Window Seat

I was flying home from a business trip. Nothing special, just your average flight like any other, going from New York to Los Angeles. I sat next to a rather annoying lady who wouldn’t shut up about her grandkids. I wasn’t particularly in the mood to talk anyway, and I couldn’t help but feel annoyed at her. <br><br>As we hit cruising altitude, I stood up and walked to the window to look outside. The sky was so beautiful in the late afternoon, with golden hues and light pink and purple clouds. I looked out of the window and enjoyed the view for a few minutes, until an old man tapped me on the shoulder. <br><br>“Excuse me,” he said, “I couldn’t help but notice you looking at the sky. I saw you looking out the window.”<br><br>“Yes,” I said. “I love flying. The view from up here is so beautiful.”<br><br>He smiled. “Let me tell you a story.”<br><br>I couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed, but despite that I went ahead and listened. <br><br>“When I was a little kid, my grandpa took me on a flight somewhere,” he began. “I don’t remember where, but I think it was somewhere in Europe. Anyway, when I saw the view from the plane window I was so amazed. I remember asking my grandpa why the sky looks so different from up here when you fly somewhere. My grandpa didn’t answer my question. Instead, he just looked out the window and said, ‘Look at that big, grey cloud over there! That’s not a regular cloud.’”<br><br>“‘What do you mean?’” I asked my grandpa.”<br><br>“‘That’s not a regular cloud,’” he said again. “‘That’s a window cloud.’”<br><br><br>“I was confused,” the old man continued. “‘What’s a window cloud?’ I asked.”<br><br>“‘Window clouds are clouds that you can see through. They have windows, that’s why they’re called window clouds.’ My grandpa pointed to the cloud. ‘See? Look, you can see through part of that cloud over there. Right over there is a window cloud.’ I looked at the cloud and I actually could see through part of it.”<br><br>“‘Wow,’ I said. ‘I can see through that part of the cloud.’”<br><br>“‘That means there’s a window there,’ my grandpa said. I was amazed. I’d never heard of a window cloud before. I asked him how he knew so much about clouds.”<br><br>“‘Many years ago, when I was a young man, I used to be a pilot. I’ve flown many times, so I know what I’m talking about. Window clouds are very rare,’ he said. ‘You have to be very lucky to see one.’”<br><br>“I was so amazed,” said the old man. “I felt like the luckiest person alive.” <br><br>“‘Why do you call them window clouds?’ I asked.”<br><br>“‘Because sometimes… sometimes part of the sky is actually a window. That’s why they’re called window clouds.’ I was confused. ‘How is sky a window?’ I asked.”<br><br>“‘Well, you can see through it can’t you? It’s like a magic window. You can see through it to the other side.’ I was so confused and I asked him what he meant.”<br><br><br>“‘You can see through the window, can’t you?’ he said again. ‘Sometimes… sometimes you can see all the way to the other side.’ I didn’t know what he meant. I got really confused. ‘What’s on the other side?’ I asked.”<br><br>“‘You’ll find out soon enough,’ he said. ‘You’ll find out soon enough.’ I didn’t get what he meant.”<br><br><br>“The flight attendants told us to buckle up since we were about to land. I sat down in my seat and looked out the window of the plane, at the big grey window cloud. I got really curious about what was on the other side. I stood up despite my grandpa’s protests and tried to open the emergency exit. The flight attendants came over and struggled with me, holding me down in my seat.”<br><br>“‘What are you doing?! Do you want to crash the plane?!’ one of them yelled at me. I was still looking out the window at the window cloud, wondering what was on the other side. My heart pounded in my chest. I was so confused and my heart was pounding. I didn’t know what was going on.”<br><br>“I looked at my grandpa. All he did was smile. As I looked into his eyes, I got a strange feeling. I felt like I was going crazy, despite being a little kid. ‘This isn’t real,’ I said. ‘This isn’t real.’<br><br>“‘Of course this is real,’ the flight attendant said. ‘This is real.’<br><br>“‘I don’t need to look out the window to know what’s there,’ I said. I didn’t know where the words came from. They just came. <br><br>“The flight attendants seemed to let up a little bit. I think they realized I was just a little kid and got confused. They let me go and I sat down. The old man stopped smiling and just looked out the window. I didn’t look at him or say anything to him. I knew that I was dreaming, or something.”<br><br>“The plane landed. My grandpa and I walked out of the airport. My parents were there waiting for us, and they picked us up and took us home.”<br><br>“As we drove home I asked my parents, ‘Was grandpa with us on the plane? Did we just get off a plane with grandpa?’”<br><br>“‘No, we drove here,’ my dad said. I knew that couldn’t be true. I knew that I was on a plane. I remembered being on a plane, looking out the plane window, asking my grandpa all those questions. <br><br>“‘Grandpa wasn’t with us on the plane,’ my mom said.”<br><br>“‘But I saw him,’ I said. ‘He was there. We talked.’ <br><br>“‘No he wasn’t,’ my dad said. ‘We drove here. We didn’t fly here.’ I knew they were wrong. I don’t know why they lied. I just know that they lied. I was on a plane. I know I was. I saw my grandpa there.”<br><br><br>“I grew up and became a pilot. And you know what? I’ve flown many times. Many, many, many times. And I’ve seen many window clouds.”<br><br><br>“I’ve seen many windows.”<br><br><br>The old man smiled and walked away.