BO1

“Move Over!” Brian exclaimed. He shoved his cousin.
“Hrfhahm!” said Kevin.

The boys were coming back from visiting extended family.

“Oh shut up & give me the pillow!” Brian screamed.
“Here Brian,” said his cousin.

Kevin got up & shoved the pillow in his face.

“Hey!”
“Well you said you wanted it so I gave it to you.” Kevin said.
“Why’d you do that,” his cousin exclaimed.
“Oh stop whining. Your such a baby.” Said Kevin.
“Am not!”
“Are to!”
“Am not”
“Are to, are to, are to! Hah I one!”

Brian gave his cousin a playful shrug. He sat back in the not-too-comfortable-but-nice-sort-of-coach in the plane. He could not wait to get back home & tell his family about his trip.

Oh well he thought better go to sleep we got a long way to go. He reclined his chair & fell asleep.

Kevin couldn’t sleep. He was excited about his 21st birthday coming up. He couldn’t wait to get home & see his girlfriend Krissy. Well his maybe girlfriend. He looked over at his little cousin. Well at least he’s sleeping soundly Kevin thought to himself. He reached down & grabbed his cream colored carry-on. He reached inside & took out his book, leaned back, & started reading.

Meanwhile… a couple of rows back:

Howie Dorough looked out his window & sighed. He had a 2½ more hours on the plane & then he would be home. Home, the word lingered in his thoughts. He was coming back from a funeral. His best friend, Richard, died in a car crash last Saturday. Man do I wish I could just be free of all this. He put his headphones on & cranked his CD player up until the stewardess looked sharply in his direction & shook her head. Well he thought there goes that He turned it down & listened to it, but he could barely hear it above the sounds of the plane. Howie finally decided to just turn it off. The batteries were probably just about dead anyway. He didn’t want to sleep because it would just bring back dreams of times he spent with Richard. It just isn’t fair he thought. Why did that drunk driver have to be there anyway? Richard had died when a drunk driver slammed into his car at the intersection. The drunk had a red light & went right through it. He sailed right into Richard’s “87 Camaro.” Man he loved that car Howie thought of how proud he was when he fired it up after he bought it from an old family friend. The drunk slammed into the driver side, but it didn’t kill Richard instantly like it should have. He went through the windshield & laid there bleeding, knocked unconscious. The paramedics got there & tried to wake him up, but couldn’t. He was put in ICU where his heart failed. Howie got there as fast as he could. He remembered dashing to the hospital room & sitting there waiting. That seemed to be the only thing he did those 3 days before his death. He just sat & waited. Finally early Saturday morning, Richard opened his eyes & talked. Howie remembered it so vividly.

“Howie? What are you doing here” Richard asked.
“You were in a car accident. I a came as soon as I found out.” Howie said.
“Thanks Howie. Thanks for always being there for me.”
“Sure man, it was just like when we were kids…” Howie faltered.
“Bye How.” Richard coughed. “Tell mom I love her.”
“What are you talking about? Your not dying. No Rich, don’t die. Don’t die!” Howie sobbed.

Richard took one last breath & closed his eyes forever. Howie remembered the funeral too. His friend’s family were crying. It hadn’t seemed real or possible. He stood there at the burial as they lowered the casket into the ground. He didn’t cry. It wouldn’t have mattered. Richard was dead. Gone forever. He saw Annie, Rich’s mother sobbing & crying out for her boy to come back. Now as Howie sat on the plane, Richard’s death had caught up on him. He felt like punching something, and laying down, & crying like a baby. You wouldn’t have wanted it to be like this Rich. You would have wanted us to be so happy. You aren’t suffering anymore from the accident. Howie laid back & fell asleep.