A Short story: The Pilot in Love

by Rizwana Khan

Flying the wide winged white plane was Tony’s dream. The larger, slimmer model of plane was easy to fly in immense pollution suspended skies. Tony felt Irritable and stupid for taking a call from Ramzan. What would he do with crushed chips and empty candy wrappers on the floor? He thought of the stubborn and violently brown complexion officer from FAA? “Would you shut off?” But still Tony took the call as ordered from his boss.

“Oh my God, if you tell them about your fake license I’m totally fucked up,” said the administrator in his well pressed uniform.

“I know but by Monday you’ll find out.”

“Find out what?” said Tony

“Find out whether Mango Farms will hire you to fly them, anymore. You know you are carrying precious luggage.”

Young and uncertain, Tony said nothing indelicate but he was competitive and red blooded. Flying for Daud was something that he always wanted to do. There weren’t any mind boggling monstrous pilots lined up for the job. The sandwiches with mayonnaise, a slice of cucumber and salad leaves were served.

“You could buy a house with a front yard if you get a job and the license works. But how did you get the license for flying without hours?” recently the plane crashes were the result of the fake licenses, not enough hours and political favors.

“The license was a favor returned. My father is a fuckin’ dog. You know him how he would go to all of the rallies and do sloganeering at the top of his voice until he got hoarse. After the elections, the politician promised my father the pilot license for his only son who had never been able to pass any exam.”

“Before even when you didn’t fly all the hours, and are politically connected you were given the flying permit. But now things have changed.”

“So what,” Tony least bothered sipped the milky chai with crackers.

The license was crested red and it would be noble and really innocent of him if he said that it was legally acquired. Without spectacular means he had done occasional drab hours and therefore not truly feathered. His sponsor was a prehistoric politician from decades ago. He was the one who had promised large complacent rewards.  His followers brought for him proverbial big election results.

In the old airport he flew next to the enormous multicolored balloons. Malik, Tony’s boss, owned plum gilded parcels of lands and sugar mills. While flying over the wrinkled like a newborn farmlands Tony gawked at the state of the art techniques that grew felicitous and perfect mangos in Malik farms.

As expected, anonymous Daud was given the plump donations to the sacred cause of building his political party with a twist. The twist being that nobody in his family been connected to politics before. Malik had great faith in Daud who he believed would be the next leader of the large and a very careless Third World country.

Tony was singularly picked from the pool of pilots with fake licenses. In the mythical blue skies he flew like a silvery feathered bird, proud and spectacular.

The man with clumsy gait and dark gray uniform arrived with a letter. “What’s this?”  Tony seldom received anything written. The letter had something to do with a visitor.

 All the political appointees were courteous and wore gray overalls, the official uniform of the pilots. Tony saw them from afar. The people gave a maternal hug to the young and feeble woman who accompanied a beautiful, vigorous girl in skinny jeans and aggressive manners. As the young girl came closer he saw she was a vacuous, carefully, dyed bottle blonde and much older. Tony wondered whether she was flying off to meet her lover.

“Is there something to eat here?” the girl asked. He couldn’t see her eyes and as she wore a fancy Bvaglori glasses. The old airport had a cafeteria with selected items. “You could go for a whopper,” said Tony pointing the direction.

Lively and restless Tony felt like a feathered male. Her voice was hoarse, she said she had a cold or it was from smoking for too long and too much. Her long meticulously manicured fingers were holding the cigarette, as he could see. “Is that the cement factory?” They stopped at the ancient awesome reptilian place next to a cement factory built by a demented engineer that depleted the water table.

The crazy girl had just returned from UK and was assigned as an environmental activist. As the activism went she was fierce and frightening.  With moody, dangerous swings she complained about everything. The plump women wearing ridiculous clothes towing their gregarious voracious children the hooting green of the flag wasn’t to her liking also. She was there to meet Daud, the newly elected president. Her views were discordant and awkward. Tony thought but he could easily fall in love with her if given opportunity. Finally they flew in their eight seat airplane towards the capital.

Tony felt like hitting the blankets with her. “Just ‘cause you like the girl in first fifteen minutes you meet it doesn’t give you the permission to get her in your bed. Actually it is totally unnatural,” Ramzan always told him as he went out of his to advise him. Ramzan lived in his neighborhood and when young they caught kites flying over the trees and buildings and went to the same elementary school.

The plane was littered with just inane amount of unfinished food and bags of chips. Tony didn’t want to land because of so many reasons and especially because he was experiencing the fine and very fluffy feeling and didn’t want it to go away. A little white and pugnacious furry dog that sat on Roshana’s lap yapped at him as if he could see that he had a competition. Meanwhile they flew over the splendid farmland and reached the exceptionally pure air in the skies. They saw from far above the ample stretch of green and yellow cane fields.

“Why are you here?” Landing awkwardly on the ramp Roshana the sensitive migratory bird from abroad took out her ridiculous looking glasses and put them on her finely contoured face and managed to look more beautiful than ever.

 “To find out the workings of Daud, what else.” Daud’s radical agenda was attracting attention worldwide especially from  attractive women.

There was a mysterious air around her. He felt indignant that she was interested in Daud and all the questions were unmodified and true to her amorous intentions. “A word of advice for your consumption, Daud is not easy to break.” All the time, Tony flew Daud in his plane the charismatic leader would not be afraid of stormy weather or the mad parliamentarians ruling the country.

Tony felt that being timid and peaceful with the love of his life will not take him too far. Therefore, he aggressively pursued her with argument against his boss’s friend, Daud.

She said that she already knew that the golf’s famous star turned politician was clever and most selfish. Besides serving only biscuits with tea his reputation preceded him in other areas, also. Regardless, the beautiful and talented girls like her still preferred the powerful man like Daud over others.  Tony wondered what other faithless, omnipresent man yielded such a power that stuck up women like Roshana were easily attracted like the bees on a honeypot.

Tony felt restless and misguided and felt that spending one night with her will be a sacred rite of passage. “Are you married?”Roshana asked. His whole life was one colossal mistake when he married his cousin. His firstborn was a real case of that nasty disease and he had nobody to blame but himself and his crazy DNA. Thus, thalassemia was an angry blood disease that produced nothing but colossal medical bill. Tony was handsome as the pilots went in their gray uniforms and attracted enough opposite sex. He used his affairs as a way from forgetting his personal misfortune.

Roshana took the huge branded bag with particularly savage black and yellow counterfeit logo. She said she was venerable because she was recently separated and looking for another man to fill her unfulfilled yearnings. With his hopes plump and going wild he wondered what if he could have her. He rang up his kite flying friend Ramzan and Daud’s personal security and asked for Daud’s schedule. “You worthless man, he’s not going to give her his time of the day,” Ramzan guffawed. 

On promotion and substantial bribe from Tony, Ramzan was cranky and cross eyed with happiness, and wad not going to listen to him, anymore. There were always activists who were worthless and dumb and chased Tony at every opportunity because he had indirect link to Daud.  And Ramzan wasn’t any different because he liked appreciation and Tony was good at gibberish.  At any rate, Tony was smitten with Roshana and wanted to be in her good books or any other book. “You’re a big Dumbo, she’s not going to get on your plane, again, after she’s done. These media people are ungrateful ones.” Ramzan said from experience.

 It was a while back when Daud was having a hospital fundraiser. The local newspaper and Tinda exchanged a substantial amount to reveal Daud’s affair with Serena. The beautiful feline creature from England settled in Los Angeles, far finer, and exclusive then anyone Ramzan had ever seen in his life. When playing the golf tournament all the rich royalty circulated around Daud. He picked up beautiful blonde blue eyed women, especially, who were well networked and then dropped them when done with carnal satisfaction. But Serena wouldn’t let him go. Ramzan remembered the good rich people with common domestic help and philanthropic streak had him sleep in their servant quarters.

Regardless, Serena when not accepted by Daud’s family cried through the particularly difficult time and then Daud said that he had moved on to another beautiful mate. Was it vengeful or not for being left but nobody knew. Later she’d a baby with dark complexion in contrast to Serena’s pale white complexion. Daud refused to have his DNA matched from the clinic.

Then at the fundraiser, Serena met her ex-lover conspired by Tinda and she told Daud that the child was his but he didn’t believe her. He denied everything, point black. The Himat newspaper took the story right before the elections. The smear campaign as expected shattered Daud’s confidence and consequently his election.  Daud would never forget the abysmal score in the elections. Then onwards he became extremely careful and didn’t want to become the unsuspected victim of Tinda’s media smear machinery.

Onlookers saw the chemistry between the Roshana and the pilot and thought there was a great likelihood that gallant pilot will spend a lovely time with Roshana before she would craft a way into Daud’s lap. With her yapping fluffy dog Roshana took a full appraisal of the Tony, his masculinity oozing sexual energy and dark bushy eyebrows and said, “You’re oversized for your breeches,” Ramzan laughed out aloud and said, “And don’t forget the fake flying license, “and hurried towards the large, black Prado carrying her Louis Vuitton bags.