As I was flying my private plane I heard a sudden rip
The left-side wing had been torn askew, the plane began to dip
My life flashes past as the wind fuels the fire
All the high and and low moments of my life entire
No future now is offered by the earth spread out below
Only a long descent that was not gonna be slow
"It's time to hit the silk" was my next thought
But then came a lesson I was once taught
About the time to jump and the time to ditch
All the while bearing in mind gravity is a b*ch
But with time running out, the choice had to be made
Do I still intend to live or choose eternal shade?
I open the plane door and with a breath I leap
Just before the AN-2 began to dive too steep
So sorry to see you go, my sweet hunk of junk!
It was around that time that I realized I forgot my trunk
With all the maps and charts of where the Wanderer now lay
My poor memory will have to show me the way
I was drifting down beneath my chute, towards dry land below
Landing not so softly on a hills barren plateau
I landed hard but luckily I avoided getting hurt
And the canvas of my parachute rested gently in the dirt
"Well, that was close," I muttered, "But I can't lie here all day"
So I gathered the silk, looked around - now, which way?
But first I needed somewhere safe to sit and think awhile
I spotted a pedestrian who had a friendly smile
"'Scuse me miss", I paused, "Could I trouble you for a sec?"
"Have you perchance just seen a biplane hit the deck?"
"Already yearning to return up there, fallen stranger?"
"Oh I would, if only I could, I have a zest for danger."
"Walk down this road, stranger, and answers you shall find."
I nod my head and walk with only the map in my mind
Been traveling for hours now, my patience wearing thin
I thought that I should stop and eat, lest hunger pangs set in
So I looked around for somewhere to buy a tasty snack
Perhaps the woman I met lives around here, I think back
To when I saw her walk into a house up on that hill
And that, my friends, was how I met the lovely lass named Jill.
Seeing me on her porch Jill invited me into her house.
"You remind me of someone who I met last year in Laos."
"An old friend of mine lives there, but the World can't be that small
"He's a elderly man, a professor, tan, grey hair, quite tall."
I thought back to the people that I met in Vientiane
When I remembered a man, who I deemed was insane
A tall and dapper fellow, American by birth,
Who was old and looked lean, yet full of mirth
Going out in public, he'd wear such strange apparel
That people would just stare at him, or point, jest and yell.
Ah, I remember the day I first spoke with the guy
I met him in the market place as he was strolling by
"So tell me Jill, was your friend in Laos named Jack?"
"Why yes," she said, "and his last name...was Flack!"