Airport scene

It was late. Later than I had expected. The familiar calls of cancelled flights echoes around the sterile
walls. The pungent smell of jet fuel emanates from the tarmac but most are oblivious. They are here
for pleasurable things; love, family, connections. The constant ticking of the arrivals board sends
people moving. All towards the gate. Jostling for front positions, bags jamming into legs and little
ones scampering around the edges of their parent’s feet. The flight crew are the first to emerge, in
unison and brightly badged with sparkly uniforms. Almost too good to be on a plane. Bags trailing
behind like dogs on leads. The rush begins and the shouts of joy explode. My eyes are fixed on that
all too thin passageway, heart racing and eyes watering, like so many others here. Another call
projects itself over the loudspeaker announcing an airport I’ve never heard of. Greeting signs are
thrust in front of my eyesight, blocking my all-important view. I try to push them away without
malice. It’s all about the pathway, the entrance, the arrival. I tighten my hands, securing my grip on
the railing, eyebrows raised and eyes transfixed ….waiting for that magic moment.

My imaginative piece of writing centred around the frenetic mood of an airport and the arrival of a
loved one. My aim was to elicit tension in the arrival, through the anticipation of someone close
arriving, without revealing who it is.

My main stylistic features were to use descriptive language and an active tone to illustrate to the
readers the speed and activity of an airport. The tension was created through my opening truncated
sentences. “It was late. Later than I had expected”. Through the repetition of “late” it revealed the
nature of airports and the tension of people waiting for their loved ones. An airport also has familiar
sounds and smells. Through my use of diction “echoes”, “sterile” and “pungent” I recreated an
authentic sensory experience for the readers, highlighting familiar smells, sights and sounds that are
not always pleasant.

The tone of my piece of writing evokes an active atmosphere. Through the use of verbs such as
“jostled” and “scampering”, I projected an environment of movement, speed and activity. This tone
is mixed with emotive language such as “eyes watering” and “heart racing” to reveal the human side
of waiting in anticipation for that arrival moment. This creates a contrast between the “sterile” and
chaotic nature of the airport and the emotional meeting in that “magic” moment, meeting for
“love”, “family” and “connections”.

My imaginative piece is inspired by Melanie Cheng’s writing. Her use of descriptive language in the
short story, Australia Day such as “poreless skin and shiny almond-shaped eyes” when describing
Stanley, promotes an authentic moment when Jess is looking at him, highlighting his differences. Her
use of truncated sentences such as “He blushed” and “Sleep evades him” presents to the readers a
varied pace and rhythm in her writing and uses effective verbs to reveal her characters and their
actions in developing the plotline.