Above The Clouds by Philip Dodd
Turbulence they called it. Such an innocent sounding word. Suggests a mild movement, a slight buffeting. In reality the plane felt like it was being batted from side to side by an enormous clumsy toddler.
The Seat Belts On sign had stayed on for some time now. Mel looked nervously out of the window. There was nothing to be seen. It was as if the plane had been thrust into a box of closely packed cotton wool, then someone had thrown the box downstairs. It was the sort of sensation that makes you laugh if it's in a theme park. This sure didn't feel like any kind of laughing matter.
Her and Dan hadn't been able to get seats next to each other and he was a long way further back.
Poor darling, no cigarettes for eight hours and now this.
She tried to relax but it was tricky. She could smell the tension. The man next to her had that whiff or fear coming from him. Mel wasn't normally scared of a bit of turbulence, but this was a bit different. No one was talking, everyone was taking this seriously. Even the crew were strapped into their seats.
*****
Dan watched his right leg jumping and twitching. The guy he was sat next to had his eyes fixed, looking straight ahead.
Probably trying not to get angry about the twitchy bastard sat next to him. Well I like the twitch. Makes me more relaxed. Usually....
He tried to relax his hands which were gripping the armrests a little too tightly.
*****
The engines seemed to be really labouring, the plane was fighting hard to maintain it's course. The plane was heading up, looking to get above the clouds, into clear air. Finally it managed to pull clear. There was a palpable sense of relief, you could feel tense shoulders relaxing and shallow breaths fell into a deeper, more comfortable rythm. Mel closed her eyes. She tried to nestle into the seat and get a bit of sleep. She couldn't quite manage to drop off. There was something distracting. It had gone very quiet. She opened her eyes. Not quiet, silent. She couldn't hear the engines. She gasped and turned to the window. Looked ok. No sensation of falling.
We're not moving. We can't be not moving. That's not possible.
She turned to her fellow passengers. The man next to her was just staring straight ahead, not even blinking.
*****
Dan had noticed something odd too.
Maybe I shouldn't have had that extra drink before the flight. I wonder if other people think we have stopped or whether it's just me.
He laughed to himself and then turned to his fellow passengers. They were like statues. Everyone was. He turned round in his seat. He just saw row after row of blank staring faces, frozen, unseeing. He undid his belt and stood up.
*****
Dan!
Mel called from the front of the plane. She was heading back towards him.
I don't understand, we've...
Stopped. We have, we've stopped.
They didn't know what else to say, too confused to make any sense of this at all.
They heard a noise, a stewardess was heading down the aisle.
Dan called out to her.
Hey, what's happening?
Look, I'm not really sure but I know I have to get you out of here.
What do you mean out of here? There's nowhere to go, we're almost in fucking outerspace.
Look, I really don't understand but I know what I have to do.
Before either Mel or Dan could stop her she'd opened one of the exit doors. The slide had activated and led from the plane doorway to the roof of the clouds.
I can still breathe Dan said. I can still breathe, and we are are on a plane that has stopped in mid air.
Mel couldn't help but laugh at the confused look on his face. He laughed too.
They looked at the stewardess. She just gestured toward the slide.
Mel and Dan looked at her, looked at the slide, back at the other non-moving passengers.
Well, Mel said, they do reckon you only regret the things you don't do.
They held hands and jumped onto the inflated slide.
They both held their breath as they headed for the end of the slide. Their hearts were hammering in their chests. Then they landed. With a slight bounce. On the cloud surface.
They looked at each other with expressions that just seemed to say - is this really happening?
They looked back at the plane which was just frozen in mid air. It looked like it was anchored to the cloud by the slide. Much the same way a rope holds a hot air balloon. Maybe it would float off just the same. Everything was just too odd for words.
Dan felt like he was walking on an enormous feather mattress, there was solidity but a bit of give.
It's so beautiful.
He turned to Mel.
She was running and jumping in the cloud. Like a kid in snow.
Wooo hooooo!
She tumbled and rolled and bounced in the cloud. She tried to get a handful of the stuff. Tried to make a sort of Cloudball. But Dan watched it just sort of dissipate into vapour, into nothing.
He caught up and put his arm round her.
Just look. Mountains.
They weren't real mountains, but cloud mountains. Mel could see the contours lit up by the sun, gold and yellow and brilliant blue-white. Peaks and crevices, paths and valleys. Clouds causing shadows to pass over other clouds. As they walked over the cloud the footprints they left just sort of swelled and filled, leaving no trace of where they had stepped.
Mel took off at running pace. Laughing like a crazy woman she spread her arms wide and leapt forward. She landed face down in the cloud, still laughing. She got to her feet and brushed off the cloud which just evaporated into nothing.
They played in the cloud for some time. They found themselves in each others arms by a sculpted, tiered, cloud formation. They closed their eyes and just soaked up the sun. And slept.
*****
Some time later Dan woke with a start and shook Mel awake.
This doesn't make sense. This can't make sense. Come on.
He pulled Mel to her feet, she grabbed his hand and they turned to run back to the plane. The plane was some distance away, floating like a cloud itself, above cloud that was behaving more like solid ground.
As they came to the foot of the slide, the stewardess appeared at the doorway.
Why is this happening? Mel called up the stewardess.
I don't know how I know, I don't fully understand. But I know that this plane is going to crash. I know that I am going to die. I also know that you don't have to go down with it. You can stay here.
Dan stopped biting on his thumbnail, But why are we different?
I don't know. But I can imagine. I saw you in the clouds just now. It was so beautiful. But it's your choice. Are you coming with us, or are you staying here?
Mel wrinkled her nose at Dan.
So if we go we die. If we stay here we... we live. We live, but on top of the clouds. That seems like an easy choice. I think.
Dan pursed his lips and nodded slowly.
Just one thing - can I take my guitar?
The stewardess laughed.
I can't see why not.
She disappeared into the plane and returned with his guitar, which she put on the slide. Dan caught it at the other end. As they turned from the plane Dan began to strum the guitar and sing.
As Mel listened she heard the engines of the plane roar back into life and they both turned to watch the plane head off into the distance. An hour later it would plunge into the sea.
Dan sang.
Nobody knows she's an angel
She tramples the flowers that she breathes
But on the day she gives her life for no reason at all
She'll be released
She'll be free
She'll be an angel
Again.
You can see them sometimes. On a long flight half way between wakefulness and sleep. You may think you've dreamt it. The distant sight of the figure with the guitar, sat on the cloud, serenading the girl with the face that smiles like sunshine.
Philip Dodd writes stories, some are fact, some are fiction. They can be funny, or they might be sad, and they are often about memory and how we are shaped. He lives in the UK at Otford, Kent, a small village just outside London. You can find him at http://domesticatedbohemian.blogspot.com/ and on Twitter as @PhilipDodd.
