Flying with a folktale
Author's note: This is a short story on climate change I wrote for a competition, but it didn't win so I think it'd be nice to share with you :) Bracing myself for the violent take-off, I peek through the window to take one last look at the below. Saigon seems to be straight out from a slow-taped Polaroid documentary, the kind that makes the audience squirms in its seat because of the terrifyingly detailed landscapes. Below the smog, along the winding Saigon River, a concrete jungle sprawls like spores shooting after a tropic thunderstorm. Not only do I see amid the floating water hyacinths but also motley islands of trash and plastic – the product of more than 8 million Homo sapiens inhabiting every centimeter square of the city. The plane flips sideways a little bit to avoid the thunderous clouds that are starting to gather outside. Ironically, with all the teeming electricity potential outside, the screen on my phone collapses into a black vortex. I slip out the maga...