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Devyani Borade
Sky’s the Limit
The aeroplane takes off like an arrow towards an unknown
destination. The wind lifts the plane’s wings, giving
them the required thrust to gain altitude rapidly. Twin headlights
cleave a path through the darkness as the dull roar of its engines
carries clearly on the cold night air.
Five pairs of eyes are turned up towards it, watching the
lights steadily climb higher. The dull eyes of a prostitute lying
motionless in a dingy room as a paying customer grimly goes to
work on her for his money’s worth, see an unattainable escape to
another life. The indifferent eyes of a constable as he struggles to
create order, see a vehicle that thankfully does not add to the burgeoning
traffic snarl on the ground. The unblinking sharp eyes of
an air traffic controller watching aircraft activity in the vicinity,
see only a dark speck on a green screen and visions of another
month’s salary if it doesn’t disappear. The sightless eyes of a man
dead on the pavement, crushed under the wheels of yet another
rich tycoon driving drunk, see nothing.
The fifth pair of eyes belong to a small boy perched high
64 Writing Tomorrow Magazine