Chapter Seven – Travelling Through Time

Cloudscapes. A number of different views. Fluffy pretty cumulus clouds. Towering formations. Blue sky.

Cut to:

Looking down from a height onto the tops of the clouds. The cloud cover is partial and between them we can see the ocean. A ship is in view, just a mere dot at the tip of the long white straight brush stroke of its wake.

Cut to:

Looking down from even higher up. The ship is not visible now, only the faintest white line shows its position. The cloud tops seem smooth and creamy from this high up. This is high altitude, 30,000 feet or more.

Cut to:

The same view but this shot is bordered around by the curved sides of a cabin window. We are inside looking out. We can hear a low droning of jet engines.

Cut to:

A close up of Shizuku and Seiji. They are sleeping, cuddled together in their seats. We can see the porthole-like window in the corner of the shot, the blue sky outside a pale cold colour. Towards the top of the view the sky is darker, the deep velvet blue of the upper atmosphere. Shizuku's head rests on Seiji's shoulder; he in turn has laid his head on top of hers. They are under a blanket provided by the airline.

Cut to:

A wider view of the cabin interior. Many passengers are sleeping, some read. A couple of stewardesses move slowly along the aisles checking all is OK.

Cut to:

An outside shot of the 747 cruising effortlessly high above the clouds. There is a slight warmth to the colours in this image indicating later in the day.

Cut to:

The galley. The immaculately dressed Japan Airlines stewardesses talk and clatter about at work. Hot meals are being placed on trolleys and wheeled down the aisles. We glimpse a few rows of passengers at the front of the plane. They are eating and chatting.

Cut to:

Close up of a stewardess taking a used food tray from a passenger.

Stewardess: "Thank you."

Cut to:

Later. Seiji's face, his eyes are closed. We see his head nodding slightly to a musical beat. The camera view zooms slowly out and we see him wearing personal stereo headphones.

Cut to:

Shizuku reading. She has a couple of books on the plastic fold down tray over her lap. She reads something then closes her eyes and quietly mouths a phrase, then checks her book again.

Cut to:

Seiji. He lifts his headphones off and we hear a tinny rendition of a pop song, like fleas playing tiny electric guitars. He turns his head to look at Shizuku.

Seiji: "What are you reading? Not fairy tales?"
Shizuku (looking up at him): "Well this one," (she holds the book up) "…is an Italian phrase book. I'm teaching myself some Italian. And this one…" (with her other hand she flips the other book over so the spine and front cover is visible, we get a glimpse of a picture of the Coliseum, Rome) "…is a geography book – about European cities, the people, their life, industry. Its research for my stories. I want to write stories that describe places accurately – so when people read them they feel they are really there."
Seiji: "You're really serious about this aren't you?"
Shizuku: "Would you make a violin without wanting it to be the best you'd ever made?"
Seiji: "Hm."
Shizuku: "This is me, Seiji. It's what I really want to do. I'm like a great big bag of storytelling wrapped up inside a person. Storytelling is the whole of me. It wants to burst out – I can't keep it in."
Seiji: "But can you make story writing successful?"
Shizuku: "What? Make money?" (shrugs) "I suppose so but that's not why I do it. I do it because I love it. Why do you make violins?"

Cut to:

Seiji's face. He does not answer that question. There is a hint of worry showing. But there is something else in his eyes as well, a warmth, a look of wonder, a look of awe even.

A stewardess passes along the aisle.

Shizuku: "Excuse me."
Stewardess: "Yes, miss."
Shizuku: "What time is it please? I think my watch is wrong."
Stewardess (checking wristwatch): "It's almost six o'clock, miss. Five to six now."
Shizuku: "Thanks. Oh, and where are we now – do you know?"
Stewardess: "Over Crete miss, we should be landing in about 90 minutes."
Shizuku: "Thank you."
Shizuku: "That's odd, I'm sure it should be dark by now."
Seiji: "Time zones."
Shizuku: "What?"
Seiji: "Time zones – you know each country is at a different time because it's on a different part of the earth's surface."
Shizuku (realisation dawns): "Ah! Yes! Time zones. How many have we gone through?"
Seiji (a bit of mental calculation): "Pffffft… dunno… five or six maybe."
Shizuku (you can hear the cogwheels turning in her head): "So we took off about one o'clock… my watch says we've been flying over nine hours… it's actually only six now… yes, five time zones…"
Seiji: "Neat, huh?"
Shizuku: "Yeah… like time travel."
Seiji: "Kind of, but not really."
Shizuku: "But if you went really fast, round and round the world… in a space ship…"
Seiji: "International Date Line."
Shizuku: "Ah… right… so only ever 23 hours out?"
Seiji: "Mmm, something like that."
Shizuku: "Even so, kind of cool isn't it?"
Seiji: "It is now. But not after you land. Going west isn't a problem but when we travel east against the sun we lose about eleven hours or something and your body clock will get all messed up. Day should be night and you can't stay awake. It's not nice. When we get to Italy your watch will say only about seven hours have passed but to your body it'll feel like twice that. You'll see."

Shizuku reaches down to her fold out table, picks up a small note book and writes in it with her propelling pencil.

Seiji: "What's that?"
Shizuku (writing): "Note book."
Seiji: "Right. For a moment there I thought it was a jellyfish."
Shizuku (looking round like he's an idiot): "What?"
Seiji (resigned to her ways): "Doesn't matter."
Shizuku (realisation): "Oh, this?"
Seiji (nods): "Uh-huh."
Shizuku: "Ideas. Story ideas. If something cool or odd or just interesting happens I scribble it down."
Seiji: "Agh!" (slaps hand to forehead in mock revelation)
Shizuku: "What?"
Seiji (mock panic): "I can't stand it! Let me outta here! I'm trapped on a plane with a nutcase!"
Shizuku: "You jerk! I can be inspired by the smallest things – time travel round the world by a fast spaceship – just looking out this window at the islands below," (she gesticulates downwards with a finger) "I never know when a tiny seed will germinate and suddenly a whole story will pop into my head – so I keep notes. For later."
Seiji (edging away from here a little): "Right. I see…."
Shizuku: "Seiji! Yes you will see! Just you wait! In years to come when my time travel novel is known the world over, I'll remind you of this conversation!"
Seiji: "Yeah, I'm sure you will."