Authors: Alexis Konsantino
Looking up he got a wave from JJ and one from a large jolly looking man whose jowls jiggled as he smiled to him. Xander gave him a wave as he settled into the aisle seat and buckled up. Up front, he watched the Captain secure the main door and head into the cockpit. He peered towards Halo and noticed he could partially see her through the widely spaced seats. His heart was hammering at the thought at how close she was. He took a deep breath and told himself to calm down.
The jet’s engines began to spool up with a droning whine. He heard someone speak to him and looked over to the big guy seated by the window across from him, he was immediately perplexed on how he managed to fit in his seat in the first place.
“Hello! I’m Jorgen!” The jolly man called out.
“Nice to meet you, I’m the replacement actor.” He saw the jolly guy chuckle at his remark, “I’m Xander.”
“Glad you are on board with the picture! I’m the first unit’s Gaffer.”
“Oh cool. Electrical guy, right? You like it?”
“Pays my food bills!” He let out a jolly laugh and patted his overly large belly, “It’s a work in progress!”
Xander opened his mouth to say something, but was stuck on how to reply. He chuckled and shook his head, “Jorgen, you got me, I’m all speechless here!” He watched Jorgen’s jowls jiggle as he laughed.
“Hey, first time flying first class for this ol’ boy!” Jorgen replied with a big boyish smile.
Xander could see Jorgen was clearly enthusiastic with first class, “Yes! It’s cool, isn’t it?”
Jorgen pointed to the aisle seat in the row in front of him, “That’s David Parker, he’s our AD. In front of him is Sarah, Joel’s assistant. Joel you met…” Jorgen rolled his eyes then continued, “Uh behind you sleeping, is four finger Pete. Behind me is Doug, JJ’s fiancé.”
Doug heard his name over the drone and looked up from talking to JJ, to Jorgen then to Xander, he smiled and waved to Xander. He returned the wave and smiled, “Thanks Jorgen…” Xander said and cut himself short as he stopped talking to listen to the Captain speaking over the public address.
“Good afternoon to you all, this is Captain Flowers and welcome aboard! We have been cleared for takeoff so please stay seat-belted until the fasten seatbelt light is extinguished. Teuila will be around later in the flight for refreshments, lunch or snacks. Until then relax and enjoy the ride.”
Xander looked out his window and saw the aircraft was taxiing out. Soon the engine whine increased and they began to move down the runway increasing speed rapidly. The nose lifted up and they were swiftly airborne. The 737 banked and continued a rapid and bumpy climb. Xander thought that with not much weight they were gaining altitude much quicker than the last time he flew on a 737.
Looking up towards Halo, he could see that the red blanket Halo had been holding onto slipped down around her waist. He had the biggest urge to go up and cover her back up.
The seatbelt sign chimed and went out. He leaned his plush gray recliner seat back a bit and settled in with his thoughts. He was thankful the whole ‘not talking’ with Halo Raines was in error. He had hoped as much, but he had feared that she remembered the incident when he had turned his back on her. He felt some pressure build in his ears and he covered his mouth and yawned a few times to pop them. He was successful with a slightly painful pop from each ear.
He looked over to Jorgen who seemed enthralled with looking out his window. Looking back, he saw JJ’s fiancé Doug, a good-looking California surfer type of guy. Looking forward he could only see the back of David Parker’s head. Sarah who was seated in front of him looked towards Halo and he saw she was very pretty with her long black hair in a ponytail.
Captain Charlie came over the speaker and gave the all clear to turn on electronics and walk about the cabin. He reached for his phone and re-read his text back from Eric saying that he indeed owed him big time for handling the contract and congratulations for making them money. Athena sent back a text from her and Evie, wishing him luck and to call when he could.
JJ walked by and he watched her go up to Halo and cover her back up, she came over and sat partially in the seat next to Jorgen and faced him to chat, “She’ll be mad at me for not waking her up, but she really needs her rest. She didn’t get much sleep last night…”
Xander lowered his voice, “What happened? I saw the bruises.” Xander said concerned, “The one on her hand looks so painful, her foot too.”
JJ leaned close, “That’s the hand she belted Johnny with, and her foot is what broke his nose…”
“Oh wow.” Xander mouthed.
“Halo should be the one to tell you the rest; we were all there and saw what happened. I think she would like to explain it to you herself as you two are going to be doing that same scene together soon.”
Xander stiffened up a bit, his eyes opening wide for a moment, “Uh, ok. Oh, hey! Congrats to you and Doug on your engagement! Jorgen told me.”
“Thanks Xander!” JJ replied with a happy smile, “Well I’m going to head back. I’ll wake Halo up in a little while so you can meet.”
“Sounds like a plan, JJ.” Xander watched as JJ got up, sat down next to Doug, and held out her hand to him, he grasped hers tightly with a smile on his boyish face.
Xander reached down, dug through his carryon, and found his book reader. He had read two books already and started another: one was about Australia the other a dark fantasy novel about angels in Portland, no less. He scrolled through his Kindle and stopped at one that he needed to get caught up on:
Senior health care and the Psychology of Ageing
. He shrugged and thought he might as well. He selected its icon and began reading the textbook.
After an hour went by, Teuila came up to him, “Pardon me, would you like lunch or a snack? Maybe something to drink?”
Xander smiled to her, “Oh please yes! Do you have any fruit, maybe a sandwich?”
“All of the above! What kind of sandwich? We have fresh melon for fruit or we have fruit cups.”
“Ham and Swiss? Whole wheat if you have it and the melon sounds great! Oh, and just a bottle of water please.”
“I’ll be back soon.” Teuila said with a smile and headed back up to the galley.
Xander looked at his reader and quickly put it back in his bag. Looking down at his armrest, he pulled out the small screen from its storage place. He extended it up and turned it on. The Virgo Logo of a ‘Winged V’ came up on the high definition screen. He scrolled through an impressive array of inflight movies and was about ready to select one when Teuila came back. He pushed the screen out of the way, as she pulled the tray out for him. She set a nice thick white ceramic plate down with his sandwich and a matching ceramic bowl full of fruit. A red rolled cloth napkin that held his utensils was placed next to his plate. She then set his water bottle into the cup holder at his armrest.
“Anything else for the moment, sir?”
“Yes. Please call me Xander.” He replied smiling at her, “Oh and thank you.”
She smiled back, “You are welcome, Xander.”
He ate his sandwich and fruit. He stacked his bowl in his plate, rolled his silverware back up in the napkin, and placed it on the plate. Teuila noticed he was finished and quietly removed his dishes. Xander looked around and saw that most everyone was asleep, only he, Jorgen were awake.
He pulled his monitor over, chose the home screen, and found the in-flight status. He saw that they were flying north easterly and he saw an icon indicating a storm close to their intended flight path. He groaned to himself and thought he would have to endure more turbulence. On the way to Brisbane they had hit quite a bit of it, the good time they had made was used up by a slight detour, and it seems they will have to be flying a bit longer here too.
Xander looked out his window and in the not too far distance; he saw a huge mass of dark angry clouds that were even higher than the altitude they were flying at. He checked the screen and saw they were at 31,000 feet. He wondered what their flight service ceiling was as he looked out of the window at the huge dark clouds. Whatever the storm was it was huge and even from here he could see faint flashes of lightening. He saw the screen refresh and saw they were taking an easterly route, skirting the storm. Thank you, he thought.
He checked the map and saw that the Cook Islands were east and northeast was French Polynesia. He wondered where they would land if they had to divert. He saw the screen refresh and a new flight path popped up, now they would be skirting around Tonga and head north by an island called Niue then on to American Samoa. Their flight time had increased by almost an hour.
Teuila leaning over Joel caught his attention. After a few moments, Joel got up and headed into the cockpit. He could see him talking to the Captain, at one point he leaned out, looked towards Halo’s direction, and shook his head. He came back out looking very unhappy as he took his seat.
Xander felt the plane gently turn westward and he checked the screen. A new route popped up again, they were skirting closer to their original flight path that took them between Fiji and Tonga. Going for time, he grimaced.
He unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up and stretched, looking around he saw that only he and Joel were awake now. Jorgen was cocooned tightly in his first class lounge seat and was emitting a gentle snore. JJ and Doug were head-to-head and fast asleep.
Turning to look behind him, he saw Pete was open mouthed and out like a light. He ventured up the aisle and saw Halo’s shoe had come all the way off. Her bruise gave him pause, as it looked like it hurt badly. He wanted to cover her cute little toes but thought he might look like some creeper. He moved forward and saw Teuila look up from her magazine.
“Xander, can I get you anything?”
He spoke quietly, “Just stretching a bit… it was a long flight from Portland, Oregon down to here.”
Teuila winced in sympathy, “Yes that is one long leg.”
“Hey, I noticed our flight path changed a few times and we are flying closer to that mess out there.”
“Yes, there is some very bad weather over Fiji.” She looked at him for a long moment, “Would you like me to see if the Captain would speak with you?”
“Oh? Sure, if it’s not a problem.”
Teuila smiled and went into the cockpit and spoke with the Captain. A few moments later, she came out and gestured in, “The Captain said to come on in.”
Xander said his thanks and walked up to the cockpit door, “Hello?”
“Ah, Xander, come on in and have a seat there on the jump seat if you will please.” Charlie offered.
“Thank you sir.” Xander sat down on the seat and looked at the controls. He noticed earlier that the jet was an old 737-300, but this one had all new cockpit equipment. He had expected a lot more analog dials.
“Please call me Charlie, this here is Henry.” The Captain said cheerfully.
Henry reached over and shook Xander’s hand, “Good to meet you.” He said in a faint German accent and went back to reading his display.
“I understand you noticed the weather system outside. This is what we know: What was a tropical storm has quickly progressed into a cyclone, a hurricane if you will for us Northerners. It has just been upgraded to a class four and the weather service is predicting an upgrade to a class five by evening. Being so unusually warm, it is feeding this monster very well indeed. The computer models are predicting a northwestern track; it should bypass American Samoa, but we are watching it closely.”
Xander nodded, “Uh, Charlie? I noticed we turned back towards the storm a bit, so we are making a run for Pago Pago?”
Charlie nodded, “Yes, your producer has requested we make due haste to our destination. We will be far enough from the storm but will encounter some turbulence for sure. Should the weather alter course we will divert to a wonderful little island called Niue and wait out the storm.”
“Oh.” Xander looked at the altimeter and saw the plane was still at 31,000 feet, “What is our service ceiling? Those clouds look to be topping 50,000 feet.”
“Our service ceiling is 37,000. And you are correct, reports indicate they are topping out at 50,000.”
Xander nodded then gestured to the flight systems, “I was expecting analog instruments, this being a 300 model.”
“Very astute, yes this old girl has been retrofitted with the “Smart system’. Have you had any flight training?”
Xander laughed, “Well I was on my way to my private rating in Helos when it became cost prohibitive as my wife described it. Besides… I decided I preferred wings and took only a few lessons.” He got a smile from Charlie and thumbs up from Henry.
“Wings are a good thing. How many hours did you accumulate?” Charlie asked.
“Over forty, but I still needed to complete my hundred nautical mile cross country night module.”
“Ah, sounds like you were close. You should finish up someday.”
Xander smiled, “Well with landing this acting gig I just might be able to!” He got a knowing smile from Charlie.