~Grounded Flight~
Mar 29 '05
The Bottom Line ----------------------------------------------------------------------
She arrived at the airport
Her eyes weary from a disturbed sleep
with unsettled dreams
about the impending flight home
There were no other passengers
not even a ditzy stewardess
or a pilot to announce when the plane would land
There wasn’t even a plane to land
She was strapped in her seat
as the lone object mysteriously propelled through the sky
descending even lower into the thickening air
Her windpipe constricted
her heart bled within her chest
and her wallet was empty
... and then she awoke, before sunrise...
Knowing she had to be at the airport for 7
she didn’t bother trying to recapture the fleeing sleep
(besides, she didn’t want to return to the dream
with pieces of her strewn across the flatlands of Saskatchewan)
She gathered her suitcases
They felt like rocks severed from the eroding cliffs of the Prince Edward Island north shore
as they strained the threads keeping her arm intact to her shoulder
Arriving at the terminal
she saw patches of individuals meandering over the ashy white floors
While the rest sat on the benches
Their heads being held up by the palms of their hands
to replace the rotting tension of their necks
You could not blame them for their weariness
Long flights, crippling waits.....
....her own numbing fear lingered
even after finally making a meal out of courage
to board a plane for the first time
but she devoured it too fast
and her stomach remained wrapped in knots
as she prepared for the return trip
But then she noticed a lack of life
behind the counter where the representatives of her flight should be
Maybe they were late for work?
Desperate to use the bathroom?
But instead
a piece of paper was passed around
to her and the other mystified souls
The flight she needed
was to be grounded permanently
And she would never fly
unless she had the extra cash to purchase a seat
from an airline that didn’t experience a surprise bankruptcy
mere hours ago
Even as her state of mind was rocked
the text on the press release held no surprise
“We are very concerned about out customers and the significant hardship that this action causes.”*
... or so it said.
But she didn’t see any money change hands
between her and some invisible company rep
who felt sorry for her predicament
It kind of reminded her
of her boyfriend
who maintained “it wasn’t you, it was me.”
but only left her with one choice: to have a broken heart
while he freed himself to do what he liked
This was why she took that wild stab in the heart
Why she killed her crippling fear
and got on that plane
to fly god knows where
Tie up a few days, weeks
for the breathing in of air she hadn’t recycled millions of times before
To see things she hadn’t seen
But now she’s stranded
her windpipe constricted
her heart bled within her chest
and her wallet was empty
All she could say in her favour
was she was glad the airline didn’t decide to go bust
at 40,000 feet
-------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 David MacDonald
*quote from press release at www.jetsgo.net
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Member: David Macdonald
Location: Prince Edward Island
Reviews written: 612
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About Me:
Alice, a story in nine parts, posted on Sept 24, 2008 - http://www.epinions.com/content_5241348228
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