The Sky Was Blue

What we see on some days, we all see, no matter what. Some of us with our eyes, some of us with disbelief.

 

Willie opened the door and sat in his truck to sort through some paper items residing on the passenger seat he wanted to examine. Payments made in time. Other  payments to be the end of the line. He took a swig from the soft drink cannister, swallowed the mouthful in a gulp, then picked up another form. Sure enough, there came the belch from the carbonated drink. He put a cheese cracker in his mouth and crunched it, reaching to turn on the radio as he did so. There must be enough time to hear a mere part of a song or two, maybe some news. Whatever he could find. He lowered the papers he still held in his hand and slowly took another drink from the can. 

The sky was blue. 

Willie polished off the soft drink and tossed the can in the floorboard and closed the door behind him. He ate another cheese cracker, but careful not to upset himself and start choking. He should have gone to the break area, he thought, but he had to check that form again. He knew he would be back to his desk in time. 

Many other persons were thinking the same, doing the same. Mulling about. All part of the daily routine. Not all of them had morning breaks when Willie did, but some of them do. As required, he stood and waited to ascend to his floor, where he worked. The elevator reached each and every level, stopping for those to get on or off. How could it not compare to a mouse in a maze, he wondered. He stared at scores of faces he had seen since getting this job two years ago; faces he saw everyday and still didn't know them. Never spoke to them.  He got off at his destination and was back at his place with no dramatic affect to his time or his pay. He sat in the chair in his cubicle, reached to turn on the word processor, then unfolded the document he brought with him. He studied it thoroughly, quietly. 

"Pay you to think, Duecemeyer?" 

Willie looked up at the smirking Asian fellow as he folded up the form and tucked it in his pocket. 

"Pay me to think, Mr. Morganshield?"

"I didn't think so," Morganshield responded, not comprehending what he had asked, "now get back to work," and he slowly waddled away. 

"Not paid to think," Willie tossed around in his head and checked the monitor. As soon as the screen responded with imagery, his phone rang. 

"Gradely, Jackson, Joseph & Thadeus, this is Duecemeyer." 

"Oh, I'm glad you answered!" the woman on the other end said hysterically. 

"Yes," Willie asked, pausing a bit, then asking, "is this you, Wilma?" 

"Oh, Willie, the most awful thing has happened!" she wailed. 

"Wilma, what's wrong? You're still going to visit Uncle Ned, aren't you?" 

Willie listened to her sniff, then gasp. 

"Oh, Willie," she cried, "the plane has been hijacked!" 

"What?" Willie asked, "by who?" 

"We don't know<" she answered. 

"Who's we?" Willie asked, rather uncharacteristically.

"The other passengers. They said they won't hurt us, but we are so afraid." 

"Don't panic, Wilma," he told her. "Just wait and see what they are going to do. If you need a ransom, I'll get the money for you." 

"On the phone, Duecemeyer? Better not be a personal call," Morganshield said, re-appearing. Willie often suspected Morganshield just spied and waited to catch him at something. 

Willie looked up at Morganshield from his seat. 

"Mr. Morganshield, my sister's plane has been hijacked." 

That took that smirk off that face. 

"Hijacked a plane!" Morganshield said, excitedly. "I hope it wasn't Ludmilla's plane!" and off he raced to see what he could find. Anything that gets rid of that man, Willie thought. 

Willie then contemplated Morganshield would probably go put a hit on his wife's plane, just so he can be part of the excitement as well. Morganshield hated being left out of the excitement. 

"Oh, Willie, I'm so afraid," Wilma shrieked over the phone. 

"Listen, Wilma," Willie began, "do you see a rather short, heavy-set Asian woman amongst the other passengers?" 

Wilma seemed startled. 

"Who?" 

Willie thought a moment, "you remember my boss? Morganshield? See if his wife is on the same plane with you." 

Silence. 

"Willie," she began, "I'm on a hijacked plane, . . . " 

"Just look around a bit." 

"Allright, I'll see if, . . . see if . . . " 

Willie stared at his computer monitor. What on earth was the plane hijacked for? At this moment, a very thin young woman approached him. She was upset as well. 

"Oh, Willie," she sobbed, "my boyfriend Bob just called. He is on a plane, heading back to Atlanta and it was hijacked." 

Willie looked at her. 

"Bob? Going to Atlanta?" 

"Yes," she answered. 

"But Wilma was heading to Seattle, so that's two different flights. Two different planes have been hijacked at the same time, Amelia." 

And now the very upset Mr. Morganshield returned. 

"She was on the plane," he spoke, looking petrified. 

"There are two hijacked planes," Willie responded. 

"Two?" Morganshield repeated. 

"Which one was she on?" 

"The flight to Phoenix," Morganshield answered. 

Willie stood to his feet and looked at the man, totally perplexed. 

"Willie, . . . " Amelia started. 

"What's wrong?" Morganshield asked. "That was your sister's flight as well, wasn't it?" 

"No," Willie answered. "Wilma is heading to Atlanta and Amelia's boyfriend is going to Seattle." 

"Atlanta," Ameilia corrected.

"What?" 

"Bob is going to Atlanta and your sister is going to Seattle." 

Willie looked at her as if she was speaking absolute nonsense. 

"What do they want?" Morganshield pondered aloud. 

"I'd guess we're going to pay ransoms for them," Willie stated. 

"Everybody, look at the tv. The newsfeeds," a tall fellow called from his location. Willie couldn't think of that guy's name. Was it Bob? Was his name Bob, too, like Amelia's boyfriend? 

Will looked at the small monitor on his desk, as did Morganshield and Amelia. The reporters were saying the planes had been hijacked. People all throughout the complex stared quietly at screens, trying to understand what was being said. 

"Willie," Amelia spoke quietly. 

"Deucemeyer," Morganshield also said. Willie looked to the two of them to get some idea what they were focused upon. Was he missing something on the tv. He looked at them only to see they were looking beyond him. He turned completely around to see what was in their gaze. 

And there it was. There was the airplane flying directly toward their location, visible through all the paned windows on the side of the building. Many folks who saw it were already running. The plane appeared to be moving in slow motion as it gradually descended until it lined right up with the floor where Willie stood. All Willie could think was if it was Wilma's plane, or Bob's or Ludmilla Morganshield. As the last name covered his thought, he repeated the name. 

"Morganshield." 

"Willie, . . " Morganshield began. 

"Mr. Morganshield! Amelia," Willie yelled. "Get the windows open on that side of the building! Hurry! Everyone open the windows!" 

Amelia and Morganshield raced forward while the plane definitely moved in faster. Willie had bolted to the opposite side of the floor and began opening the windows on that side. Several persons assisted him, as did others helping Morganshield and Amelia. After all, what did they have to lose? 

As Willie just got the last window opened in the office section, the shattering noise heard sounded like electricity cackling to life, it was all so loud. Willie dove against the wall and hid his face as he heard the loud buzz of the engines flying through the complex, knocking over high-back chairs. A row of cubicle walls toppled like dominoes. He heard a very loud thump and this caused him to now look up to observe the situation. 

The plane was flying straight through the floor and Willie looked up to see people looking back at him from the windows. 

And there was Wilma. 

As quickly as his mind registered it was his sister, he now observed something new to the situation. The plane was dragging a very long cable behind it. It didn't seem to be something the plane might have hooked upon and was dragging behind it like a kite's tail. There seemed to be a motive to why the heavy-duty coil was there, but Willie couldn't imagine what. 

"Willie!" he suddenly heard. There was Ameilia and Mr. Morganshield. 

"It was Wilma's plane!" he yelled to them. 

"What?" Amelia cried back. 

"It was Amelia's plane!" he shouted, then realized his mistake. 

"Was Bob on that plane?" 

"No, it was Wanda's!" he yelled, then said, "everybody needs to get outta here so there aren't so many people up here." 

"What are you going to do, Willie?" 

Willie looked at the thick cable running through the entire section, writhing and coiling like a mad snake as it continued to be drawn by the departed plane, like some bizarre clothesline. He reached up to touch it and it was hot, moving fast through the air. 

"I'm gonna see if I can figure out what they are doing. Amelia, you and Mr. Morganshield start getting people out of here and out of the building." 

Willie raced by Amelia and Morganshield and everybody else until he reached the large gaping hole in the windows made by the plane. Glass covered the entire floor of the department. He looked out the window and sure enough, there was another plane heading toward the nearby office complex. Occupants within obviously saw what Willie and the others had done, so now they followed suit, opening windows on several floors in a like fashion. Willie watched the second plane approach the building and do exactly the same thing. The aircraft entered all the open windows, grinding and sliding as it maneuvered, then something totally unexpected happened. Willie waited to see the plane do likewise as the first one had done and appear out the other end, but no plane ever manifested. 

Much like his endeavor, screams could be heard once the plane was present among the workers in the building. Willie slowly stumbled along the edge to see what was different and got his answer. 

The plane had stopped in the building. He tried to see what was going on. Were passengers disembarking the plane? Were the hijackers at the mercy of all within the plane and the workers present in the building?

As Willie pondered these answers, he now noticed a very similar cable draped out of the second building, much like the one in the building where he stood. 

What were the cables for? He staggered closer to the shattered opening, his hands and knees cut and bloody as he tried to steady himself, but reaching out to anything brought back a handful of glass. 

"Willie?" he heard behind him. He turned to see Amelia and Morganshield. For whatever reason, they didn't seem to want to leave him, but he wanted them out of harm's way. He looked out again at the other building with the plane still inside, the motors seemingly still roaring with their deafening sound. 

"Amelia," Willie began, "Wilma was on the plane that hit us, but that's not the same plane over there, so that means either Bob or Mrs. Morganshield might be on it." 

Willie waited for the conclusion to sink in. 

"So that means you and Mr. Morganshield might want to see if you can find out who is on the plane, where it was going, and be waiting for them on the ground." 

Morganshield stared silently, then turned to leave. 

Amelia looked at Willie for a split-second then tearfully nodded in agreement. 

"What are you going to do, Willie?" 

"I'm going to wait and see if Wilma's plane comes back," he replied, "since it seems to be tethered to this cable here in this building. Now, go." 

Amelia turned to leave and run after Morganshield. Willie watched her go, then looked back to the second building. Another plane flew between the two buildings, but Willie couldn't see if it was Wilma's plane or the third one, but it had a cable descending from it as well. What was up with these cables, Willie wondered. Through the opening on the other building, he could see people mulling about. Wasn't sure who the hijackers might be, but he suspected many of them were passengers from the plane. He looked up to the new rope of cable draped across the first line which was not far from where he stood, and the second one going to the other building, seemingly in and out, one above the other, then Willie realized why. They were making a net, like a spider's web. 

No sooner had he comprehended this scheme than another plane, again, Willie wasn't sure if it was Wilma's or not, came circling from the far distance on the opposite side, towing the cable behind it as well. The plane vanished from Willie's sight eventually, and he turned to look out the opening on the opposite side of the building and viewed the plane passing out that way, until it came back around to the second building. 

They were tying the buildings together. As this last wrap-around drew taut with other cables previously set into play, where Willie stood seemed to sway and creak with breaking glass and other faint noises to be heard. The structure waved once more, and Willie turned to head to the exit, then he hesitated and looked back outside. The building tilted, leaning the floor with the lowest point being where Willie stood. Damaged office furniture, chairs, filing cabinets, everything came rolling his way. Leaning against a sturdy brace the plane had not taken out, Willie watched cautiously to avoid the furnishings as they sailed off the floor and to the ground below, making certain none of them struck him in the process. An office table was about the closest to doing this. 

The cables pulled inward, more and more, now causing the second building caught up in the trap to tumble inward. The pair of buildings were slowly being pushed downward so that eventually Willie went from standing on the floor and leaning against the sturdy brace construction to propping himself on the brace and standing upright upon the now vertical floor. That really wasn't a better situation to be in, he thought to himself. 

As his building continued to slowly go further and further toward the ground, the foundations crunching and being jarred about at the building's base, Willie knew he was entering a very precarious situation. He still had much too far to go to reach the ground, and he could now detect the second building, with the plane still inside it's dimension, was now being pulled down on top of his current residence. He anticipated eventually the plane would let gravity take over, and he still didn't know if that was Wilma's plane or not. Poor Wilma. What must she be thinking? 

The overhead sky which Willie had been using to see his predicament began to diminish as the second building came into view overhead, now leaning more and more over the first building. He hoped everyone was out of that second building and no one suddenly came tumbling through from gravity. Willie wondered if he should try to write a farewell note. He reached in his pocket to locate a pen and a piece of paper. How ironic, he thought, in this day and age of electronic online messaging, he still must resort to the old fashioned way for any meaning. 

Small shards of glass were all embedded in the carpeting as he pressed against it to remain in place and not fall. Willie unfolded the paper, the driving ticket, he wanted to write his farewell message upon. 

It was the notice he had retrieved from within his truck. 

Suddenly, he could observe the paper in his hand no more, as all about him was plunged into darkness. Willie cast his eyes up to view the airplane in the second building, now situated precariously above him, sliding out of that building and directly into his, straight through the opening the very first plane had made. Willie shielded himself from debris being knocked lose by the plane, all falling about him. All he could clutch for stability was the carpet, still filled with glass, which sliced up his palms and fingers. 

There was a tremendous thud that shook the slowly falling complex so much, Willie almost lost his footing.. Nervously wavering, Willie slowly tiled his head back to see what transpired. Upon doing so, he gazed up to see the tail end of the plane smashing and breaking its way down toward him, coming through his building, the cable attached to it, which he might have used to his advantage, was now looped on the outside of the building. Still he hoped, if it just lowered like a noose into the building, he could swing on it like a trapeze. 

That was when Willie recalled the first cable. If it still descended from the building, maybe he could use that one. Why hadn't he recalled it before?  He spied the cable and slowly left his wobbly brace to inch along the base of the windows to reach the cable, hoping he could do so before the plane came barreling through. 

Willie moved as quickly yet as cautiously as he could, sliding through the glass all in the carpeting, now the side wall to which he had to cling. 

Then he heard a pop. Not the loudest pop, but just the sound of something finally giving way, with gravity winning once more. 

Willie looked up to see a rather large section of wing being ripped off as the plane continued to slide into his building and then plummet toward him through the vacated floor section where he stood. He wasn't going to make it to the cable, he realized. 

As the plane quietly barreled toward him, he became aware he still clutched the paper notice in his bloodied hand. 

He looked at the speeding ticket. Then Willie glanced above him. the aircraft was dropping right toward him, concealing all possible light as it did so. He closed his eyes, then opened them again.    

Willie listened to the radio announcement for those briefest few seconds describe events he obviously was not able to imagine. Planes and buildings in combat? He couldn't comprehend what was being said. He turned off the radio and stepped out of his truck. He folded up the notice and tucked it in his pocket. He held the soft drink as he continued to drink from it, then closed the vehicle door. 

As he turned to follow the slowly milling crowd back into the employee's entrance, he took a few more cheese crackers and popped them in his mouth, making sure to wash them down with a bit of drink as he did so. 

He walked through the manufacturing plant and couldn't help but notice everyone seemed strangely subdued from before the morning break. Amelia, Bob, Ludmilla, they all seemed very placid about doing their laboring tasks. 

Willie looked up to see Wilma drive by on a forklift, loaded down with parts for another location. 

Willie arrived in his department, turned on the machine and waited for it to begin whirring into action. Just before he was to begin his labor, he looked at the speeding ticket once more. How he was concerned about it. He looked to his side to see old Morganshield walk by with a clipboard. Morganshild didn't look at him, but kept moving out the building as well. Willie was glad about that. Once more he tucked the paper away in his pocket, suspecting it would trouble him no more. He picked up a factory part for the forming task on the machine before him, then at one last moment, looked outside the large window and noted the visibility all above the tallest trees in the distance. 

The sky was blue, like crystal-clear water. The sky was blue.