The Empty Seat

                                      

By William M. Balsamo

 

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 midnight and arrived six hours and two time zones ahead later. Passengers were tired and stressed having gone through bad weather and security checks conducted by overzealous guards.

 

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 midnight red-eye flight? He should be in at home where his kids could take care of him.

 

'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 woman and the elderly gentleman wanted one. They both took a blanket and were prepared to fight for the seat when the man looked at the woman and said, 'You're a spoiled bitch!'

 

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.