Dream Journal Entry #6 - 3/8/2015
Pod Jumper
I was sitting in
the airplane, elbow to elbow with...
Dream Journal Entry #6 - 3/8/2015
Pod Jumper
I was sitting in
the airplane, elbow to elbow with the others. It was noisy and rattling, like
the metal tin tube we traveled in was held together by nothing but a few rusty
bolts and luck. The seats, which were made of a nylon army green fabric, lined
the round walls of the plane, forcing me and everyone else to stare across at
the travelers on the other side. I shifted in my seat and glanced over at Tom,
with his dark hair hanging over his eyes that were cast down stoically. He didn’t
notice me, so I shift my attention down the line at the other boys, all seated
one after the other beside me. I wanted to make light of things, ease the
weight on my chest, but I didn’t say anything. I don’t really know if they’re
the chatty type or if they’d rather it stay silent, so I just kept my thoughts
to myself.
Before long it was
time to board the exit pod. I stood and did the best I could to keep my footing
as I made my way slowly down the wide, rubber floored isle, following Tom and
the other boys. They made their way to the hatch door, now open with a
uniformed flight attendant standing beside it, hand firmly clasped around a metal
bar beside the doorway. As I drew near the sounds of air whooshing by the plane
grows impossible to hear over, and the light pouring in from the clouds and
into the dimly lit metal plane through the hatch is blinding.
Finally I stood
before the hatch, air wiping around the small spaces between the hatch doorway
and the pod entrance. The pod reminded me of a Ferris wheel ride I’d once gone
on back home. It was completely round with a band around its upper center made
of glass, creating a 360 degree window. Everything inside save for the windows
was teal. There weren’t any individual seats, but the floor and the siding up
to the window level was cushioned, and contoured to a human shape, so that a
person could put their feet in the very center of the round pod and lie on
their back or side, and be in a sloped angled upright position. The 4 other
boys where already doing this, and now it was my turn.
I climbed into the
pod and lie down beside Tom. There was plenty of room in the pod so that we all
had space to lay comfortably. Now that I was here, securely lying in the pod,
my anxious nerves were starting to diminish. The loud sounds of the wind were
becoming less of a howl and more of a hum, and if I turned to lay on my side I
could look out the window and see the vast ocean bellow us, shimmering in the
midday sun. Then there was a light jolt
as our pod began to move, detaching from the plane. It wouldn’t be long now
until we had reached out destination. The trip was short from here. But through
the wind I could hear a scuffle from the plan, the sound of hurrying feet and
an uttered cry.
“No, don’t forget
about me,” wailed a boy who I didn’t recognize. As he said it he emerged into
the light of the outside from within the plane. I watched, wide eyed as he
hesitated for only a moment at the lip of the opening, and jumped. I thought I
should have screamed, should have yelled at him to stop, but I was so in awe
and shock I couldn’t think to say a thing. The boy hurtled through the growing
distance between the plane and the pod. I watched him as he flew, and I
silently hoped he would make it. Dear god
let him make it.
