I pulled the nose of the Ercoupe up as high as it could go. I could see the bottoms of the clouds above, and, for a moment, I was suspended in time.
I reached up for the cookie jar that Grandma Nishimura had placed on the top shelf of the cabinet. She thought it was safe from the prying hands of kozo Bill who was supposed to be sleeping during his mid-afternoon nap. Not so! The prize was in sight! Cookies!
The next thing I remember is the counter hitting my chin, my tooth coming through my lip, and me shocked, surprised, and scared . . . not to mention crying and wailing. Grandma was there and made things better. She never mentioned the cookies or my nefarious attempt to purloin cookies.
But, I remember looking up at the cookie jar and the fear of falling.
It was the same looking up and fear of falling as I looked up at the bottom of the cloud before the plane stalled and fell over. For a moment I was in Grandma’s kitchen with the fear and shock . .
A moment later I recovered the airplane and flew on, my heart racing, every blood vessel straining at the memory of my chin hitting the counter.