From the day
Perspective: The Future Historian · Sight
The newsprint blurs under gaslight as I trace the sketch of that shredded balloon, a silk ghost plummeting toward the earth before providence caught its seams. Men in high-collared wool coats and stiff bowlers crowd the sidewalk, their silhouettes sharp against the sepia haze of a city rushing toward the assembly line. I watch a young boy surrender **$0.05** for a warm loaf, his fingers stained by the ink of headlines heralding this new, terrifying age of flight. Despite the gravity-defying risks reported, he looks **fit as a fiddle**, whistling a bar of "Harvest Moon" while cellophane wrappers crinkle in the pockets of the passersby.