over their heads it sailed , forty feet in the air , engulfed in a deep blue nimbus which faded to red at the edges : a little white motor scooter , and riding it , a middle.. aged woman in a pink helmet , and holding tightly to her , a short man in a mackintosh and a day.. glo green crash helmet ( the motor scooter was too far up for anyone to see that his eyes were tightly shut , but they were ) .