The kite maker stuck to rigid frames. (rigid: stiff, inflexible, unyielding) His granddaughter worked with the plasticity of wet cane. (plasticity: malleability, flexibility, adaptability) A rigid kite could withstand gusts, she conceded, but a flexible one might escape a vortex by bowing. (vortex: whirlwind, eddy, swirl) Her grandfather regarded this unorthodoxy with amused detachment. (unorthodoxy: heterodoxy, nonconformity, unconventionality; detachment: objectivity, dispassion, impartiality)
Their kites began to vie for the same patch of air. (vie: compete, contend, rival) A sudden squall sent both into the apple tree. The little kite folded and dropped; the stiff one caught. To extricate it they tied the flexible cane into a hook and fixed it to his long straight spar. (extricate: free, release, disentangle)
At the next competition he carried the hook. She carried the spar. They had found an arrangement neither wished to improve, though both continued to claim tactical superiority whenever the wind was right. (tactical: calculated, purposeful, planned; superiority: preeminence, advantage, ascendancy)