From The Vault: Fasten Your Seatbelts

In this edition of From The Vault, a story I wrote way back in my Drake Hotel days...



Fasten Your Seatbelts



    'Ladies and gentlemen, the plane is now airborne. Please remain in your seats until the pilot turns off the seatbelts sign.'
    Young Roger Banks squirmed in his seat, restless to finally get up and stretch his legs after an unusually long takeoff. As if this business trip wasn't bad enough, a trip he didn't even want to be on, he also hadn't eaten since he woke up in Vancouver and his instincts told him this cheap airline's food wasn't going to be what his stomach was looking for. So his gut growled, his legs first cramped then fell asleep, and the chili covered beans the guy next to him ate for lunch started making a gassy comeback.
    At last, the intercom came on again, filling Roger with hope that this would be the cue to freedom from these badly cushioned chains.     
    'Ladies and gentlemen, due to the high altitude we are currently flying at, seatbelts must remain on for all passengers. We ask you to bear with us until we can reach a high enough altitude. In the meantime, please enjoy the in-flight feature, "Billy Willy Goes to Hollywood."'
    With this announcement, Roger wasn't sure what to be more angry at. The fact that he was still trapped in his uncomfortable chair, that the explanation for it didn't make any sense, or that he had already seen the movie three times and each time was worse than the last. All Roger could do was sit back, or at least try to, and start counting the several hundred minutes until his plane landed.
    In-between minutes thirty-seven and thirty-eight, his found his eyes caught on the likes of a girl four rows in front of him. He diverted his stare quickly, just as she turned to look back in his direction. For a moment he kept his sight strictly forward, until boredom and curiousity compelled him to look again, if only just for a second. Roger turned, but this time his glance was timed perfectly with hers, and for that instant their eyes stared straight from soul to soul.
    Both of them quickly diverted their eyes, trying to play it off like nothing, but the damage was done. Those four rows separating them weren't so far apart anymore. At first Roger tried to ignore her completely, as she did with him. He played games on his phone, cleared the lint out of his pockets, and even tried watching the movie in short, safe intervals. Then he felt like something was scanning him, checking out each of his features slowly one by one. Suddenly he felt like he'd fallen behind in this game; this girl had just taken in every detail his appearance had to offer, while he barely knew what she looked like.
    Unable to resist, Roger looked back, determined to see her the exact same way she had seen him. At first their eyes met again, but then she slyly turned away, opening the gates for him to gaze as long as he pleased. Instead of the usual awkwardness that comes with staring at a complete stranger, his eyes fixed on her face felt wonderfully natural. Roger wasn't sure he'd be able to look away if he had to. Closer and closer he drifted to her, without even moving from his confining chair. The rest of the scene was a great dizzying blur, with her in the clear, focused centre.
    'Attention passengers, the pilot has decided to turn off the no seat-belts sign for the next thirty minutes. We would also like to take this moment to inform you that our only washroom onboard is out of order.'
    The next several minutes were filled with angry outbursts and rather creative curse words, a few coined by Roger himself. It seemed immeasurable how constricting this had become, as he was sure this half-hour of freedom would fly by before he knew it. He took a quick peek at his staring sister and found she was glaring directly at him, a tiny smile on her smooth face. Tentatively, Roger smiled back, also throwing an uninspired half-wave into the equation. Without warning, she got out of her seat, made it to the aisle and started walking away. He thought maybe he'd offended her in some bizarre way, until she looked back at him in surprise, urgently but discreetly motioning him to follow.
    No one else had gotten out of their seat, the path between them was clear and obstacle free. Roger's head filled up with thousands of little doubts, this was all happening too fast. This was a woman whose name he didn't know, whom he hadn't even spoken a single word to. He gave her another close look, and all the skepticism was washed right out of him. This is what he wanted, he was sure of it.
    They made their way to the end of the aisle, now out of sight from the other passengers. She opened the unlocked washroom door and pulled Roger in, the nearby flight attendants too disgruntled to notice. As his hands began reaching to those places of magical lore, he opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by her finger. Words would only spoil it.