FLYING by John Iwaniec aka taxigringo

The Answer man sat before the radio microphone and answered trivia questions for his audience. Whether a blessing or curse his mind had total recall. At bed time all the words of the day played back to him as if from a tape recorder.

The worst of it came when he heard multiple conversations as in a coffee shop. Until all the words were sorted in the vaults of his mind there would be no sleep. Needless to say, he avoided public places. Electronic media tortured him in ways that were unimaginable to a normal person.

Each night the dire prospects of his dead end life brought nightmares of falling. Even though he would be dreaming the impact of the fall was painful. Something had to change, and such a night came.

In the dream he was standing at the edge of mountain with a thousand foot drop. As always, he fell. On this occasion a curious thing happened. He mentally changed the vertical fall to a softer, angled landing. It was still unpleasant but a very happy improvement.

Each subsequent night he was able to exert more control over the fall until that night came that he didn‘t hit the ground. He had learned how to fly, and
a joyful thing it was.

The dreams continued and each one more vivid than the ones before. Memories of dream flying had become so real that he no longer doubted that he could actually fly. He reasoned that he only need to get away from the ambient sounds of the city to make it happen.

For two hours he drove until he was at a lookout at a seven thousand feet elevation in the San Gabriel Mountains. There he stood with Mount Baden Powell on his right and Mount Baldy on the left. A valley of interwoven mountains gave a clear view all the way to Catalina Island. The wall in his mind between real life and the dream state melted away.

From the east an eagle sailed invitingly before him. Without hesitation the Answer man stepped over the guard rail and jumped. Man and eagle became one.