This Is What Is Meant By The Transformation Of Things

The world will end when the giant closes his eyes to sleep but it will start again inside his dreams.

When the airplane starts taxiing the grandmother tells her daughter and her grandson: “There’s no going back now” and chuckles. She has been on many plane rides and has loved every one. She would like to live long enough to go to Mars. Long ago in an old country, before she’d seen a plane, she was kicked off a train for train hopping. 

When the flight attendant asks her if she’d like a drink it’s her chance to negotiate, one of her favourite things. Nobody is paying these prices. The sad thing is, it’s a missed opportunity. You could get a whole dollar for a teabag in those little styrofoam cups. Here! She presses a dollar into the unexpecting hands of the attendant. Her own inflamed hands can no longer play golf or poker or even Tetris with her little grandson. But she can still bargain. 

The attendant scampers off. The grandmother pulls her grandson to her and explains that the sky around them is blue because the world is a mote in the eye of a giant. She has borrowed this from Game of Thrones, her favourite television show. She explains that the world will end when the giant closes his eyes to sleep but it will start again inside his dreams. She stops when her daughter says: "Mom, please."

Next she works on her autobiography. It is for her grandchildren to read when they are ready. She is not showing her daughter because she will disagree about the nature and degree and intention and the protagonist behind many events. She likes to tell her daughter that she has never died, so there's no reason to think it will happen now. Still, she believes it is right for her to write an autobiography. 

This tires her out. She resorts to playing sudoku on her tablet. She has discovered it recently and likes how big she can make it on the screen. She doubts it will do anything to prevent dementia but she enjoys beating her old record anyway.

An attendant tries to sneak by. You haven't forgotten, have you? asks the grandmother. You haven't forgotten my tea? A dollar is plenty, you know.

The attendant's perfect face is only dimly punctured. No ma'am. Your tea is coming.

The grandmother is kept at bay. Her grandson now wants to show her his Pokemon in his little video game. She tells him they look very scary and that he must be quite brave. He agrees.

Later a flight attendant comes by with her tea and finds she is asleep, dreaming about stars, black holes, supernovae. Her eyes spin unconsciously, following them around and around. Her daughter takes the tea on her behalf and rocks her carefully like a newborn. Ma. They remembered the sugar. Ma. You were wrong.

This is the last of my “cozy” set of stories, I hope you enjoyed them! The next set of four will be myths.