The aircraft was ready for take off in
torrential rain and all of the passengers had been loaded and fastened into
their seats. The crew went up and down the aisle to make sure everyone had his
safety belt secured and the pilot announced that there would be a short delay.
It was a full flight. The wide-bodied jet
was always used on this route because of its popularity and the sheer volume of
passengers. It was a night flight, one of those red-eye specials, which left at
All seats were filled except one - seat
35B. The window seat 35A was occupied by a young woman about 25 years old. She
was pert and spunky and dressed in high fashion. She was the kind of girl who
liked the latest clothes and caught on to every fad regardless if she had a
need or not for it. She sat complacently powdering her nose and admiring
herself with ego-absorbed conceit. From her nose she moved to her lips and
painted them a florescent red, smacking them to spread the glow evenly to both
upper and lower lips. Her eyebrows were next, followed by her lashes and
cheeks.
In seat 35C was an elderly man of 63 years
old. His hair was balding at the top and had turned almost completely white.
The years had taken their toll on his once stocky frame and he was now a bit
portly and pudgy, self-complacent in a quiet and dignified way. Fashion was not
his concern and his clothes had a scruffy look to them. Yet, he gave the aura
of educated success with hid eyes fixed on the financial pages of the Wall
Street Journal. He wore a suit in bad need of a good pressing and a silk tie
which matched perfectly with the pinstriped woolen suit; the match being more
of an accident than a conscious pairing of suit and tie.
A flight attendant came down the aisle
wearing a broad yet plastered smile and distributed earphones for those who
chose to be entertained rather than sleep. Both the woman in 35A and the
gentleman in 35C bypassed the earphones, each determined to find time to sleep
on the flight before its morning arrival.
“This is your captain speaking,”came the
voice over the intercom, “We have now been cleared for take-off but we’re third
in line. Just sit back and soon we’ll be in the air. I’ll get back to you once
we are airborne and I will fill you in on the flight pattern and details later.”
As the plane sped down the runway, the
young woman in seat 35A looked hungrily at seat 36B. She had decided even
before the planes wheels lifted from the ground that she would take charge of
and possess the seat next to her.
The man in 35C also looked with covetous
greed upon the seat to his left. As soon as the `fasten seat belt' sign was
turned off he had already decided to take over 35B.
The plane lifted from the tarmac and heavy
rain was smeared across the windows.
As the engines exerted their power the
plane gained altitude and thrust itself above the rain. The first few minutes
of flight KJ 254 were filled with mild turbulence as the plane cut further through
rain clouds and maneuvered its way into higher altitude. Once above the clouds
the stars which had been obscured on the ground were now visible and strung out
like a necklace in the sky.
When the 'fasten seat belt' sign had been
turned off the elderly gentleman placed his carry-on tote bag on seat 35 B. The
young woman in seat 35A took his bag and placed it on the floor.
“Oh,” said the young woman nervously, “But
I want to use that seat for sleeping. I am very tired.”
The elderly gentleman was obviously annoyed
that the woman had touched his bag without permission and replied, “Young lady,
I am tired too.” Then thinking to himself he mused over the bad manners of
young people today who touch the property of others without proper regard. The
woman’s thoughts were likewise unflattering. “humm…who does he think he is!
Putting his bag on the empty seat as if it were his own?” If first impressions
are the strongest then neither the man nor the woman thought very much of his
fellow passenger whom chance and fate had willed for them on this flight.
'But. I have a toothache,' she pleaded making
a grimace with her face and pointing to a place on her left cheek. Her
expression assumed that of one of those cute teenagers in cosmetic poster ads,
but she was anything but a cute teenagers. The layers of makeup she had applied
to her face earlier did nothing to correct what damage nature had done to her
face by birth.
'But I have a headache,' said the man
pointing to his forehead.
'Yes, ' said the woman more aggressively, '
But, you are a man and I am a woman.'
'I know,' said the man. ‘But, you are quite
young and I am very old.'
The woman pouted and stomped her foot on
the ground. She was not used to rejection, or perhaps she was so used to it
that she had decided everything she wanted she should get even by force, if
necessary.
'Listen, Miss,' said the man with total
annoyance and a coating of contempt in his voice, 'Did you buy one seat or two
seats for this flight? Where is your
boarding pass for seat 35B?'
'Me no have.' She said with pouting lips
affecting a foreign accent.
'Precisely. You only have a boarding pass
for seat 35A?'
'Yes,' said the girl with both defeat and
annoyance.
'Well, if you wanted to sleep you should
have bought a seat in first class. There’s plenty of room to lie back and rest
if you are in first class.'
The gentleman was getting annoyed at
himself for being so stubborn, but there was something about the young girl
which he found repulsive. Maybe it was her face layered with creams and
cosmetics. Maybe it was the outfit she was wearing which made her look like a
streetwalker. Maybe it was her age group which the old gentleman found to be
selfish and self-centered. Whatever the reason, he was not about to give in.
Likewise the young woman found contempt in her heart for the old man.
She hated old people. They exuded a smell of stale sweat. Don't these people
use underarm deodorant? They think that once they reach a certain age the world
owes them respect. They should be in senior citizen homes watching TV instead
of flying on planes and besides what is an old fart like him doing flying on a
'Take you bag off the seat. I want to
sleep.' the young woman demanded.
'I will not!' said the man showing equal
determination not to give in.
A flight attendant was passing down the
aisle handing out blankets for passengers and asked mechanically if the young w
The woman looked at the man and said,
'You're a selfish man. Drop dead.'
The plane had reached maximum altitude and
the flight became quite smooth with the hum of the engines lulling the
passengers into sleep. The cabin was darkened as the passengers negotiated
sleep. The old man turned on the reading light and pulled out a newspaper to
work out the crossword puzzle in the daily paper. The young woman reached into
her carry-on and pulled out a bag of cosmetics and proceeded to continue to repaint
her face and attend to her nails and toiletry. A great distance lay between them. It was not
the space of seat 35 B but the chasm of generations who no longer understood
each other and whose level of toleration for each other had worn down to a
fragile thread.