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24

Prose

Infinity

Lasya Jagirdhar

Pitch black of the night. A car honked in the distance. Under the blanket, Ky could hardly sleep a wink. She got up to check the time. 2 AM. Another 3 hours to put her first experiment to trial. She briefly wondered if 3 hours was enough sleep to go through with the crazy idea, but just as quickly dismissed it. She did not need more reasons to get nervous – it was now or never. So it was with determination that Ky crawled back under her blanket.
Rrrrriiiinnnngggg!
Ky woke up with a start. Although it was her usual time to wake up, today was special. Her morning routine was: wake up, set some food out for the cat, turn on the water tap for the house, go to the shops to fetch milk, then take a detour to spend some time in her “Invention Shed”, and finally return home to get ready for school. Today, her routine was going to be no different to the people around her. But she was going on an adventure!
After fetching the milk, Ky went to her Shed as usual. But there she got her contraption out and ran to the cliffs. This was going to be her moment when she changes history, there were going to be songs sung, fables written, frescoes painted! Oh! What Glory!
At the edge of the cliff, she set up her contraption and looked around. The skies were bright purple, just breaking into blues. Hardly any clouds. She took out a loose bit from the contraption — a stick with a few strips of paper stuck on one end — and stuck it up over her head. A few strips floated almost horizontal : perfect wind conditions.
She set the little wind-tester aside, slipped her arms through the straps of the large contraption and took a few steps back. Then, she broke into a run towards the edge of the cliff, wind sweeping her back. The large flaps of the contraption made it difficult to maintain speed. But the edge was almost here now. With another sudden burst of speed, she leapt.
Then, a moment of utter quiet, even the wind was silent. She was floating, weightless, limitless expanse of purple-blue around her. It was but a tiny moment, felt like infinity. She was one with the sky. The sea of green-and-brown below her. The moment she’d been dreaming of for years.
Then she remembered to flap. But as hard as she flapped her arms, hooked in the straps of the contraption, the sea of green-and-brown started getting closer, menacingly. It wasn’t enough to get over the gravity, she thought as she fell through the thick foliage. The contraption didn’t work.
Her experiment failed.
Dejected, she started the long trek back to her house. She needed to get cleaned up and ready for school. The little house-cat rubbed against her leg, as if to say, “I missed you and glad you’re back!”
Ky might not have changed history that day, but it was a historical day in her life. It definitely was not the same anymore, not after that single moment of infinity. Her heart was full, there were new experiments to be designed and more calculations done.
A new day to be lived.

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