars said shyly.
I wish I could have seen it fly again.
And Luke managed to smile.
Don't worry, Mars said.
I bet we can fix it.
My mom knows a cool trick to straighten out crumpled up paper like this.
So Luke asked his parents if he could go over to Mars' house to fix his airplane.
And they said, sure, why not?
And so later that afternoon when they got to Mars' house, his mom said I know just the trick to fix this.
Come with me.
And she took them to her ironing board and turned on her iron.
And just like she would iron the wrinkles out of a shirt or a pair of slacks, she ironed out that crumpled up piece of paper.
And in just a few seconds, it looked like it was a brand new piece of paper.
It was like magic.
And so, while Mars was helping his mom put the iron away, Luke carefully folded that same piece of paper in a way that only he and his dad knew how to fold.
And when he was finished, they walked outside and Luke said OK, I know exactly where I'm going to throw this, as he pulled his arm back.
And then he threw it as hard as he could.
And the plane flew way up high into the air and did a gigantic somersault and then turned around and came right back at them and landed perfectly in the hand of Mars.
It's yours now, said Luke.
Go on, give it a try.
And Mars could not believe it.
This was the coolest gift anyone had ever given him, especially since he knew exactly what this paper airplane could do.
This was incredible.
Are you sure you want to give me your special paper airplane?
Mars asked.
And Luke said, well, that airplane wouldn't work at all anymore if it weren't for you and your mom.
You deserve it.
Besides, I can always make another one.
That night, Mars was having the time of his life playing with his new airplane that could truly do anything he told it to and go anywhere he wanted it to go.
He even wrote a note to Luke that said, Thanks, Luke!
Tucked it into the paper airplane and whispered Fly to Luke's house and drop this note in his mailbox.
Okay okay hello, oh.
He realized the paper airplane wasn't gonna respond and he said okay, you'll probably get it.
And then he threw that paper airplane and it actually went all the way to luke's house, even though luke lived on the other side of town And, just like Mars said, it dropped the note right in Luke's mailbox.
And then it flew all the way back to Mars' house.
This thing was truly remarkable.
And if you told me you didn't believe it was true, I wouldn't blame you.
Nobody would have believed it was possible unless they saw it with their own eyes.
It was better than any technology developed by any military anywhere, and all it took was to know exactly which folds to make and exactly how to fold them.
And while all this was happening, Luke was in his room on the other side of town folding a new paper airplane.
And now that he had done it a time or two, he found it was much easier to make the airplane the right way.
It's funny how, once you figure out how to do something really tricky the first time, every time after that somehow just gets a lot easier.
So Luke decided to make this one even more special than the first one.
It would be something that no school bully would ever be able to mess with.
And so Luke tossed it lightly into the air to test it out, but it quickly zipped around the room and then quickly flew out of his window into the night.
Luke hadn't even told it where to go.
And suddenly...
Luke's dad appeared behind him with a concerned look on his face.
Luke, he said, did you just throw that paper airplane without telling it where to go?
Yes, Luke said sheepishly.
If it's acting like that, then we have a problem.
And then dad pulled out a big dusty box and said i was hoping i'd never have to show you this, but it's time you knew the truth about these airplanes.
But that's a story for another day.
