Flights of Fancy...

fiction

She wasn't superstitious by nature.

She prided herself on being logical in all matters.

She didn't read horoscopes. She didn't knock wood or throw salt or spit three times when someone mentioned the devil. She didn't pray to an all knowing deity. She didn't bless people after they sneezed. She had never read The Secret or any Tony Robbins book. She barely tolerated Oprah.

She walked the fine line between pity and contempt for those that lived their lives based on magical thinking. She knew she shouldn't judge them but it was awfully hard not to. Especially when she would try to explain why what there were doing was silly. Human nature being what it was people liked the silly things. They thought it made a very messed up world make sense.

She thought they were making a world that made sense seem messed up.

All of that to say that she was very confused when boarding for her flight was over and the plane was mostly empty. There were only a dozen or so passengers on what should have been a packed flight. All flights were packed now since they had cut routes and condensed carriers all in the name of customer improvements.

But not this flight. She was in a row all to herself. The closest passenger was two rows in front of her and had his row all to himself as well. The flight attendant stopped and smiled at her. "I can't move you to a First Class seat due to weight distribution, but everyone on this flight will be getting First Class treatment for sure! We have enough meals and hot nuts for everyone."

"Why?"

"Why? Why what?"

"Why is this flight so empty? I'm not used to seeing flights like this anymore."

"Oh, you know, a lot of people are superstitious."

"Yes, and?"

The flight attendant looked at her with a puzzled expression. "You know, the date and flight number. One or the other people could dismiss but both? It's too much for most people."

"Hunh, okay."

She waited until the attendant moved down the aisle to tell the next passenger about their great luck then pulled up her boarding pass on her phone for a closer look. Flight #666, departing at noon on Friday the 13th.

The gentlemen a few rows ahead of her leaned into the aisle and caught her eye, "Not one for superstitions?"

"No, not at all. I hadn't even noticed the number to be honest. It's just a number."

"A beast of a number!" He laughed at his own joke.

She smiled politely, "If you believe in such things I guess."

He was about to say more when the captain's voice came over the loudspeaker. Remarkably clear. She guessed maybe the empty plane had better acoustics. "Hello, folks, this is your captain speaking. As you can see we've got a really light flight today. After we reach cruising altitude and I've turned off the seatbelt sign feel free to move around the cabin. All we ask is when it's time to start our descent you go back to your assigned seat. Should be smooth flying, we should be touching down about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Relax and enjoy the flight."

She settled back in her seat and opened her book. She wasn't a nervous flyer but it was always nice to know there wouldn't be a lot of turbulence. A smooth quiet flight was good reading time.

"Did you know that most airlines don't use 666 for flight numbers?"

Her fellow passenger was leaning into the aisle again.

"Excuse me?"

"Most airlines don't use 666. Finland air used to have a flight to Helsinki that was coded as Flight 666 to Hel. And Singapore Airlines has one so it came across as SIN666. People would take them as a joke, but they weren't profitable enough to maintain as permanent routes. It's only been recently that some airlines have shuffled 666 back into their rotation. Testing the waters I guess. Though it looks like it's going to be a short, not very profitable, test."

"People are what they are."

"Superstitious. People are superstitious. Even people who aren't religious have an aversion to 666 and Friday the 13th. Which, they shouldn't. I mean, if you aren't religious, and that particular religion you have no reason to be worried. But people are superstitious."

"Yes, that's true. But not you?"

"Oh no. I'm very superstitious. But I have a family emergency and I need to get back home. This was the flight that had available seats."

She wasn't sure what to say to that. "I'm sorry, I hope everything will be okay."

"It won't. I mean, the emergency is that my father is dying. The best outcome is that I make it back in time to say goodbye. When that's the best outcome it's not going to be okay."

"Oh."

He seemed to realize that he was making her uncomfortable. "You know what? I'm sorry. I'm over sharing. I'm superstitious. I'm a nervous flyer. It's a terrible time. All of this has apparently made all of my filters fall off. I actually cried in my Uber this morning when the driver asked me how my day was going. I'll leave you to your book."

She tried to give him her most understanding smile and picked her book back up. Then she took a breath and closed the book. "Why don't you move back here so you don't have to keep craning your neck around to talk?"

They spent the next two hours talking. They talked about books and movies. He told her about his father and what his favorite memories of the man were. He talked about moving away for college assuming he'd come back at the end of the four years and life not actually working out that way. When the flight attendant came through to let him know it was time to move back to his assigned seat he reached out to grab her hand. "Thank you."

She gave him a small squeeze back, "I'm glad I could help. I hope you make it in time."

After one of the smoothest landings she could remember she grabbed her bag and started to walk off the plane. At the door the flight attendant handed her a gift bag. "What is this?"

"We made up little 'I Survived Flight 666 on Friday the 13th' packets. We thought it would be funny. And honestly it kept all of us from freaking out a little overnight. It's not much, a few snacks, a set of wings, those sort of things. We were going to hand them out as you boarded, but then thought that would be tempting fate a little too much. There is a little something extra in yours, so make sure you don't give regift it!"

"Okay, well, thank you." She just didn't understand why people were so superstitious, but she guessed it was a cute idea. She looked in the bag and saw a business card with a note scribbled on the back. Thanks for the time and the distraction. If you'd like to keep talking, feel free to give me a call.

Flight 666 on Friday the 13th carrying a man toward his dying father. It sounded more like the beginning of an episode of the Twilight Zone than the beginning of a relationship. Not a very auspicious start.

But she had never been a superstitious person.

Be honest, you thought I'd crash the plane, didn't you? Consider this my combination Friday the 13th and Valentine's Day story. Dying parents and Number of the Beast Flights..who says I can't do romance?