Excerpt of Heads in the Clouds by Amber Polo

Lia was certain, if she opened her mouth, her heart would burst out and explode across the plane’s instrument panel. Her hands loosened on the yoke and she whispered in disbelief, “I did it.” One more hour of flight training finished. No time to think. Stay calm. Land the plane. Compared to landing, flying was a breeze. She laughed out loud. After years of writing advertising copy under pressure, clever words popped into her mind at the strangest times. Scanning the sky in all directions, she noted a plane far to her left. Below, the grid of the town of Sunrise looked like a model train village in the tan, mesquite- scattered desert. Close to the base of the airport’s mesa, the dirt-brown Cottonwood River snaked through the valley, easy to spot between bands of green trees and farmland. Without warning, a gust of wind threw the plane sideways. The yoke twisted in her hands. As she fought to regain control, another plane appeared close on her tail. Its red underside cut in front of Lia’s plane and dropped into the landing pattern. Her landing pattern. “I’m going to die.” Lia’s fingers squeezed the yoke. “Damn you, Ben. I don’t belong here.” How fitting. Talking to her dead father, who with thirty years flying experience, died in a plane like this one. But not before he wrote a will requiring her to learn to fly. She wished she could have afforded to say no, thank you. The plane passed close. A flash of red out Lia’s window. Her head brushed the ceiling and she bounced against the harness. Her plane shuddered from the near-miss. Engine roar filtered through her headset. Now Lia’s heart stopped beating. She tried to move, to think, but her body and mind froze. The cockpit closed in. She fought the urge to close her eyes. She pulled up on the yoke. The plane rose carrying her back into the sky. It seemed like forever before she felt safe enough to exhale and whisper, “Danger’s over. Do what Flo trained you to do.” Why didn’t small airplanes have flight attendants serving drinks or at least a mini- bar?