WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:20.559 US studios, the paper airplanes. The morning light arrived quietly, 2 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:23.199 the way it always did, on the third floor of 3 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:27.920 the old brick building on Sycamore Street. It crept through 4 00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:31.480 the sheer curtains and lay itself across the wooden floor 5 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:35.640 like a cat stretching in a sunbeam. Warm and unhurried 6 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:41.439 and utterly content, Aria was already awake. She had been 7 00:00:41.479 --> 00:00:44.520 awake since the first pale thread of dawn appeared at 8 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:47.439 the edge of the horizon. But she did not mind. 9 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:51.079 There was something about being awake before the rest of 10 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:54.520 the world that felt like having a secret, like holding 11 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:57.359 a small warm stone in your pocket that no one 12 00:00:57.399 --> 00:01:02.000 else knew about. She laced for a moment, listening to 13 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:05.519 the sounds of the building settling into its day. The 14 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:09.959 pipes in the wall hummed softly, a low and drowsy music. 15 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:15.439 Somewhere below, a door opened and closed, and the faint 16 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:18.400 sound of footsteps on the sidewalk drifted up through the 17 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:23.200 open window. A bird was singing in the elm tree outside, 18 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:27.959 a repetitive, cheerful melody that seemed to say the same 19 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:33.400 thing over and over. The day is here, The day 20 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:38.519 is here, The day is here. Aria swung her legs 21 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:40.719 over the side of the bed and placed her feet 22 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:45.079 on the cool floor. She stretched her arms above her head, 23 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:48.840 feeling the pleasant pull along her spine, and then she 24 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:52.879 stood and walked to the window. The balcony was just outside, 25 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:57.120 a small concrete platform with a rusted iron railing that 26 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:00.719 overlooked the quiet street below. She had lived in this 27 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:04.280 apartment for four years now, and the balcony had become 28 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:07.000 the place where she spent most of her mornings. It 29 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.719 was not large, it was barely big enough for a 30 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:13.599 chair and a small table. But it was hers, and 31 00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:16.759 it faced east, and the light that poured over it 32 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:19.080 in the early hours was the kind of light that 33 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:22.800 made everything look softer and more forgiving than it actually was. 34 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:27.000 She slid the glass door open and stepped outside. The 35 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:30.159 air was cool, carrying the scent of wet earth from 36 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:34.080 the rain the night before. The street was still mostly empty. 37 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:38.400 A woman was walking a golden retriever along the opposite sidewalk, 38 00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:42.560 and the dog's tail was wagging in wide, enthusiastic circles. 39 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:46.039 An older man was sitting on his porch steps across 40 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:50.000 the way, holding a cup of coffee and staring at nothing. 41 00:02:50.039 --> 00:02:53.719 In particular, with the contented blankness of someone who had 42 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:56.800 nowhere to be in all day to get there. Harriya 43 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:01.680 leaned against the railing and breathed deeply. She had always 44 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:06.759 loved this time of morning. The world felt clean and unclaimed, 45 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:11.759 as if nothing had happened yet and everything was still possible. 46 00:03:12.759 --> 00:03:15.800 It was the feeling of a blank page, of an 47 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:19.719 empty canvas, of the first few notes of a song 48 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:22.599 that has not yet decided what it wants to be. 49 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:26.280 On the small table beside her chair there was a 50 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:30.719 stack of paper. It had been there for three days, 51 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:33.520 ever since she had bought it from the stationery shop 52 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:38.560 on the corner. The paper was good quality, heavier than 53 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:42.840 standard printer paper, with a slight texture to it that 54 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:46.039 reminded her of the drawing paper she had used as 55 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.360 a child. She had bought it with no particular purpose 56 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:52.719 in mind. She had simply seen it in the shop, 57 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:57.439 admired the way it felt between her fingers, and decided 58 00:03:57.479 --> 00:04:00.319 that she wanted to own some. It was the kind 59 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:04.039 of purchase that made no logical sense, and those were 60 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:07.599 often the best kind. She picked up the top sheet 61 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:11.400 and held it up to the light. It was almost translucent, 62 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:15.479 the morning sun glowing through it like a lantern. She 63 00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:17.720 could see the shadow of her own hand on the 64 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:21.240 other side, the outline of her fingers dark against the 65 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:25.120 warm light. She folded the paper in half, creasing it 66 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:29.079 carefully with her thumb ail, and then she stopped. She 67 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:32.040 was not sure what she was making. She had not 68 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:36.240 planned this. The paper had simply been there, and her 69 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:39.839 hands had simply begun to move, and now she was 70 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:43.639 holding a folded sheet with no destination. This was how 71 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:47.920 most of the best things in Aria's life began, without planning, 72 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:53.319 without expectation, without the heavy, anxious weight of purpose pressing 73 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:57.879 down on them. They simply happened, the way clouds form 74 00:04:57.959 --> 00:05:01.720 and rivers find their paths, and flowers open in the 75 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:06.279 morning without anyone telling them to. She unfolded the paper 76 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:09.600 and looked at the crease. It ran down the center 77 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:13.720 like a spine, dividing the sheet into two equal halves. 78 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:18.680 She folded it again, this time diagonally, bringing one corner 79 00:05:18.759 --> 00:05:23.319 to meet the opposite one. The paper resisted, slightly, wanting 80 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:26.839 to follow its own geometry, but she held it firmly 81 00:05:27.079 --> 00:05:31.680 and pressed the fold flat a triangle. She folded the 82 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:36.160 triangle's corners inward, creating two smaller triangles that met at 83 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:40.120 the center line. Then she folded the bottom edges up 84 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:44.279 along the center, forming two narrow wings that extended outward 85 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:47.319 from the body of the paper. She held it up 86 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:51.439 and looked at it. It was a paper airplane, not 87 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:55.759 a particularly elegant one, and not a particularly aerodynamic one, 88 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:59.560 but a paper airplane none the less. It had a 89 00:05:59.560 --> 00:06:02.920 body and wings and a pointed nose, and it looked 90 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:05.519 exactly like the kind of thing a child might make 91 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:09.199 in class when the teacher was not looking. Aria smiled. 92 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:12.399 She could not remember the last time she had made 93 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:15.279 a paper airplane. It must have been when she was 94 00:06:15.399 --> 00:06:19.879 very young, perhaps seven or eight, sitting at the kitchen 95 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:23.920 table with her mother's old magazines and a pair of scissors. 96 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.800 She remembered the way the scissors would glide through the paper, 97 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:32.480 leaving clean, satisfying edges. She remembered the way her mother 98 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:35.839 would look over her shoulder and say, what are you making, 99 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:40.879 and she would say something that flies, and her mother 100 00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:45.240 would laugh and say, everything flies if you believe hard enough. 101 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:48.480 She walked to the edge of the balcony and held 102 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:52.120 the airplane at arm's length. The morning air was still 103 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:55.800 barely a whisper of wind. She drew her arm back 104 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:59.839 and threw the airplane forward, giving it a firm, smooth release. 105 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:06.759 It flew not far, not particularly straight. It wobbled slightly 106 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:10.759 to the left, dipped toward railing, then corrected itself and 107 00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:14.160 glided outward over the street in a lazy descending arc. 108 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:18.639 It traveled perhaps twenty feet before it lost altitude and 109 00:07:18.759 --> 00:07:22.519 landed gently on the sidewalk across the street, skidding to 110 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:25.680 a stop near the curb, like a tiny, delicate landing 111 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:29.399 craft touching down on a foreign shore. Aria watched it 112 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:32.920 lie there on the concrete, a white diamond against the 113 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:38.160 gray pavement. It looked small and brave and slightly absurd. 114 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:43.040 Sitting alone on the empty sidewalk. She imagined it had 115 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:46.720 a story to tell about its journey, about the brief 116 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:50.959 thrilling moment when it had been airborne, when gravity had 117 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:56.160 loosened its grip just enough to let it float. She 118 00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:59.240 went back to the table and picked up another sheaved paper. 119 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:04.360 This time she folded it differently. She started with the 120 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:08.839 same basic shape, the familiar dart that every child learns, 121 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:13.480 but then she modified the wings, folding them wider and flatter, 122 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:19.160 creating a broader surface area. She folded the nose down slightly, 123 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:23.680 adding weight to the front. She creased the edges with care, 124 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:28.920 making each fold sharp and precise. When she held it up, 125 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:33.240 it looked more like a glider than a dart, with long, 126 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:36.799 sweeping wings that caught the light. She threw it from 127 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:40.080 the balcony, and this one flew better. It caught a 128 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:43.440 slight updraft from the warm air rising off the street, 129 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:48.600 and maintained its altitude for several seconds. Gliding forward in 130 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:54.000 a smooth, steady line. It passed over the sidewalk, over 131 00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:57.879 the parked cars, over the small patch of grass between 132 00:08:57.879 --> 00:09:02.320 the sidewalk and the street. It traveled almost the entire 133 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:05.480 length of the block before it finally began to descend, 134 00:09:06.440 --> 00:09:11.480 spiraling gently downward in a wide, graceful turn. It landed 135 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:13.679 on the hood of a blue sedan parked at the 136 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:15.600 far end of the street, where it sat for a 137 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:20.600 moment as if considering its options, before a breeze lifted 138 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:22.759 it and carried it over the side and on to 139 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:28.279 the ground. Ria laughed. It was a small, private laugh, 140 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:32.600 the kind that escapes before you can catch it. She 141 00:09:32.759 --> 00:09:36.519 was not laughing at anything in particular. She was laughing 142 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:40.440 because the airplane had flown beautifully, and because the morning 143 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:44.039 was lovely, and because she was standing on her balcony 144 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:47.360 making paper airplanes at seven o'clock in the morning, with 145 00:09:47.480 --> 00:09:51.039 no one watching and nowhere to be. It was the 146 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:53.720 kind of laughter that comes from a place of pure, 147 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:57.960 uncomplicated pleasure, and it felt like opening a window in 148 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.759 a room that has been closed for too long. She 149 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:06.200 made another airplane. This one was different again. She folded 150 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:10.080 it with a wider body and shorter wings, creating a 151 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:14.840 shape that was more bird like than aerodynamic. She folded 152 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:20.399 the wing tapes up slightly, creating small vertical stabilizers. She 153 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:24.360 added a slight upward curve to the trailing edges, a 154 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:27.080 trick she vaguely remembered from a book she had read 155 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:30.679 as a child, something about how real airplanes used the 156 00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:34.639 elevators to control their pitch. She was not sure if 157 00:10:34.679 --> 00:10:38.000 this was accurate, but it felt right, and in the 158 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:41.879 world of paper airplanes, feeling right was more important than 159 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:46.120 being technically correct. She threw this one with a slightly 160 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:50.120 upward angle, releasing it high and letting it arc downward. 161 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:55.679 It flew magnificently. It caught the air beautifully, riding the 162 00:10:55.759 --> 00:11:00.360 gentle currents that rose from the warming pavement below in 163 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:04.200 a long straight line, steady as a real airplane on 164 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:08.519 a calm day, and Aria followed its progress with growing delight. 165 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:13.360 It cleared the street entirely, passing over the sidewalk and 166 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:16.720 the small front yards of the houses on the opposite side. 167 00:11:17.399 --> 00:11:20.879 It flew over a hedge, over a garden gnome standing 168 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:24.559 guard by a front door, over a bicycle leaning against 169 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:28.600 a fence. It traveled so far that Aria lost sight 170 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:31.120 of it behind the branches of the lard oak tree 171 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:34.559 at the corner. She waited, hoping to see it reappear 172 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:38.320 on the other side. After a moment, she caught a 173 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:41.639 flash of white through the leaves, and then the airplane 174 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:45.519 emerged from the tree's canopy, having apparently passed through it 175 00:11:45.559 --> 00:11:49.799 without getting caught. It continued its journey for another ten 176 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:52.840 feet before landing softly in the middle of the quiet 177 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:57.279 residential street, where it lay like a tiny white bird resting. 178 00:11:57.320 --> 00:12:01.279 After a long flight. That was a good one, Aria 179 00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:04.600 said aloud to no one. She went back to the 180 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:08.080 table and sat down in her chair. She picked up 181 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:10.519 the next sheet of paper and began to fold it, 182 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:16.320 but more slowly, this time, more deliberately. She was thinking 183 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:20.000 about the airplanes and their flights, about the way each 184 00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:24.080 one moved differently depending on how it was folded. The 185 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:28.519 dart was fast and direct, The glider was smooth and steady. 186 00:12:29.399 --> 00:12:33.639 The bird was graceful and unpredictable. Each one was made 187 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:37.600 from the same material, the same weight and texture of paper, 188 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:42.200 but each one had its own character, its own way 189 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:45.399 of moving through the air. It occurred to her that 190 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:48.480 this was a kind of metaphor, though she was not 191 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:52.159 sure for what. She had never been good at metaphors. 192 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:55.600 Her English teacher in high school had once written in 193 00:12:55.639 --> 00:13:00.320 the margins of her essay, try to use more figurative language, 194 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:04.600 and she had responded by writing, the moon was like 195 00:13:04.679 --> 00:13:08.000 a round thing in the sky, which had not been 196 00:13:08.039 --> 00:13:13.039 what the teacher meant at all. But sometimes metaphors arrived uninvited, 197 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:16.519 the way the paper airplanes had, and you did not 198 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:20.600 need to understand them to appreciate them. She folded this 199 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:24.480 airplane with even more care than the previous ones. She 200 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:27.879 took her time with each crease, pressing it flat with 201 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.360 the edge of her thumb name until it was as 202 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:33.799 sharp as a knife edge. She folded the wings with 203 00:13:33.879 --> 00:13:38.000 a slight dihedral angle, tilting them upward from the body. 204 00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:42.080 She added a small fold at the nose, creating a 205 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:45.559 reinforced point that would cut through the air more efficiently. 206 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:50.799 When she was finished, the airplane looked almost professional, like 207 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:53.559 something you might see in a magazine article about the 208 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:58.039 aerodynamics of paper flight. She stood and walked to the railing. 209 00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:04.080 The street was beginning to wake up. More people were 210 00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:11.039 appearing on the sidewalks. A jogger passed by earbuts in feet, 211 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:16.279 striking the pavement in a steady, meditative rhythm. A woman 212 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:20.519 was pushing a stroller, the baby inside, looking up at 213 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:23.879 the world with the wide, wondering eyes of someone who 214 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:27.799 has seen it all for the first time. Two children 215 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:32.480 were walking to school, their backpacks bobbing on their small shoulders, 216 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:37.960 their voices carrying up to aria in cheerful, overlapping chatter. 217 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:42.600 She waited for a gap in the activity below, not 218 00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:46.480 wanting to hit anyone with her airplane. When the street 219 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:50.000 was briefly clear, she drew back her arm and through 220 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:54.879 the airplane with a smooth upward release. This one flew 221 00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:58.799 like nothing she had ever seen. It left her hand 222 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:03.879 and me mediately found the air rising slightly, as if 223 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:07.240 it had been launched from a catapult rather than thrown 224 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:12.399 from a balcony. It flew straight and true, maintaining its 225 00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:17.440 altitude with an almost supernatural steadiness. It crossed the street 226 00:15:17.559 --> 00:15:22.960 in a perfectly horizontal line, not dipping, not wobbling, not 227 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.039 deviating from its path by even a fraction of an inch. 228 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:30.519 It flew over the sidewalk, over the front yard of 229 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:35.200 the house, directly across the street, over a flower bed 230 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:39.320 full of red and yellow blooms, and then it continued onward, 231 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:44.360 rising slightly as it caught a thermal, climbing above the 232 00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:49.360 roofline of the house and disappearing behind it. Arius stood 233 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.559 at the railing, her hands still extended from the throw, 234 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:55.639 and stared at the spot where the airplane had vanished. 235 00:15:56.360 --> 00:15:59.840 She counted to ten, waiting for it to reappear. It 236 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.840 did not. She wondered where it had landed in some 237 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:07.759 one's garden, on some one's roof in the alley behind 238 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:11.279 the house. She imagined it settling gently on to a 239 00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:14.879 bed of moss between two old bricks, or catching on 240 00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:17.720 a clothes line and hanging there like a small white 241 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:22.759 flag of surrender. She imagined someone finding it later, picking 242 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:26.799 it up, smoothing out its wings, and wondering where it 243 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:31.039 had come from. She imagined a child discovering it and 244 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:34.600 adding it to a collection, or an old woman finding 245 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:37.399 it and tucking it into a drawer as a small, 246 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:42.759 unexpected treasure. She liked this. She liked the idea that 247 00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:46.279 her airplane was out there, somewhere in some one else's story, 248 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:50.879 now carrying with it whatever secret wishes or gentle intentions 249 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:54.279 she had folded into its creases. It was like sending 250 00:16:54.279 --> 00:16:57.879 a letter without knowing the address, like singing a song 251 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.080 without knowing who would hear it. It was a small 252 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:04.720 act of faith, a tiny gesture of hope directed at 253 00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:08.920 the universe, and the universe, in its quiet, indifferent way, 254 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:12.960 had received it. She sat back down and picked up 255 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:17.839 another sheet of paper. Over the next hour, Ariya made 256 00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:24.680 airplane after airplane. She experimented with different designs, different folding techniques, 257 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:30.200 different combinations of wing shape and body weight. Some flew well, 258 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:35.960 some flew poorly, Some flew straight and true, and some 259 00:17:36.119 --> 00:17:40.599 curved wildly off course, spiraling into the ground, or veering 260 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:44.519 into bushes, or stalling mid air and dropping like stones. 261 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:48.640 Each failure was a lesson, and each success was a 262 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:53.640 small private celebration. She made a biplane with two sets 263 00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:58.480 of wings, one above the other, connected by small paper struts. 264 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:04.519 It flew surprisingly well, maintaining a slow, steady glide that 265 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:07.920 carried it almost to the end of the block. She 266 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:11.160 made a canard with a small forward wing and a 267 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:15.079 larger rear wing, inspired by a photograph she had seen 268 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:20.240 in a magazine. It flew erratically, looping and diving in 269 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:24.680 unpredictable patterns, but it was exciting to watch, like a 270 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:29.440 bird doing acrobatics in the sky. She made a delta wing, 271 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:35.240 triangular and sleek, with a pointed nose and swept back wings. 272 00:18:36.039 --> 00:18:39.599 It flew fast and straight, cutting through the air like 273 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:43.400 a knife. She made a plane with extra long wings, 274 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:47.119 so long that they drooped slightly under their own weight. 275 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:51.079 She threw it gently, and it floated on the air 276 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:56.000 like a leaf, drifting slowly downward in wide, lazy circles. 277 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:00.440 She made a plane with a heavy nose, folding extra 278 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:03.480 layers of paper at the front, and it flew with 279 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:08.440 a determined downward trajectory, as if it had somewhere specific 280 00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:11.680 to be and was not interested in taking the scenic route. 281 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:16.400 Each airplane was a small experiment, a tiny investigation into 282 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:19.960 the physics of flight and the art of folding. Aria 283 00:19:20.119 --> 00:19:23.079 was not a scientist. She had studied art history in 284 00:19:23.160 --> 00:19:27.079 college and worked as a freelance illustrator, spending her days 285 00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:31.319 drawing botanical illustrations for a publisher of nature guides. She 286 00:19:31.400 --> 00:19:35.359 knew about the structure of flowers, the Venetian patterns of leaves, 287 00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:38.960 the precise arrangement of petals on a rose. But she 288 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:42.720 knew very little about aerodynamics, and she went learning it now, 289 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:47.039 onefold at a time, from the paper itself. The paper 290 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:50.960 was teaching her. It was showing her through its creases 291 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:54.000 and its resistance, through the way it caught the air 292 00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:57.599 and the way it fell, the fundamental principles of flight, 293 00:19:58.279 --> 00:20:02.920 weight and balance, lift and drag, the center of gravity 294 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:06.160 and the center of pressure. She did not know these 295 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:10.000 terms yet, but she understood their effects the way you 296 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:13.759 can understand a language before you know its grammar. She 297 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:16.359 folded a sheet into a shape that was not quite 298 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:19.920 an airplane and not quite a bird, something in between, 299 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:24.079 something that belonged to no category. It had wings that 300 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:26.680 curved upward like the wings of a heron in flight, 301 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:30.039 and a body that was wide and flat, and a 302 00:20:30.119 --> 00:20:32.519 tail that fanned out behind it, like the tail of 303 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:36.640 a fish. She held it up and looked at it, uncertain. 304 00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:39.599 It was the strangest thing she had made all morning, 305 00:20:40.119 --> 00:20:42.160 and she was not sure it would flat at all. 306 00:20:42.839 --> 00:20:47.160 She threw it anyway, it flew beautifully. It rose from 307 00:20:47.160 --> 00:20:51.799 her hand and immediately began to turn, spiraling upward and 308 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:57.319 a tight, graceful corkscrew. It climbed above the street, above 309 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:00.359 the trees, above the roof line of the house houses 310 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:03.640 across the way. It caught a gust of wind and 311 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:07.640 shot forward, accelerating in a burst of speed that made 312 00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:12.039 Aria gasp. Then the wind died and the airplane slowed, 313 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:16.000 and it began to glide downward in a wide, sweeping arc, 314 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:21.160 like a bird riding a thermal. It circled once, twice, 315 00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:26.599 three times, each circle wider than the last, and then 316 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:30.799 it straightened out and flew directly away from her, over 317 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:35.559 the rooftops, over the trees, over the distant skyline of 318 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:39.160 the city, until it was just a small white speck 319 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:43.200 against the blue, and then it was gone. Aria stood 320 00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:46.160 at the railing for a long time after that, one, 321 00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:49.759 watching the empty sky where it had disappeared. She felt 322 00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:53.359 a strange tender ache in her chest, the kind of 323 00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:57.640 feeling that comes when something beautiful ends too soon. She 324 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:00.640 wanted to call it back, to whistle to it, the 325 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:03.559 way you might whistle to a dog, to hold out 326 00:22:03.559 --> 00:22:08.680 her arms and say come back, come back, But she 327 00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:11.799 knew that was not how it worked. You could not 328 00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:15.400 fold something beautiful and set it free and then be 329 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:19.000 surprised what it did not return. She went back to 330 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:23.200 the table and sat down. She looked at the remaining 331 00:22:23.240 --> 00:22:29.759 stack of paper. There were perhaps fifteen sheets left, maybe twenty. 332 00:22:30.839 --> 00:22:33.880 She had been folding for over an hour, and the 333 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:37.480 stack that had seemed so large this morning was now 334 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:42.200 considerably diminished. She picked up the top sheet and held 335 00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:47.960 it in her hands, feeling its weight, its texture, its potential. 336 00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:54.119 She did not fold it immediately. Instead, she sat with it, 337 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:59.119 turning it over in her hands, running her fingers along 338 00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:04.519 its edges. The paper was smooth and cool, with a faint, 339 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:09.799 clean scent that reminded her of freshly laundered sheets. She 340 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:13.359 liked the way it felt. She liked the way it 341 00:23:13.400 --> 00:23:18.720 looked in the morning light, white and bright and full 342 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:22.720 of possibility. She liked the way it held a fold, 343 00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:28.039 the crispness of the crease, the way the paper remembered 344 00:23:28.039 --> 00:23:30.880 the shape she had given it and did not try 345 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:34.960 to unfold itself. She thought about the airplanes she had 346 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.119 made and where they had gone. She thought about the 347 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:42.720 dart that had landed on the sidewalk across the street. 348 00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:45.839 She thought about the glider that had landed in the 349 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:49.039 hood of the blue sedan. She thought about the bird 350 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:52.839 that had passed through the oak tree. She thought about 351 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:56.559 the long winged floater that had drifted in lazy circles. 352 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:02.920 She thought about the strange named thing that had corkscrewed 353 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:06.920 into the sky and disappeared over the rooftops. All of 354 00:24:06.920 --> 00:24:10.680 them were out there, now, scattered across the neighborhood, like 355 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:15.599 seeds thrown by the wind. Some had landed in obvious places, 356 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:21.279 easy to find. Others had landed in hidden places, tucked 357 00:24:21.319 --> 00:24:24.319 behind bushes, or wedged into gutters, or caught in the 358 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:28.359 branches of trees. A few might never be found at all, 359 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:32.759 might stay wherever they had landed until rains softened them, 360 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:36.480 and time dissolved them, and they returned to the earth 361 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:39.839 for which their paper had been made. There was something 362 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:45.319 comforting about this. Aria thought, something reassuring about the idea 363 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:48.119 that her small creations were out there in the world, 364 00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:53.160 living their quiet paper lives, touching places and people she 365 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:56.759 would never know about. It was like planting a garden 366 00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:00.559 in a neighborhood you had never visited. Could not see 367 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:03.720 what grew there, but you knew that something was growing, 368 00:25:04.599 --> 00:25:07.319 and that was enough. She folded the paper in her 369 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:10.599 hands into a new airplane, this one with a design 370 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:14.319 she had not tried before. She made the wings wide 371 00:25:14.440 --> 00:25:17.799 and flat, with a slight upward curve at the tips. 372 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.559 She made the body short and compact, with a heavy 373 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:25.119 nose and a tapered tail. She added small flaps at 374 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:27.680 the back of the wings, like the ailerons on a 375 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:31.440 real airplane, and she folded them at slightly different angles, 376 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:35.039 creating an in symmetry that she hoped would cause the 377 00:25:35.079 --> 00:25:39.079 airplane to turn in a gentle circular path. She stood 378 00:25:39.319 --> 00:25:43.799 and walked to the railing. The morning was fully established now, 379 00:25:44.559 --> 00:25:48.039 the sun had climbed above the rooftops, and the street 380 00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:53.240 below was bathed in warm golden light. The air had warmed, 381 00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:57.440 and she could feel it on her skin. Gentle and alive. 382 00:25:58.599 --> 00:26:01.839 The bird in the elm tree was still singing, its song, 383 00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:06.839 now more complex, more elaborate, a medley of notes and 384 00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:12.000 phrases that wove together like a tapestry. She threw the airplane. 385 00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:15.839 It flew exactly as she had hoped. It left her 386 00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:20.359 hand and immediately began to turn, following the gentle curve 387 00:26:20.519 --> 00:26:24.359 she had built into its wings. It flew in a 388 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:29.519 wide clockwise circle, passing over the street, over the sidewalk, 389 00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:33.200 over the front yards of the houses on the opposite side. 390 00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:38.839 It completed one full circle, then another, each one slightly 391 00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:42.480 wider than the last, as if it were drawing concentric 392 00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:46.720 rings in the air. It flew at a steady altitude, 393 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:51.720 neither rising nor falling, simply cruising along in its slow, 394 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:56.359 deliberate orbit, like a satellite tracing its path around the Earth. 395 00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:01.200 Aria watched its circle, and she fell. The deep, quiet 396 00:27:01.240 --> 00:27:05.680 satisfaction settle over her like a warm blanket. This was 397 00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:09.480 what she had been trying to achieve all morning. Not distance, 398 00:27:10.119 --> 00:27:17.000 not speed, not altitude, balance, harmony, the perfect marriage of 399 00:27:17.079 --> 00:27:22.839 form and function, of intention and result. The airplane was 400 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:25.880 doing exactly what she had asked it to do, and 401 00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:29.119