Arriving in New York

Old Timer pushed a button on his Wishby, and the train was underground, and arriving at an underground station. "New York City, Pennsylvania Station!" announced the train conductor. The train stopped, everyone got out, and rode moving stairs called escalators to the street. Good grief! What confusion! The street was filled with automobiles, taxicabs, buses and trucks. 

They filled all the lanes, and the stoplights every block kept them from moving much; so they all blew their horns as loud as they could. Then came screaming sirens as ambulances and police cars tried to get through; but they couldn't find much room either. The sidewalks were full of people hurrying along, trying not to bump into each other and ignoring all the racket in the street. 

Nan's voice came form Old Timer's Wishby. "it's rush hour and too crowded and noisy on the streets. Let's go to my apartment on the twenty-second floor where there's some peace and quiet." Old Timer pressed a button on his Wishby. 

The street scene faded away, and the second-graders, Mrs. Humdinger, and Old Timer were whisked above the street into the rooms of Nan Hotshot's apartment. The kids crowded around the windows. Outside they could see way down to the street, twenty-two stories below. Across the street they could see other buildings even higher than they were. Two blocks away, they could see a tall, slender building with a silver spire on top, way, way above them. 

"Wow!" exclaimed Laura the girl with her usual curiosity, "What building is that?" 

Nan Hotshot's voice came from the Wishby: "That's the Empire State Building you are looking at. Would you like to go up on its observation deck?" 

"Let's go!" yelled the kids.

"Okay," continued Nan on the Wishby, "But it takes too long to go down the elevator and over on the street level. I will send you on the Wishby Flying Daisy Chain. Everybody line up and hold hands. You, too, Mrs. Humdinger, at the head of the line. Now, Unc, open the window, press the Flight button on your Wishby, grab Mrs. Humdinger's hand, and dive out!" Old Timer gulped, but did as he was told, and holding the Wishby in one hand and Mrs. Humdinger in the other he dived head first into space, and Mrs. Humdinger and the long line of kids, holding hands, followed after him like the tail of a kite. 

They were hundreds of feet in the air, zig-zagging back and forth while Old Timer got the knack of steering them between the tall buildings, and then to gain altitude. The kids were too breathless to scream, and Mrs. Humdinger could only gasp "Oh! Oh! Oh! I love it!" The daisy chain of second graders rose to thirty floors up, then forty, fifty, sixty, all the way to the 86th floor where they landed on the observation deck. Above them towered the tall, silver spire, eighteen stories still higher, which held television and radio antenna equipment. The observation deck extended all around the top of the Empire State Building, and when they got their breath, the second-graders ran to each side of the deck looking out over New York City in all four directions.

Mrs. Humdinger then pointed out to them that they were about nine hundred feet up, and spread out below them were five whole cities-Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten Island, each of them bigger than Milwaukee-and that these five cities together formed the supercity, New York. Gerard, who was always eager for adventure, shouted, "Hey! I see an island out in the harbor, and it's got the Statue of Liberty on it! Let's go there!"

Just then, Joey, (remember Old Timer's special friend?) called out. Joey had been looking over the guardrail down to the bottom of the Empire State Building. "Look what I see! There's a giant gorilla climbing up the side of the Empire State Building! He's coming up right after us! He's huge! He's already halfway up! He's up to the fiftieth floor and still coming! Gollywollickers, I know who he is-I saw him on TV! That's King Kong, the giant prehistoric gorilla!" Joey got so excited, he climbed up on the guardrail, leaning over to see better. Suddenly Joey yelled, "Whoa-oa-oa" as he lost his balance and tumbled over the guardrail and tumbled down, down, down!

Mrs. Humdinger cried "Old Timer, do something!" Joey was falling past the eightieth, then the seventieth, then the sixtieth floors. Nan Hotshot's voice came from the Wishby, "Press the Emergency Button!" Old Timer quickly obeyed. Down on the side of the building, King Kong, with one huge arm wrapped around the Empire State Building, reached out his other arm, and caught Joey in his huge hand, just as Joey was falling past the fiftieth floor.

 "Saved!" yelled the second-graders. Nan's voice came again from the Wishby: "I arranged a guest appearance of King Kong on the Empire State Building. I hope you enjoyed it." 

But Mrs. Humdinger sounded worried as she asked, "How are we going to get Joey back?"

"I know," cried Gerard, who saw a chance for adventure. "Let's form the flying daisy chain again, swoop down, pick up Joey, and fly over to the Statue of Liberty!" 

"Good idea," agreed Old Timer, "Line up, join hands, and here we go!" as he punched the Go button on the Wishby. They took off, circled once, and then swooped down past King Kong's outstretched arm. Mary, the most practical second-grader, was last on the daisy chain, and as they flew past, she reached out and grabbed Joey's hand so that he joined the daisy chain, too. (Mary kind of liked helping Joey). 

They flew over the big harbor doing loop-the-loops and snapping-the-whip until they came to the Statue of Liberty, and landed on her crown. Inside her crown was another observation deck with windows; and the second-graders could see all over the harbor with its ships and bridges, the tall buildings of Manhattan, and glimpses of Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the state of New Jersey! 

Mrs. Humdinger, after she caught her breath, said "Class, this beautiful statue we are looking out from, is over one hundred and seventy feet tall, and is a gift to the people of the United States from the people of France. Schoolchildren in France contributed their pennies for years to save up enough to pay for this statue, and a Frenchman designed it and built it." "

Gosh," said Frankie thoughtfully, "That sure took a lot of copper pennies. Look, the whole statue is made out of copper!"

Nan's voice came again on the Wishby, "Time to fly over to Central Park. Form your daisy chain." The second-graders quickly lined up, and Old Timer pressed the Go button. They took off and flew over the tall buildings on Manhattan to a beautiful park, right in the middle of town, filled with hills, trees, ponds, gardens, a zoo, and refreshment stands.

The second-graders landed and were walking quietly along a shady path, when they passed a funny-looking old man sleeping on a bench. He had a very long beard, and was wearing a kind of pointed, floppy hat, knee britches, and pointed shoes. In fact, he looked like an elf. 

Mrs. Humdinger whispered excitedly, "Look, Class, I think that we are seeing the famous Rip Van Winkle! Don't wake him, he's been asleep for over two hundred years!" 

Isabel, who reads a lot of books, acclaimed, "Golly! Will he ever be surprised when he wakes up. When he fell asleep, there wasn't any city here!" 

Nan Hotshot's voice whispered over the Wishby, "I arranged a guest appearance of Rip Van Winkle especially for your visit. I hope that you enjoyed it. Now, quickly form your daisy chain. We just have time for a quick look at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx." 

"Oh, boy, baseball!" yelled the boys.

The daisy chain took off again, and soon was circling over a huge bowl-shaped building in the city below. As they swooped lower, they could see that it was a baseball stadium, it was filled with people, and a game was going on! "Let's get closer, closer!" excitedly urged the boys, "Who's playing, what's the score?"

They swooped close enough to see the scoreboard. The New York Yankees were playing the Milwaukee Brewers, and the score was tied in the ninth inning! The Brewers were up to bat, and as the second-graders watched, Paul Molitor hit a long fly ball that was nearly as high as the kids' daisy chain as they swooped over the baseball stadium. The crows in the stands roared, and so did the second-graders.

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