Flutter

Ben was still trembling. His brow was soaked with the sweat and his throat was still dry. He sat motionless on the chair with a glass of untouched cold water, his heavy bulk of body hunched. He was still not out of it and the adrenalin was still in his blood-stream. He closed his eyes and relived the past few minutes.

It was a cold day with heavy clouds hanging low and there were sprinkles of shower that were beginning to make his work tough. The runways were wet and the traffic was heavy. As the air traffic controller it was Ben Kingston’s job to keep it all flowing smooth. As it was the first day of the holidays he knew he would have extra work with the papers etc. So, he had arrived early at his post skipping the breakfast; rather he had to. Ben was not a man who could hold without breakfast until the lunch. So, he had planned to ask Dora Knight, his assistant at office to buy breakfast on her way to work and so he called her.

“Hey Dora, where are you?”

“On my way, boss. I am late only by the usual time, its only 9:15 now.”

“You are late; yes. That’s what I can count on you. Buy me some sandwiches on your way here, OK?”

“No breakfast, eh boss?”

“Yes. Unlike you, I happen to have a little sense of duty.”

They both knew it was just their normal funny morning conversation.

 “Oh right.”

“And by the way, get the sandwiches from the guy at the junction. I am bloody tired of the airport perks. Dora, make them Mexican and spicy”

“Roger.”

A while later, Dora barged in panting.

“You are more than your usual late, dear. It is 9:50” Ben said without looking up from his screen and with his back to her.

But she very well knew that he was smiling.

“Today, really its not me. I have a legitimate reason. You; I am late because of you. It’s you who made me go shopping en route.” She said that as she left Ben’s breakfast on the service table.

“That’s neat.” Ben said sarcastically as he turned around, “I am sure it dint take this long to buy a couple of sandwiches. I am not buying your excuse. Better luck next time, lady.”

“Really, Ben. It took so long only to get your breakfast. You were particular to get it from that guy in the junction and that guy just had his cart upturned and it did take this long to get those couple of sandwiches.”

“All right! Dora, can you please be kind enough to close the door the next time you barge into the office?”

She closed the door shrugging. Nobody noticed that yellow butterfly with red stripes fly into the room nonchalantly.

“Fine, settle down and get to work. We have a tight day ahead.” Just as he said that, Ben saw the butterfly flutter past and followed it instinctively. That’s when the horror struck.

“Holy mother oh God!” Ben exclaimed. “Wilson, why the hell you are not in your seat and what the shit happened to the alert beeper!!”

It took sometime for everyone in the room to process it and only after a moment did they look at the console monitor.

Ben immediately swung into action. He punched the alert buzzer that sent a danger alert to all the consoles across all the departments of the airport. He picked up the radio and yelled into it.”This is Air Traffic control to Flight TX346. HALT. HALT wherever you are.”

“ATC, this is TX346. Why do you want me to halt? What happened?”

Who the hell was this pilot? Why the heck was he asking questions? What was he trained in!

“TX346, do not ask questions, dammit. HALT. I repeat HALT. There is an imminent danger.”

Runway 1 was clear now. He next connected to another cockpit. His voice was calm in a measured sense but there was urgency and importance in it.

“This is ATC to Flight AI102. DETOUR. Slow down taxiing and take a DETOUR on the next left into runway number 1 through the service patch. Do you copy?”

“AI102 to ATC. Copy.”

“Good. Make it efficient and do not waste time. There is an inbound flight on your runway number 2. Do not panic. We have the situation under control.”

But, the truth was that it was not, yet. Ben saw the flight beginning to make the turn for the service patch. He hoped he was not too late. He had to request the inbound flight to defer the landing. He knew it was impossible and it was dangerous, but it was the procedure to send out the request.

“Flight JK549. This is ATC tower. We have a bird on your runway sanctioned. Can you safely defer the landing? I repeat can you SAFELY defer the landing?”

“ATC, this is JK549. Negative. Request risky. Can not comply.”

That was expected. It was good that the pilot had the sense to make this decision.

“Good. Do not panic. The walking bird has been instructed to step aside. Go ahead with your landing. But, slow down as much as safely possible on touch-down.”

“Copy.”

Ben had done what he could in his human strength. He had halted the flight on runway1 and cleared it so that the taxiing flight in runway2 could slide into it and leave the runway2 free for the incoming flight to land. How a take-off and a landing were sanctioned at the same time and why the beeper din’t go off would be known after months of investigation. All they could do now was to wait and pray that the taxiing flight slid out of the way in time when the inbound flight touched down.

Prayers were murmured, eyes were closed, hands were clasped and Crosses were clutched. Everyone held their breath. They were to witness either an unforgettable disaster or have a memorable day at office.

The next few moments were a blur. Ben was just staring at the runway. He dint see what was happening. He dint see. Loud shrieks brought him back violently. It took him a moment to realise that they were shrieks of joy. The JK549 had landed and gracefully slid past the tail of the AI102 that moved off just in time. It was no doubt a miracle. More than 500 lives have been saved.

People rushed in to congratulate Ben on his timely presence of mind. People kept rushing in through the door, cheering loudly and the butterfly that saved all the lives fluttered out through the open door.

It was cloudy and the sky was rumbling already. It would rain soon and it would spoil his business as usual. So, Lenny wanted to sell off as many as possible before the rain. Anyway, it was the rush-hour and there were many office-goers who needed the kinds of Lenny to supplement their morning diet. To have his morning quota sold off, Lenny put up his sandwich-stall by 8:45 itself, a little early than the usual 9:00.

His usual customers starting trickling in and they were more than happy that the stall was up early. The business was picking-up briskly.

“Hey, Lenny. How about packing me off before the others, huh? Am running a little late to work” the lady asked smiling. She was almost a daily-visitor and this is what she requested everyday. Lenny smiled to himself.

“Sure, Dora. How can I help you?”

“A couple. Mexican. And oh yeah, extra spicy.”

“Two Mexican extra spicy, coming through.” He said in his pleasant manner.

Out of nowhere a moron on came running wildly and rammed into the stand toppling it down and sending Lenny’s wares strewn. The kid had attempted to wriggle past in between Dora and the stand.

“You son of a .....” Lenny cursed with clenched teeth picking up his stuff. The boy picked up his books mumbling some excuse, looked around wildly, looked at his watch and dashed away like hell.

“Dont you better come this way again, you silly fu....” Lenny controlled his tongue for the customers around him. People were already helping putting things back up.

“Kids.” Dora sighed, “Don’t know what they do these days!”

“Just ten minutes Dora. Can you hold on?”

“Sure. No problem. I gotta get your sandwiches. There is an old man who is fasting adamantly for yours” she smiled. “Anyway, he cant stay empty for long and know what; for the first time, i will have a reason that is not mine for me being late! So, why spoil it? Go ahead. If its ten minutes, I can wait.” She looked at her watch, “its only 9:30...” and smirked.

It was a wretched bicycle. It was a gift from his step-father and it was as much wretched as him. Good for nothing piece of junk. It squeaked and rattled in all the joints. Like an old bitch! Anyway, Randy was pedalling it wildly and cruising on. He dint want to miss. Not this time. His coach had asked him to be there for the selections by 9:00 sharp. He took a glance at his watch, it was somewhere near 8:50. He can make it. He would be a little late, but can make it. Getting into the team this time, meant a lot to him. It was one way to be spending more time with Stephanie and impress her. She was the head cheer-leader and if he was in the team, no doubt she will be accessible to him. ‘Screw you, guys. I am gonna make it. I am gonna have her!’ he thought and the zeal of his pedalling increased.

Then suddenly, bham! He skid and fell. He collected himself up and only then saw that his cycle’s tyre had burst. ‘Crazy shit! Why am I so lucky always?’ Randy felt himself bleeding in the arm. It was noting much, just a scratch or a bruise. He looked at his watch. It was around 9:08. He clenched his fist, cursed his luck again and yanked up his junk of metal. It was useless. He saw that there was a bloody nail embedded in his tyre that had burst it. He kicked his cycle hard and dumped it on the kerb and there was only one thing that he could do now. He started running, running like a mad man.

He sneaked past the crowd, wriggling his way like a salmon upriver in the stream of humanity. He pushed and heaved past. Sweat was flowing down, getting into his eyes. His legs burnt and his chest would almost burst. But, he ran, ran along. He stole occasional looks at his watch. He had to somehow make it. He could explain it to the coach. He would understand.

‘Oh! Shit!’ Randy cursed. There was a bloody sandwich shop on the kerb. The crowd behind it and between the walls was impenetrable.  There were people in front of it too buying that stuff. And then he saw that there was a little gap between a lady and the counter and he could whiz past in it. The gap was just enough to let him through. The lady would get startled, but who cares! He dashed for it.

Randy’s day was not that lucky. He tripped on a jutting block of pavement and rammed full along into the sandwich counter toppling it down. He dint have time to curse even. He picked up his books mumbling something incoherent, looked at his watch; it was close to 9:30 and dashed away like hell. The sandwich guy was yelling curses at him, but he dint give a foot to it. There was the team selection and there was Stephanie! Randy would not let a stupid nail snatch away Stephanie from him!

“Hey! Watch it, man!” yelled Kojo, “look what have you done, huh!”

The man in the black blazer and tie hurried back apologizing. He was not faking. He was really sorry. This cooled down Kojo a bit. Even after all those speeches and politics, the blacks like him were still being looked down; at least to some extent. And why would those sleek coat-and-tie clad corporate monsters respect a meagre carpenter like him anyway! But, this man seemed to be apologizing truly for bumping on him and was coming back even to help him pick up his things. Most of these heavy-headed dumbs would simply walk away ignoring people over Dollars and Euros.

“Sorry.. sorry.. dint mean to. Am really sorry....” the man in the black blazer said, as he started picking up Kojo’s tools that had fallen from his kit.

“That’s alright, man. But, it doesn’t feel good to let your tool-box slip and crash the first thing in the morning!”

“Ya. I can understand. It was an accident. Sorry... dint watch my way. Sorry!”

This man was probably one of those pack of sweet-tongued wolves that packed out everyday from the 8:30 Sub.

“Hey. Leave it, there. Those nails are sharp. I don’t want to see blood right in the morning either. The signs are already bad and dunno what’s in store for the day! Leave it and don’t hurt yourself either.”

“Ok... OK...” the man said raising his hands. “You are almost done repacking your tool-kit too. Shall i leave with another sincere sorry?”

“Go. Go away Mr...?”

“Ben... Ben Kingston. Alright! You will have a nice day.”

Kojo packed his kit mumbling.

Neither the men, nor anyone around noticed that they had missed out a single nail that still lay on the road.

“Honey... why is my breakfast not here?” asked Ben.

Penelope cupped the mouthpiece of the phone she was talking into and replied, “Why should it be there yet?”

“I told you I have to get to office soon today.”

“I am on a call Ben. Lancy is going on her holiday today. I am on the phone with her. Can you toss up something or can you wait?”

“I cant do either.” Mumbled Ben. “Fine. I will catch up something later. Carry on, Pen.”

“Ben, wait.” Penelope called. “Did you know this is why I still am madly in love with you?” she said in hushing, the mouthpiece still cupped.

“Then I am sure you will be eternally.” Ben smiled as he put on his blazer and waved a good bye.

He was planning on catching the 8:45. But, now that he had his breakfast time void, he caught the 8:30 itself.

Ten minutes later, he pushed his way through the crowd of the station. As he filed out, a boy thrust a paper into his hand. It was another of those advertisement pamphlets. Even though Ben had not the slightest idea of honouring the ad, he walked reading it. Just then, he bumped into someone. A guy with all those tools and mechanisms. He had strewn down everything from his tool-kit. Hammer, wrench, tapes and nails.  Probably a plumber or a carpenter. The man called out angrily. Ben went back to him apologising and helped him get his kit repacked. The man stopped him from picking up the nails. He was probably quite superstitious. He spoke of signs and blood and bad luck. Ben just mused it to himself and bade him good day.

Ben reached the junction and looked at Lenny’s. It was only 8:45 and he was still putting up his stall. Ben would be late if he waited. He smiled at Lenny with a nod and made his way to the airport.

“Look Mom! Butterfly!”  Susie shrieked with excitement

“Butterfly... what butterfly? Oh! Butterfly! Thank you Susie darling!”  Lancy kissed Susie. “Thank you, dear! I almost forgot to call Butterfly! She would have killed me!”

It is amazing how human mind makes the connections.

“Mom, why do you call Aunt Penelope, butterfly?” Susie asked following the fluttering butterfly with her little eyes twinkling with excitement.

“Because that’s what I have called her since our school.” Lancy said and picked up her telephone and called Penelope.

Lancy was busy with the call and Susie followed the butterfly out into the garden.

 “.....I will be gone for almost a month, Pen. Looking forward to it. Yeah. The sun and light. Away from the smug dark clouds. I heard its too hot there and the food is spicy too! All arrangements are.....”

While Lancy was on the phone, Ashe too was also on another call.

“Yes... it is AI102... to New Delhi.... yes.... 10:00 right. Thank you.”

He tapped at Lancy’s shoulders.she turned around.

“Doodle, the flight is at 10:00. It is already 8:00. I have called up the cab. He will be here any moment. Will you please finish your calls soon? Why on earth don’t you use your cell phone?”

‘5 minutes’ Lancy mouthed; for the fourth time.

Ashe shook his head with a sigh and went to recheck on the baggage.

It was like a fairy tale to Susie! The wet lawn and the fresh flowers; someone had washed them the last night and forgot to wring it properly. She loved it. The cold breeze and the green; she was running around poking at the fresh flowers and marvelling at the little insects and bees buzzing around them forgetting her pursuit for a while.

Then her eyes fell on a white flower. She dint know its name. But it was beautiful and there was her butterfly sitting on it. Only now did she see it properly. It was yellow and it had red stripes and patterns on it. Susie had seen butterflies but not one this close. She slowly and carefully went near it. It was idly flapping its wings.

“Hello.” She said smiling to the butterfly, “I am Susie. I am going on a holiday to.... I don’t know... i forgot the name.... but, it is very far. And know what, i am going in an aeroplane! I am going to fly... fly in the sky... just like you...”

She slowly extended her finger to touch the butterfly. It suddenly took off and flew into the sky fluttering away.

“It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly’s wings can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.” – Chaos Theory

Or sometimes prevent it too.....

 Facts and Fiction:

·        I don’t know about the output; but the idea seemed very good! One of the good ones that i had in a very long time!

·        Just like my other stories, i have visualized it as a short-movie; and gosh! I loved it!

·        As for the scene in the airport, i seriously don’t now whether is this how it is done! I know that sequence may sound dumb; but thats it :D

·        Wanted to name the title – of course – The Butterfly Effect. But, it would be too obvious and i wanted the readers to discover it themselves. (Did you?)

·        Might be confusing (I hope so) and I believe I have got the full flow of logic right!