"Seat 13F"
she kicks off from the rain-soaked field and lifts off into the sky
she caught a glimpse of her girlfriend's boarding pass before she dropped her off at the airport: seat 13F
bursting through the dark rain clouds, their undulating valleys and mountains stretch out before her
she checks the ADS-B receiver and her compass and accelerates rapidly to catch up with the plane
a bubble of pressurized air fills the space under her hat as she reaches cruising altitude
the wing is too slippery to stand on, but her spells keep her from sliding off
looking towards the front of the plane, she counts the windows and peers into the thirteenth
the window shade is open, just as she hoped
her girlfriend always loved seeing the landscape and clouds unfold beneath her when riding with her on her broom
a smile lights up her girlfriend's face as she sees her on the wing
they make heart shapes with their hands at each other
the young boy looks out of the window of the plane at the wing
then he sees her.
a witch on a broom, complete with stereotypical hat, has landed there and is making a heart with her hands at the hoodie-wearing girl in the seat in front of him
as the witch flies off, he longs to know the secret of magic and her broom.
he knows that he wants to be just like her
years go by, and he's still thinking about what he saw out the plane window that rainy March day
he remains fascinated by flight, and he's finally behind the controls of Piper Archer by himself for the first time
looking north, he sees a small shape darting around in the distance
it's too big to be a bird, but it's too small to be even a small plane
he breaks off from the pattern he's practicing and flies towards what turns out to be a witch on a broomstick
she matches speed and flies alongside him and takes out a chunky walkie talkie
with her other hand, she counts on her fingers, clearly trying to tell him something
one, two, three, then just a fist, four, five
he realizes that she's spelling out a frequency: 123.45 MHz, also known as "fingers"
"many years ago, I looked out the window of a plane and a witch landed on the wing, and I knew then and there that I wanted to be her"
with that, she lands on the wing of his plane
"you know, you can be a woman"
"that's not what I meant" he says, starting to cry and shaking the controls slightly
"but you can't stop thinking about it now that I said it" she replies, stabilizing the plane with a gesture
"you can become a witch, too, in time. but first, you need to land; you don't have much fuel left"
he looks at the gauge and discovers that she's right
"see you soon!" he says, tuning the radio back to ATC, still thinking about what she said
FIN.