The Troubled Tribble

Below is a story I wrote to describe what flying is like for someone may  age or even a little younger. I wrote it for a school assignment and then submited forr an essay contest and won (oh yeah baby!!) So here it is and I hope you enjoy it 😀

            “The skies are blue on this crisp, autumn day. Children are laughing and skipping. The birds are chirping high up in the old oak tree. The leaves are slowly changing color, from vibrant green to rich reds, golden yellows, and dark browns. One by one the leaves fall from their high perch and land softly on the ground, but the ground is the last place Stephanie Marie would ever think to be on a day like today. Instead of being outside jumping in the great piles of leaves as all the other kids her age are doing, she would rather be in a small box with only 5 inoperable windows, two locked doors, no air conditioning and a wall full of gauges and levers. Most would not understand why anyone would want to do this, let alone a child, but Stephanie knows the power of this grand machine.

            It was the allure of freedom and independence that draws her to that small vehicle in the middle of an empty field. The bright red and yellow adorning stripes on the side of the plane shine brightly in the mid-afternoon glow. Only a select few can truly understand Stephanie’s passion for flight. For Stephanie, the ability to let go of the earth and fly is a feeling unlike any other. Once it is experienced, flight becomes a thirst for the trill of ‘throwing yourself at the ground and missing.’

            Unfortunately for Stephanie, freedom from gravity requires choice, skill, and the willingness to fight back against the laws of nature. She must have gas in her plane to fuel her escape from the bounds that hold humanity to the earth.  Stephanie knows too much gas will make her plane too heavy and too little could mean she will fall; after all, ‘too much of a good thing can be bad.’ Luckily for her, she has found the perfect balance. Her planes flaps and rudders must be fully functioning so she can steer her vessel safely. Any mistake could mean disaster at any time during flight. Sabrina, after going through her pre-flight checklist, deciding ‘go or no-go’ and making sure she was in full green, is finally clear for take-off. 

            Sometimes Stephanie cannot fly by VFR, also known as visual flight rules, and see where she is going; instead, she must rely on careful planning and the accuracy of her instruments. She moves with the mindset and precision of a surgeon operating on a patient. Any error in could be fatal, but Stephanie knows what she is doing. Practice and training have given her the tools to be a part of a world with another dimension, a world with more depth than one person can ever see in its entirety. She can see the changing of seasons as the warmth of summer transforms into the coolness of autumn on the carpet of color that lay far below.

             The beauty and majesty of God’s creations which only birds, butterflies, and pilots will ever see becomes forever etched in young Stephanie’s mind. The feeling she experiences as she swoops effortlessly above the tree tops and skims the surface of the gleaming water is simply indescribable. It is the feeling of success resounding through the mind of a child. Stephanie is prepared to take on a world of new challenges and anyone who tries to get in the way of her goals and dreams. She knows she can fight for her freedom to soar with just the right balance of subtlety and force to combat even the most solid laws which govern her freedom. After all, she can defy gravity.”