Monday, March 9, 2015

Red Tone Rocket

Red Tone Rocket
Noel Laflin
3-9-15




There was only one gift that I secretly prayed would find its way to me back in 1963 - and it did – a brand new Red Tone Rocket. 

I had spotted the high-flying temptation perched atop the frozen food aisle in a neighborhood supermarket earlier that summer.

“Anyone from age 8 to 88 can launch this sensational missile that reaches altitudes of 500 feet!” the side panel of the box boasted. I must have read that oversized print out loud to my folks on numerous occasions, hoping against hope that they took the hint.

But as my father reluctantly pointed out, for the umpteenth time, it cost ten dollars. I felt that the beautiful eighteen-inch shiny red plastic cylinder, capped with the magnificent white rubber nosecone might have been as much a pipedream as President Kennedy’s plan to put men on the moon.  It simply seemed out of reach.

But there it was beneath the tree come Christmas morning.

Maybe there was hope for man reaching the moon someday too.

My pals and I must have launched that rocket a thousand times over the next decade – before it flew no more.  But my father knew that he’d scored a homerun with that gift.

And if my count is anywhere near correct, well, that ten dollar investment averaged out to be just a penny a flight in the long run. 

I’m pretty certain that pleased my father too.









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