It was finally time to part ways. We had been together in cloud 9 for some time now, floating over Tokyo. It was getting colder and my brothers and I started to take shape. As we gradually collided with our neighbors, smaller versions of ourselves, we grew bigger and bigger. All of us waiting in suspension for the long expected journey to begin. We’d started fantasizing about the drop ever since we’d grown big enough that surface tension split us into separate entities. Around me the turmoil increased. The wind howled and pushed us around like marbles in a barrel. I felt myself getting more and more heavy and with that gravities pull increasing. All of a sudden there was a moment of silence, of clarity, as if I was briefly disconnected from my surroundings. I was as heavy as I’d ever been. I knew it was time. Time to make the drop.
‘Catch you on the flipside..!’ I yelled before I plummeted into the unknown. I quickly started gaining speed. As I tumbled down faster and faster, I felt the resistance of air underneath me increasing. I now was no longer the perfect sphere I had been just before I made the drop. Contrary to general belief, I wasn’t shaped like a teardrop either. The drag, inhibiting my acceleration caused my bottom to flatten out. I now had the physical resemblance of the top-part of a jelly-fish. The temperature around me had increased and I noticed that I was no longer falling faster… The resistance of air and gravitational drag were in perfect equilibrium; I had reached my terminal velocity.
I looked up and saw something big approaching fast. It was my brother Brian! ‘Wow!’, he’d almost grown to twice my size. He was a giant! ‘Cowabungaaaaaa!’ he screamed in excitement as he crashed past me. I followed his trajectory downwards and noticed that he now too was changing shape. His center had started to thin out, as if two hands pulled his sides apart like a piece of Play-Doh. I understood that Brian had gotten so big, that the air resistance was making him lose his surface tension. At this point his sides were now only connected by a thread. I heard his dumbfounded ‘Oh-Oh…’, right before the surface tension snapped. Brian had split into two… Brain I & Brian II now started losing speed. And me, being the heavier one again, quickly caught up with them. ‘See you later brothers’, I yelled cheerfully as I passed them both. ‘Bye Ryan…’, they answered together, each a with sour look on their face.
As I pelted further down I could now clearly make out the surreal dimensions of immense Tokyo. There were buildings everywhere. Wearily I thought about what would happen to me as I thundered towards the concrete jungle. To the south I could make out the docks in the harbor. I pondered on what it’d be like to land into the seawater. Maybe It wouldn’t be so bad? I could get familiar with sea-life, adopt a salty lifestyle… To the North-East I beheld the Arakwa River, meandering through the city towards the Arakawakako Bridge. There, the river flowed into the Tokyo Bay, freed from its man-made prison of grey brick embankments. I contemplated plunging into the river, joining my fresh-water brothers. It seemed like a good way to settle in, before partaking in the salt-water adventure carrying me away me to the great unknowns of the Pacific Ocean. I opted for the freshwater scenario. However, fate would not have it so.
As I fell closer and closer towards the cities infrastructure I realized that my current trajectory would take me neither to sea nor towards the river. Instead a shallow east-wind blew me into the direction of Shinjuku…
Shinjuku. The commercial heart of Tokyo. Home to the busiest railway station in the world, transporting a dazzling 3.6 million passengers daily. This maze of madness, comprising hundreds of exits, dozens of platforms and several floors, experienced such extreme levels of human activity that the East Japan Railway Company had developed an app in both Japanese & English to help navigate people through the train station. Landing in Shinjuku Station 新宿駅 would not bode well for my future existence. A shiver send ripples circling down my exterior. I prayed with all my might that I would not land there. I did not expect any mercy from that that monster of a train station…
A strong gust of wind suddenly hit me from the west, flinging me out of course. As I whirled around I worriedly tried to regain my focus. I was now diving straight towards a green oval-shaped area, one of the few that lay scattered across the Metropolis. A little to the east of Shinjuku Station 新宿駅 I saw the place where I was more than happy to take refuge; Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden 新宿御苑.
As I advanced towards the canopy I was treated with a view of a lush colorful paradise. Some 1500 cherry trees dotted the park, blossoming in attractive shades of white and pink. Multiple footpaths and ponds braided the ancient garden. I soared in the direction of a group of hardy ferns, crashed into one of the plants’ crest and started whirling down its leaves in a ravel of green and brown. After leaving a significant part of my body-mass behind on the leaves and twigs, I finally came to a halt on a narrow and pleated spearheaded-shaped leaf. A soft breeze made my new abode slowly rock side to side. Thankful, I took the opportunity to catch my breath. The turbulent journey I just experienced had been exhausting. Early morning sun-rays started breaking through the blanket of clouds. I could now behold Shinjuku’s Garden 新宿御苑 in all its glory. A beautiful idyllic wonderland with perfectly balanced tones of green, pink and hazel.
The sunlight was warming the air around me, and it dawned on me that dawn was upon me. I started feeling lighter again. I felt my mass decreasing and I realized: I came down. Now it is time to go back up again. I focused on my surroundings once more and peacefully told myself that this was not a bad way to go at all. And as I slowly shrunk, my physical being diminishing into the atmosphere, I thought my final thought; I wonder where I will go next?
Falling, catching – Agnes Obel
