I had been upgraded to 1st Class on a business trip to Memphis. It was one of those last flight of the night deals when everyone is in a mellow state; passengers, crew, gate agents. The plane was full save the one seat beside me. No way it’s going to stay open. I had a book to read, but was in that half-reading, half-alert state that you are in while you are waiting to see who your seatmate is. Once they settle in, I would do my usual courtesy greeting and go back to my reading.
No one else was boarding, but the door was still open, you could hear the whine of the APUs and some chatter on the jet bridge. The flight attendant moved back a step and waved in the last passenger, and then directed her to the seat beside me.
She was dressed the way people used to dress to fly when it was not so common or to board a first class long distance train. Expensive coat, nice dress, pearls, patent leather heels. And she was attractive. Actually, she was beautiful, with wavy brunette hair that made her blue eyes stand out. We did the customary greeting, she ordered a drink and we both settled in, me with my book.
When the flight attendant appeared to take up the glasses before takeoff, she said something funny. I can’t remember what it was but all three of us were laughing. That broke the ice, we exchanged names, and for the next 90 minutes, we talked without pause, other than to have drinks refilled.
The cabin lights were off other than the spillover from the galley and we spoke in that semi-darkness with the sound of the engines that seemed to magnify the intimacy. She had man troubles. She was reassessing her life, and I was right there for part of it. She had just been badly used and she admitted she was stuck in a pattern. Her problem was not quantity, but as is so often the case, it was quality. We spoke very little about myself, only that I had a family with a daughter. The conversation continued along the same lines right up until the time we heard the screech of the tires touching down.
We both sighed, we could have talked a lot longer. She looked at me “so what are you doing now?”. She’d opened a door. I walked around it. I have some work to do tonight. It was a lie, but one I judged was worth telling. “oh”.
She got up first, and I watched her get her things together. When I got up, she was ready to head out the door, but she stopped and turned around. She put her hand on my upper arm, and she stood there looking at it for a second, her hand on my arm. Then she looked me in the eyes and said “You were exactly what I needed tonight. Thank you.” And then she turned and walked off the plane.
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