SMALLER AND SMALLER

I am a pilot with over 20 years of experience. I took a plane for the first time when I was three or four years old. I remember the extreme tension I experienced when it began to fly. I thought my heart would explode.

In those days my house was located near the Nagoya International Airport in Komaki City, which was replaced by the Chubu International Centrair Airport in 2005.

   My father used to take me to the airport on holidays because I loved to watch planes taking off or landing. When the sun set, my father used to say to me:

 “Hiroshi, let’s go home. It’s getting dark.”

 “No, not yet. Just a few more minutes,” I used to say.

  My father later told me that I would not leave the airport however hard he tried to persuade me into going back home.

  Watching airplanes was never tiresome, but awesome. Passengers climbed the boarding ramp and entered the plane. When the last one disappeared, the door closed and it slowly began to taxi to the tarmac. When the plane reached its end, it stopped and waited for the time to take off. A few minutes later, it ran the runway at full speed with tremendous noise and took off. It flew up and up and became smaller and smaller and smaller until it vanished in the sky. How fascinating!

 Then, from nowhere in the sky, a tiny dot appeared and gradually approached the airport. As it came down, it grew larger and larger until it revealed the gigantic body and finally landed onto the runway emitting a roaring sound. It looked as if it were proud of its body. How irresistible!

On Sundays I used to ask my father to take me to the airport. When he was busy, my mother substituted for him.

   Almost all my belongings had planes on them: caps, shirts, stockings, pants, shoes, gloves, cups, bowls, chopsticks, and bags. When I went to bed, I put a model airplane beside me. I touched, stroked, and flew it above my head.

   I wanted to board a plane. I wondered what it would be like inside. What would happen to the passengers? Wouldn’t they feel pain when it took off? What would they see out of the windows? And above all, why could such a huge body fly?

   One day when my grandfather in Fukuoka City died, my family decided to fly to the city. I would be able to board the plane! I felt happy and scared at the same time. On the previous night I was so excited that I could not sleep.

  The next day we arrived at the Nagoya International Airport, took a bus, and approached the plane. When we reached the boarding ramp, I was amazed at the size of the plane. It was 100 times as large as the ones I had seen from the observation deck of the airport terminal.

  I entered the plane with my heart beating. There were rows of seats with an aisle in the center. The windows were lined on both sides. There were racks for luggage above my head. I wondered what would happen to these things when it took off. I was excited but afraid.

   My mother fastened the seatbelt for me.

   “Why do I have to do this?” I said.

   “To prevent you from being injured,” she said.

   “Will I get injured?”

   “Yes, you could.”

   I understood what she said. I had expected that she would say something like that; something dangerous, though I did not know what, would happen.

   Now the time to take off came. The thunderous noise tore my ears. The plane ran at full speed shaking the whole body, and suddenly it floated. I was so nervous and excited. I closed my eyes. I thought, “Now it happens! Now it happens! Now! Now! Now! Now!”

But nothing changed. I opened my eyes. My parents were talking with each other as if nothing had happened. The other passengers were as normal as before. The windows, the aisle, the seats and everything else did not change at all.

“What’s the matter with this plane? Is something wrong? Did it actually fly?” I wondered. I said to my mother:

“Mom, when will we become small?”