The Polished Skin

The concrete apron of an airport in Florida on a late summer evening, low golden sun on the fuselage, a twin-engined all-metal airliner, its polished bare aluminium skin with fine rivet rows, a plain dark blue band with a thin red edge along the row of rectangular cabin windows, a dark blue nose, two radial engines in blue cowling rings edged in red, three-bladed metal propellers standing still, a plain dark blue tail fin, the fuselage plain and unmarked from nose to tail, a wheeled boarding stair at the rear door, a baggage cart with brown leather suitcases, a mechanic in grey overalls seen from directly behind at an engine cowling.