The salmon in the sky and how everything just stopped

No one died but a few people were injured and it was
a miracle that it didn’t end in a disaster since Stockholm was
     filled with hundreds of thousands of people. It was
The Water Festival and there were crowds of people
     everywhere; on bridges, on the islands and
          all over the city.

Strangely enough, someone‘s brainless idea of showing the
newest Swedish fighter jet and flying it over Stockholm had
somehow been approved.

I stayed at home since I hated the crowds but when I heard
the loud noise from the plane’s engine I walked out on the
balcony and saw a very impressive JAS 32 fly over
our house.

Then when the plane disappeared over the roofs of the
     houses on the other side of the street suddenly
everything turned quiet. When I looked up I glimpsed
the plane turning up towards the sky and after the
     engine stopped everything was so quiet, as though
the whole city had just stopped and everyone was waiting
              for the plane to crash.

It was more than ten years ago and the feeling of someone
          just turning off the sound of the city,
     and the plane in the sky,
like a small salmon in a rushing water, showing it’s belly
          and struggling in the sun,

that’s what I remember.

Published in Weeks Like This, 2005