Skywriter

On a fine, cloudless, spring day after the war was over, a tiny airplane appeard over Hazard. It was up so high, I could hardly see it. It started making smoke and soon had constructed a giant letter P in the sky. My mother took one look and said, "That's a sky writer." She had seen them in Lexington before the war. Anyway the letters, which were described the next day in the Hazard Hearld as "About a mile high," kept appearing. The P was followed by an E and another P. Soon, the pilot had spelled out Pepsi Cola in the sky. He did it three times. After a while the letters faded away.

That night when Daddy came home from the store, he was grinning and laughing. He said that a lot of people couldn't read what it said, but when they saw words written in the sky they assumed that it was the end of the world. Preachers appeared on the steps of the courthouse, all preaching as loud as they could about the end of the world. I really believe the preachers were probably literate, but they weren't about to pass up a chance to save a few souls. The preaching lasted longer than the message in the sky. The end of the world might someday be announced by letters in the sky, but I have serious doubts that they will spell out Pepsi Cola, Pepsi Cola, Pepsi Cola.

I wonder if there is anybody in Hazard who remembers that day?