A Splash of Blue

I leaned forward out of the velvet keepsake box straight toward a buoyant morning thermal curling past the window sash. Straight ahead sat an open metal watercolor tin, its shallow pans glowing under the sun. A stray cross-draft nudged my port wing sideways just as I prepared to touch down. Instead of fighting the veer, I leaned right into the drift and flared my folds. My paper keel skidded cleanly across the dry mixing tray and wedged snugly into an empty cobalt blue color pan. Looking down, a faint dusting of ultramarine chalk coats my fold lines like brand-new high-altitude livery.