Homemade Toys - Size Large

There was a thing we called the snow plane. It was a wedge shaped cockpit on skis, pushed from behind by an airplane propeller. The exact ownership of it was not entirely clear to me. The source of the airplane it came from was not entirely clear to me and who had been involved in its engineering and building was not entirely clear to me. Somebody built it in somebody’s shop. Sometimes it was at our house and sometimes not. We lived pretty close to this wide spot on the James River that was technically named Silver Lake but no one really called it that. It was just the Jim River by Ludden. My dad’s friend lived on the other side of the river, a bit north. Sometimes the snow plane was at their house. It was fast. How fast can an airplane engine push a wedge of cockpit on skis across a frozen river? I remember one time in particular. A friend of my mother’s whom I adored was visiting and we were going to go for a ride! It must not have been heated inside because we wore more layers than you could move much in. But for some reason, the friend brought my baby sister along, held the bundle of my baby sister in her lap. I have an inkling that it was because spoiled me insisted she come along even though she was far too young to have a clue what was going on! I am pretty sure my mother disapproved. I am pretty sure my dad grinned large as he drove the thing across the snowy field and onto the ice of the river. It was cold! It was loud! It was fast! It was fun!