Deep Sighs and {Open Skies}

She looked out the plane window and sighed. A multifaceted sigh. It was a tired, beaten down sigh, but also a sigh of lurking potential. A sigh of insecurity, and also a sigh from being overwhelmed. A sigh of sadness, but also a sigh of, who knows, maybe hope.

From here, everything down there was so small, easy to write off. She was protected up here, but only for the matter of time in the air. Perhaps it was a false or temporary sense of security, but any security was welcome. When she got down there, she knew how big it all would be again.

“Clear your mind of that,” she told herself. She stared at an empty document on the screen in front of her, the cursor taunting and beckoning. “They want you to write something,” she reminded herself. The deadlines didn’t care about the other stuff, nor its magnitude. “Write something funny… that always makes them happier,” she addendummed.

She forcibly tried to shift her brain to the funny side; it was her favored side, but her least favorite way of getting there. Regardless, here, where it was all jokes, she could hide and play, where problems presented cartoonish versions of themselves. It would be better for them and for her.

A vengeful god curses out a star quarterback—who had thanked him, by name!—for leading their team to victory, when in actuality, the god had bet money on the other team. The god needed the money because he’d recently lost a big sum on a cryptocurrency being hawked by the same star quarterback who just thanked him. Other gods restrained this one from striking the quarterback down on national television. HILARITY ENSUES.

She pulled down the window shade, as if removing her problems from sight would remove them from mind.

A meticulously planned date that turns into a reverse The Gift of the Magi situation, as each partner does their best to break up with the other in the most considerate manner. Except neither is picking up the others’ hints so the break ups don’t take, and they find renewed common ground and hope. HILARITY PROBABLY ENSUES.

Any of those could work if she could lock in and produce some easy chuckles for everyone. Glancing around, she noticed total emptiness around her. Had it always been like this? She could have sworn there was that guy on the aisle, who told her to smile. And someone else who looked like someone she used to know, but couldn’t exactly place where, when, or how.

An average cupid, incensed by the dating app who stole his likeness, vows to create more couples than OK Cupid and promises his doubting buddies he’ll do it. There’s a training montage where the fat little cupid gets into shape and practices his archery for the 24-hour matchmaking marathon. HILARITY OBVIOUSLY ENSUES.

There were many obstacles on the way to her seat. She definitely remembered that from before takeoff. She remembered the things in her way, down there on solid ground. DING! The captain informed her that the plane was beginning its descent and would be landing shortly.

A girl whose sighs change her size. When she lets out a heavy sigh she feels much smaller. Good for getting by unnoticed, but generally unhelpful in feeling like her regular, full self. HILARITY ENSUES, she hoped.

She drew up the shade, she looked out the plane window and sighed.