: A shark attacks his father and seriously injures him. A ten-year-old son drags him onto a plane and delivers him to the clinic. This tragedy brings father and son together.

“Father and Son” is an excerpt from James Aldridge’s short story “The Last Inch.” The title of the passage is conditional; in the original it is not entitled in any way.

Ben, a pilot, was attacked by a shark during underwater shooting. His son, a ten-year-old Devi, had to drag his wounded father to the plane.

Minutely losing consciousness, Ben lay down on a towel and kicked off the sand while his son dragged him to the plane. So that his father could climb into the passenger seat, exhausted Davy piled stones and pieces of coral in front of the plane and dragged his father, who was weakened by big blood loss, on this ramp.

In life, you can do anything you want, Davy, ”he said in a weak voice,“ if you don't tear yourself up. ” Do not bother ...

Meanwhile, it began to get dark - it was the rising wind that covered the sky with dust and sand. Ben hoped that this wind would make it easier for them to take off, but if he blows too much, they simply will not notice the airport lights and fly by.

Having tied his father with a towel, Davy dragged him into the passenger seat of the aircraft. Only now did the boy realize that he was assigned the role of a pilot. Ben sincerely regretted that he did not bother to recognize this gloomy boy, and now he could not find the right words to cheer him up.

Following the instructions of his father, Davy started the engine and hardly lifted the plane into the air, overcoming the pressure of the wind. Ben kept losing consciousness, but he was not going to give up. He clung to a thin thread of consciousness, "because in her alone was the salvation of his son." Ben led, trying to control Davy's every action. He regretted that he had not explained everything to his son before, when the roar of the engine and the howling wind did not interfere with the conversation.

You can’t lose your mind and constantly do stupid things!

Finally, the plane took off, and Ben plunged into darkness. He woke up from the sound of interruptions in the engine and helped his son fix the problem. Davy remembered the map and knew how to use the compass. Ben told him to fly along the Suez Canal, and then turn to Cairo, and again lost consciousness. Left alone at a kilometer high, Davy realized that he could never cry again.

Ben was unconscious almost all the way. He woke up just before landing. Having hardly got up in a chair, Ben began to help his son again.

It’s not so difficult to lift an airplane into the air and fly it; landing it on the ground is the task!

They miraculously missed a huge four-engine aircraft, at that moment taking off at the airport. A moment before landing, the plane lost speed, but Davy still managed to land him and survive.

To the surprise of Egyptian physicians, Ben survived, although he lost his left hand along with the ability to fly airplanes. Now he had one concern: to find the way to the heart of his son, to overcome the last inch separating them.