Color Blind

He stares out the window, past the parking lot, past the building, and past the people walking by, he stares at the tarmac and the giant jet planes. He’s holding a mop in his left hand, and a filthy rag in his right. His blue uniform is disheveled from a full morning of work, and his black boots have come untied. His hazel hair is a mess and there is dirt on his hands. But he doesn’t notice any of these things. He just stares out the window with his green and watches as the jets take off and land again. He imagines himself inside the metallic jets, taking off perfectly, and landing just as elegantly onto the black tarmac. He imagines everyone congratulating him on his perfect flying skills, and his wonderful accuracy. He thinks the pilots have the most amazing jobs. He sighs, a deep, longing sigh, and heads back to work. He grabs the yellow mop bucket, and drags it back to his cart. On the black cart, there are tons of cleaning supplies like rags, soap, sponges, and a broom. All of the supplies have labels on them, telling him what they are used for and the color of each item. He picks up a sponge and reads the label. Green sponge; used for floor scrubbing. He lifts the label and looks at the green sponge, but instead of seeing green, he only sees red. He reattaches the label, and then picks up the second sponge, and reads the label. Blue sponge; used for cleaning bathroom. He lifts the label and looks at the blue sponge, but he doesn’t see blue. He see’s orange. He sets the sponge down, and looks down at his clothes. To him, he looks like a prisoner in his orange uniform. To everyone else, he looks like a normal janitor, blue outfit and all. He uses labels for everything. Without them, he couldn’t live. With them, he can’t be a pilot.