The Girl on the Plane

Monday, December 18th, 2017

I always wanted to meet a girl on an airplane. Wouldn't that be cool? It'd be like, "Oh how did yall meet?" "Oh, you know, we sat next to each other on a plane and really hit it off, got each other's numbers, and here we are today!" But no. It's always some bozo looking at his phone the whole time, that person who just sleeps the whole flight, or that one guy who doesn't know what a shower is. Always. *facepalm  But this time it was different. On the one side was your typical deadbeat doorknob, but on the other... Well, you'll see. Let's start from the beginning though, just as I was about to awaken from slumber.

"Huh, that's funny. Why am I hearing Froh's alarm way off in the distance? I set mine earlier than his. Oh shootnam, I gotta get up!" And thus began my Monday morning. Somehow I'd managed to scoot my phone underneath myself during the night and turn it off, and amazingly enough I woke up to Froh's which I normally sleep through, despite the fact that it sounds about as loud as a fog horn going off during Sunday morning prayers. (I am quite blessed that I normally sleep through his alarm, I don't know how I'd survive without that peculiar ability. This particular morning though, it was a boon that I heard it. But I digress.) It was the seventh hour, and I needed to be down at the Abbey at nine to rendezvous with my ride to the airport, so you could say I was in a wee bit of a time crunch, especially since I had yet to pack my bags and the kitchen needed cleaning. Naturally, I started my day by doing neither of these things. First off I preheated the oven, then hopped in the shower, brushed my teeth, cleaned up my face a bit, and clipped my fingernails. Then I threw a couple loaves of bread in the oven and cooked up some oatmeal real quick and poured myself a glass of milk. "Ah, I'll miss the good milk while I'm gone." I thought to myself. I dropped some in my oatmeal bowl along with a dusting of brown sugar, and as I ate my breakfast I watched some blitz chess online to keep things interesting. That done, I turned to my list of things to do, and finally began cleaning the kitchen. I chopped it down a good ways, but it was still a fair way from perfect when I had to stop cleaning so I'd have enough time to pack. This I did pretty quickly, throwing a few odd things in my bag and calling it good, but being sure to grab all my food for the trip. Never ever walk into an airport without at least a two-day supply of food on hand at the ready, else you're asking for trouble. Either you'll have to break down and buy an eight dollar tennisball sized cinnamon roll, or you'll end up practically starving yourself waiting at the gate for twelve hours on standby because they cancelled your flight. Always bring food. At any rate, I was well prepared.

By this time it was twenty till nine, so I threw my backpack across my shoulders, threw my other bag over my left side, and hiked up the dogfood bag with my remaining arm and headed off to Jex's house. (aka Brooke and Anna's house) There was some business there I had to attend to, namely, drop off some more dogfood, and do a quick photoshoot with Jex in our matching red scarves that my sister Savannah made for us in the fall. Oh, and also pay Honor for the next four weeks of taking care of Jex. I got there soon enough, plopped the dogfood down in the right spot and wrote out a quick check, then called Brooke to see if she was awake so I could say goodbye and have her take a picture of me and Jex. (For you grammar nazis out there, I chose to say it that way because I wanted to. Deal with it. hahahae) Despite me calling her multiple times, Brooke slept on; she must've had a late night and was tired; I ended up getting Jessica to take it, and it actually turned out pretty well. By this time it was about two till(ish), so I grabbed up my bags and loped off to the abbey, sadly arriving late at nine o one. Thankfully it didn't matter though, because nobody else was out there yet. I knocked on the door, and Benjamin answered, saying he'd be out in just a minute. Then Lydia walked up and we threw her bags in the back; it was then that I was very thankful indeed that Ruth and Sam had found a different ride there, for the eight seats and limited baggage space would've had a hard go of it for ten persons. Then Benjamin and Caleb came out, and off we went to pick up Hannah and Mandy. Next was  Abigail, and finally Bobby, with his Cheetos. And we were off!

The ride passed quietly at first, but then I remembered I had bread. Oh what joy! Oh what delight! It was still warm and beaming bright! But it was in my bag. Since there was so little room, things had gotten bustled around a bit, and I was holding somebody's suitcase in my lap with my bag on top; this made it difficult to maneuver my arms in a position where I could access the contents, but at last I did so. I opened my bag to grab some bread and... "MY PORKCHOPS!!!" The cheap plastic container had broken with all the moving about, and rice and porkchops were all over the inside of my bag! I literally just washed those socks too. People broke into laughter as I regathered my food and tried to contain the mess as best I could. I got it eventually, and decided it'd be best to just wait on the bread and butter till we got to the airport. It was kinda sad. I later found a stray porkchop I'd missed still hanging around in my bag, it was sad. At least it smelled good.

We played a bunch of word games, and memory games, and ended with Hannah's favorite gamestyle of all, a 'quick answer jeopardy style game'. By and by we finally made it to the airport, and we all unloaded, said goodbye to our amazing driver Benjamin, (this was only his third trip for dropping people off at the airport in two weeks) and walked into the gateway to America. Not that there was an arch in sight, but you can get pretty much anywhere from here. We immediately separated to get our boarding passes, but mine and Lydia's were on the other side, so we went off walking thataways. Surprisingly enough, Luke and Laura and Ariah and Christy were there as well. My, what a small world. Ariah and Christy were headed off to catch their flight, so we said goodbye a second time and off they went. Then Luke and Laura's ride pulled up, so they headed off to load up as well. We said goodbye for what was now the third time; funny how these things go, you think it's the real deal and then you bump into them again and have to say goodbye again! Oh well. Then Lydia and I walked back to the other side of the airport and met up with the rest of the peeps, plus Ruth and Sam, who also appeared almost out of nowhere, and together we all dominated this one group of chairs. Ruth gave people grapefruit (it was so good!) and I sliced up bread and butter for everyone and we all talked merrily. But alas! all good things come to an end. Pair by pair, Noah style, they left for their flights; Bobby and Abigail, Ruth and Sam, and even Mandy and Caleb left too. Then it was just Lydia and Hannah and I. We talked more about what we wanted to do over break, and then even made a solemn oath to keep ourselves accountable to it. Then we played hearts just about until my flight started boarding, and then I, too, left.

A few minutes later I found myself seated in the plane, in a middle seat; my least favorite. On the window side I had an untalkative fellow, and on the aisle side there was a little girl travelling with her mother and siblings who were just across the aisle from her. She was the oldest. She had a petite build, as most young girls do, straight dirty blond hair and bangs that came down to her eyes which sparkled with all the gleam of childhood merriment, and she had the most charming smile you ever did see. But straight off she couldn't get her seatbelt to click, so I asked if she wanted me to help. She responded sweetly in the affirmative, and after I got it she said 'thank you' very nicely. Most young children I've met on planes are never so well mannered, and most just whine, complain, and watch screens the whole time. (Not that that's bad in and of itself, riding an airplane is a perfect place for that sort of thing. But the point is that most children her age would be totally consumed with it and pay other people no mind, and definitely not be ready or willing to engage in any sort of meaningful conversation.) I was already impressed by how well her parents must be raising her. And so I asked a question to see if she wanted to talk at all.
"So is this the first time you've flown before?"
"Oh no! I've been three times before, so this is my fourth time flying."
"Wow, that's pretty cool!" I said. "You're pretty young to have flown so much. Where are you going?"
"We're going to Memphis Tennessee to see my grandparents. We haven't seen them in at least a year, so we're pretty excited. What about you? Where are you going?"
"I'm on my way to Pensacola Florida," I replied, "to see my family for Christmas."
"Oh, that's cool."
"Do you live in Couer d'alene?" I asked.
"Yup! We moved there about a year ago I think. I live where there's four roads, and they go like this and this and this and this. (here she motioned with her hands) And the school is right here, oh, and wait, there's another road that goes like this, and we live right here between these roads."
I didn't understand what was what, but I nodded in agreement as she went. "Oh cool! Some friends and I went hiking around a lake there, it was a lot of fun! I think they call it Tubb's Hill."
Now she really lit up, "Oh yes! I've been there before, I like that place! I think I saw you there too."
This wasn't true at all, but she managed to convince herself it was.
"Hmm, the time we went it was rainy, not super rainy, but just a little bit, and there wasn't anybody else there, so I don't think you saw me."
"Oh but I did, I remember seeing you!"
I chuckled to myself.
"Hmm, ok then. So how old are you?"
There was a slight pause, then we spoke at the same time; Me: "Seven?" Her: "Six."
She smiled, because I guessed older than her actual age.
And she asked, "And how old are you?"
"I'm twenty."
"Oh, then you should be in college!"
"Hahae, I am! That's why I live in Idaho, to go to college."
"Where in Idaho?"
"In Moscow, it's about an hour and a half south of Couer d'alene."
"Do you like it there?" she asked.
"Oh yes. When I first moved there I didn't have any friends, but now I know a bunch of people and have lots of friends, and we go off and do fun stuff together. It's great!"
"Huh?" she gasped, "Me too! When I first got to Idaho, I didn't know anybody, I had no friends. I was at school at recess one day and I was by myself, sad. There were other people who all had friends and were playing together, but I was alone. Then I saw a girl sitting on the swings and she was alone too, so I walked up and asked if she would be my friend. She said yes, and now we're friends and it's great and we talk to each other every day and play games. Then one day I was outside biking in the street, and the neighbor kids came out on their bikes too, and then I knew everybody! Now I have like twenty, thirty, no forty, fifty friends!"
"Fifty friends!" I said. "That's a lot! I don't know if even I have that many friends."
"Oh well I do, and I know every single one."
Then the flight attendants came with their drinks, and we both got orange juice and pretzels.
Now I finally got around to asking, "So what's your name?"
"Juliette. And what's yours?"
"Leaf. Nice to meet you Juliette!"
Then Juliette's mother handed her a tablet thingy, and she started watching some show I'd never seen before. I tried my best to doze off, but it didn't work that great. Whenever I opened my eyes Juliette always seemed to notice and would look up at me and smile. Once she finished all her pretzels, her mother reached across the aisle and handed her a pack of gummy things, and asked if I'd like one too, to which I thanked her but said I was fine. A little later though Juliette handed me a gummy, so I ate it, and then she handed me another, which I also ate. Boy, Juliette's mother was really putting her off to a great start for the rest of her life. If I wasn't impressed earlier, I definitely was now. After that I managed to doze off for a bit, and by and by they said over the intercom to put away your large handheld electronics as we start our decent, arriving in about twenty minutes. Juliette promptly put away her tablet, and then we started talking again.
She was curious. "So where did you park your car?"
"My car?" I replied. "I left it in Idaho. I'm going to catch another flight and then go to Florida."
"Oh, I see." She leaned halfway across the aisle, "Mamma, where did we park our car?"
"We didn't, grandma and grandpa are going to pick us up when we get to Memphis."
A look of understanding washed over Juliette's face, "Oh, so this isn't Memphis? Where are we?"
"Dallas, dear."
She sat back in her seat now. "We have to catch another flight too. What hotel are you going to stay in?"
"Hotel?" I said. "I'm not going to stay in a hotel."
"Then where will you sleep when you're waiting for your flight?"
"Well my flight leaves soon after this one arrives, so I don't need a hotel. But if it was several hours later, I'd just sleep in the airport."
"In the airport!?" she gasped in amazement. "Sleep in the airport?!"
"hahahae, yes, that's what I'd do." I changed the topic. "Have you been to Nashville before?"
"Nashville? Where is that?"
"It's right in the middle of Tennessee."
Juliette's mother leaned over again, "Juliette, you've been to Nashville dozens of times, remember?"
"Oh yeah, I guess I forgot."
I continued on, "I've got some friends who live over there and have a farm, and sometimes I help them. They grow lots of food, and they have sheep and cows too."
"Oh, do they sell food to the stores?"
"Yes, they do. They also sell the cows, and they taste really good."
"Wait, they kill the cows and eat them? That's not very nice."
"Yes, they kill them, but they're happy cows who live a good life. They have plenty of space to run around in and do fun cow stuff, and there's tons of green grass to eat. Other places with cows have a small fenced in area that they shove as many cows in as they can, and there's no grass and no room to play. It's very sad. But my friends' cows have plenty of space and lots of grass."
She seemed satisfied with this explanation, and so asked, "What do they do when the cows get sick? Do they take it to the doctor or does the farmer fix it himself?"
"Most of the time the farmer gets the cows better by himself, but sometimes they need the vet."
"And then they take it to the vet?" she asked.
"No, the vet usually comes to them. It's a lot of work to move a cow all the way to town, and it's a lot easier to just have the vet come to the cow. Plus, cows can weigh as much as eighteen hundred pounds, and that's really heavy. So it's better if the vet comes to the cow."
"Eighteen hundred pounds!? That's a lot! What if there were ten of me, would it weigh more than that?
"Oh yes, assuredly."
"What if there were a hundred of me?"
"Well, I think you'd weigh more at that point." I chuckled.
"And then they kill them?"
"After the cows are all better and there'll all grown up and fat, then yes, then they kill them."
"Oh. How long do they live?"
"Just a couple years, until they're full grown."
"Haha, well I'll live longer than them then!"
"Hahae, yes you will."
Then she asked again, "How old are you?"
"Twenty."
"Well I'm six so that means I'll live longer than you since older people die first and younger people live longer."
"Yup, most likely so."
"Well I want to live till I'm two hundred eighty-seven years old! That would be cool." she said with a smile on her face.
I replied, internally laughing, "Wow that's really old. I don't think you'll live that long. It's been a long time since people have lived that long. Maybe try to live for a hundred years."
"Yeah, maybe that's better. I want to live for a hundred years!"
Then there was a pause.
"Have you ever played this game?" I asked her, holding out my hands to play the stick game. She hadn't, so I taught her how. I won the first game, and she won the second. Then we started descending, and then we landed. Soon everybody grabbed their bags from the overhead compartments, and then we waited for everybody to get out. Juliette's mother then said,
"Thank you for talking with her, I'm sure she really enjoyed it."
"Oh yes, sure thing! It was great."
Then the line cleared, I said goodbye to Juliette and her mother, and off I went to catch my flight. I would never see Juliette again. But it was good while it lasted. And who knows? Perhaps she'll remember that one guy she talked to on the airplane that one time, and she'll tell people about me. At the very least though, I'll remember her, the best mannered, most polite, cutest, sweetest little six-year-old I'll ever meet on an airplane.

My next flight was more uneventful, but I had just enough time to eat a bread and rice and porkchop sandwich before we boarded, so that was nice. And then I arrived. I was the sixth person off the plane, and off I went to the place where Mamma and Savannah were waiting with the car. I made all haste, not even waiting for the escalator but rather sliding down the railings of the steps and getting to the bottom faster that those on the escalator. There was a half dozen people at the bottom watching me, and this old guy not so quietly commented to his wife, "Wow, did you see that? That was cool!" I bout laughed, but by then I was out the automatic doors and there was Savannah running at me from down the way. We hugged and smiled and laughed, and did the same with Mamma when we got to the car. Then we talked all the way back home, and I told bunches of the best, funniest stories that had recently happened. It was great. By the time we got back to the house it was almost eleven at night, but we talked more and more. Eventually Jubal woke up and he was ever so happy to see me. Shortly after we all went to bed, and that was that. Christmas break begins!