Santa Catalina Island Mar27 '04
The wheels stop spinning almost instantly as the airplane gently ascends from the runway pavement at Los Angeles International Airport. Tiny airplane wheels are a strange commodity to something so massive and bursting with fuel as this lumbering 747. For an object that is only effective traveling through the air, it is ironic for it to have any wheels at all. I suppose all things must land.
On our second flight of the morning, we once again head west into the scattered clouds. I look out my window below, and all I see are large beach houses and heavy waves slapping against the shore. I realize that we are leaving the comfort of land beneath us. Lacking an emergency runway somewhere below, any airplane malfunction will cause our plane to pitch nose–first into the Pacific Ocean. (Of course my mind concocts only worst case scenarios.) Even so, these are certainly not comforting thoughts, especially while heading into the direction of the most comforting place on Earth.
Hawaii seems millions of miles away, as the aircraft continues to gain altitude. Down below, the coast of California is no longer on my radar screen. All I can see in every direction is thrashing water – waves about as high as my house – a house which now sits quiet and alone on our block, with nothing to do but age.
Out my window, I notice something off to the left.
Land.
As my eyebrows clench together in perplexed thought, a tap on my shoulder almost makes me jump out of my seat (as if I could physically go anywhere in such a cramped spot).
I almost forgot my Mom was next to me, since I am so caught up in my own personal movie that I am creating out the airplane window.
"What’s down there? Anything interesting?"
"Just water," I mention. "Although, there is an island forming right over there. What is that?"
In all the maps and textbooks I read in grade school, I never remembered an island so big sitting off the coast of California. As this piece of land continues to form in the center of my window, I wonder if we are even heading in the right direction.
Categories: Creative Writing 
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