Air to Shape Lungs
By Shingai Njeri Kagunda, first published in Africa Risen
A dispossessed group in the skies searches for the land where they can finally breathe.
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Plot Summary
The elders say that oxygen is a sign of home. However, everyone is deported to the air, forced to find home. Flying is easy, but breathing is hard when so high up. Everyone must disperse across the world in order to find their home. Some resettle in faraway places.
One says that borders made by man were intended to deprive everyone of oxygen. Others continue to sink as they fly, wondering when they will feel right to land. Some wonder why those with dark skin are condemned to fly, while those with pale skin can move and breathe wherever they wish, even in homes that aren’t their homes. Some land too early and feel not at home where they end up, and as such, they feel suffocated for their whole lives. Many wonder how one is to wander for so long. The elders say not to land unless one is absolutely sure that the air is right.
Even after many years, many have not yet found their homes; they are tired of flying, yet they cannot land; they wonder if death is better than living while suffocated.
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