“Spread your legs, sir.”

A line of miserable travelers stood behind Jackson Pike as he spread his legs.  Randy, the down in the mouth TSA employee stood up, facing Jackson.

“Now turn around,” Randy said dryly. 

Jackson flinched as Randy’s hand got a little too high for comfort.  “Alright, you’re set,” Randy muttered, his mustache covering his upper lip. 

Jackson began a walk of shame toward his wife, Sarah, who stood at the end of security with their bags as she whistled and cat-called.

“Encore! Encore!” Sarah cried out as Jackson approached.  “So…did he at least tell you his name?  Was it Rod?  Or Jerry?  That mustache definitely suites a Jerry.  That’s it, right? Jerry?”

Annoyed and tired, Jackson just grabbed his bag and headed towards their gate.

Sarah hustled to catch up with Jackson.  “Aw, did Jerry not even say good-bye?”

“His name was Randy…” Jackson said under his breath. 

Sarah’s eyes lit up with glee.  “You do know his name!”

Jackson rubbed his hand across his face, “They all wear name tags…come on now, we’re running late as is.  How did you get through security so fast anyway?”

“I slipped through without anyone noticing! I’m like a ninja!” Sarah winked.

Jackson snorted, “Yeah right.”  Jackson’s face looked worn; it had been a rough last couple of weeks at work with final exams and student evaluations, not to mention it was already 10 o’clock at night.

The joy slowly left Sarah’s face, “I don’t understand why they moved the teacher’s conference to this time of year…it’s cutting right into the holiday time off.”

“Yeah, I guess they rather save-” Jackson cut himself off as Sarah began to veer off into the bathroom. “I’ll be quick!”  She yelled out from behind the door.

Sliding his hand in his pocket, Jackson, pulled out his phone to check the time.  Ten minutes until boarding ended.  “Oh, come on…”. 

Mindlessly, Jackson’s thumb led him down into a long spiraling hole of social networking as he waited for Sarah.

“Move it!” roared an airport employee as her cart sideswiped Jackson.  He who stood dumbfounded in the center of the corridor. At the last minute, Jackson was able to jump out of the way of the rogue cart driver, nearly knocking over a swiveling book shelf behind him.  With the cart now twenty feet down the terminal, Jackson called out “jackass!” and in response the cart driver flipped him the bird. 

Realizing his phone had been flung to the floor, Jackson grabbed it before getting knocked back by a passing group.  “Hey, watch it!” one of them threatened. 

Still waiting on Sarah, Jackson grabbed the last copy of the Times, a chocolate bar and energy drink from the store he was forcefully knocked into.

Sarah stood at the entrance of the store. “You ready, grumpy pants?”  Jackson nodded, handed the cashier his money and headed back out to Sarah. 

Sarah leaned in and wrapped her arm in his.  “I know you’re tired…you know, we didn’t have to fly this late.”

“Yeah, I know, but it was the cheapest flight I could find.  It was either this or drive two-hours to Philly.”  Jackson looked down at his phone, picking up his walking pace.  “We have to hurry up.”

“What’s the gate again?”

Jackson pointed ahead, “C86.  It’s right up here.”

Only a few passengers remained in queue when the couple reached gate C86.   A middle-aged woman stood behind the counter, her hair up in a bun and her mandatory scarf nestled under her neck.  She wore a hip-hugging, blue dress that complimented her age.

Looking up from the counter with a scanner in her hands, she asked, “Boarding ticket?”

A look of sudden anxiety rushed through Jackson’s face.  In a quick storm of fury, Jackson tossed his newspaper to the ground, rummaging through his pockets.  After a few seconds of distress, his boarding pass was triumphantly pulled out of his back pant pocket.  Before Jackson could fully extend his arm, the ticket was scanned and Jackson made his way to the gangway. 

“Oh sir!”  The gate attendant called out as Jackson and Sarah walked passed.  “Don’t forget your newspaper!”  Jackson’s copy of the Times still laid on the floor where he tossed it.  He scampered back to pick up the paper, smiled back at the attendant, and made his way down the gangway. 

“Here we are” Jackson announced as him and Sarah reached the second to last row of the plane.

Sarah surveyed the area with a look that Jackson knew all too well.  “How lovely.  A cozy spot right next to the bathroom for the next four hours.”

“Hey, remember, we’re trying to save some money here.  Soon it won’t just be the two of us.”

Sarah tossed her purse on the window seat.  “Speaking of which, I have to pee…”

“Man, you’re like a broken faucet.” Jackson opened up the overhead bin. “Crap.  Ummm, Miss?” Jackson called out to the flight attendant. “Is there any more room overhead?”

The flight attendant approached Jackson.  She was either new or on some type of uppers judging by how chipper she was.  “Oh, I’m so sorry sir but we’re all out of overhead room, you’ll have to store that underneath the seat in front of you.”  With a look of dejection on Jackson’s face, the stewardess put a hand on Jackson’s shoulder.  “Sorry again, sir.”

Jackson jammed is backpack underneath the seat.  “Eh, it’s alright.  Just always prefer the leg room.” 

The flight attendant pointed at Sarah’s seat, “You can always put it in that empty seat next to you if you want to stretch out.” 

“Oh no…that’s my wife’s seat.  She’s just in the bathroom.” 

The stewardess took a look at the empty seat, smiled at Jackson and walked off.  Sitting down, Jackson rested  his hat over his eyes.

“I see you’re done flirting with ‘Miss I’m So Eager to Help You’.” Sarah said as she climbed over Jackson’s legs to get to her seat.  “And they say chivalry is dead.”  Jackson grunted.

As the plane rocked back and forth pulling out of the gate, Jackson slowly drifted away to sleep.   

_______________________________________________

With an abrupt stop and a loud snore, Jackson woke up from his once peaceful sleep. 

“Wha-what is going on?” he asked as he lifted his baseball cap. No one answered. 

Sarah’s seat laid empty next to him.  Turning around he could see the bathroom was occupied, so Jackson reached over to open up the closed window.  Outside it was nearly pitch black out.  Holding still for a few seconds Jackson tried to determine whether or not they were flying.  “No, definitely not flying,” he muttered to himself.  Taking a second to feel the vibrations through his seat, it almost felt like they were continuously moving around in circles.  “Am I still asleep?” Jackson subconsciously thought. 

Jackson turned on his phone, nearly blinding himself in the dark cabin.  “Holy crap…” His phone read 12:16 am.  Two hours later then when the flight was supposed to take off.  Looking around, the rest of the passengers were all facing forward, nice and quiet.  Confused, Jackson pushed the flight attendant call button, half hoping ‘Miss I’m So Eager to Help You’ came over. 

While waiting for some type of help, Jackson noticed he had a message from his mother, and not just a “safe travels, sweetie” message, it was one of those bricks of a message.

Hope u have a good flight, J.  Let me know when you land.  I know I annoyed u and Sarah the other day so I wanted to say sorry but I still think a baptism for little Rose is important.  Even though u and Sarah dont attend church as much as me and father Kelly would like you to your always welcome.  Anyway u still have a few months to decide.  Hugs and kisses and safe travels, sweetie. 

Annoyed, Jackson turned his phone off.  Him and his mother have been fighting over this ever since she found out Sarah was pregnant.  Actually, Jackson thought, it started way before that.  It started when his mother found out him and Sarah weren’t getting married in a church. 

“You know Jackson, if you want to have the wedding in a church I’m sure Sarah will understand,” she would say.  “Don’t let her manipulate you.  It’s your wedding too, you know.”

In fact, his relationship with his mother has always been strained.  You hit some tough times growing up with a single parent, especially when you’re a thirteen year old boy just hitting puberty and the only father figure you’ve ever had has been his widowed grandfather and a priest, Father Kelly.  But with baby Rose on the way, Jackson had hoped to put the past behind them for the sake of Rose. 

After he realized that no one responded to his call button, Jackson decided to get up…that is until his seat belt wouldn’t unlock. 

Sitting in silence, staring out the window into darkness, it felt as though Jackson had been stuck in his seat for another hour. 

It started raining and he could barely see out the window now.  “Man, what is this The Twilight Zone…” Jackson thought, as he gazed through the rain spattered window.

Jackson started to worry about Sarah.  Where had she gone?  She did run into some pregnancy complications a few days ago.  Jackson struggled to unlatch his seatbelt until a strange smell filled the air around Jackson, distracting him for the moment.  It was a terrible combination of jet fuel and rotten fish. 

Jackson turned to the man across the aisle.  He was well dressed, in a button down and slacks, sitting silently as he read his newspaper.  He was the type of passenger you usually passed by in first class or, at the very least, in economy plus, not the thirty-eightieth row. 

“Excuse me, sir?” Jackson whispered.

The man sat there, reading his paper.  Jackson wondered if he remembered ever seeing the man turn a page or not.  Leaning forward, Jackson tried to see if the man’s eyes were moving. 

Nothing.

“Sir?” Jackson said a little louder this time. No one seemed to pay any notice to Jackson.  “Hey buddy!” Jackson belted. 

The man slowly dropped the newspaper to his lap, turned his head toward Jackson and shushed him. 

“I just have a que-” But before Jackson could finish, the entire cabin spun their heads around at Jackson, putting their finger up to their mouth, signaling him to stay quiet. 

The air around him seemingly got colder, while the plane’s motion now accelerated, pushing Jackson deep into his seat.  Outside the window, the darkness stood still. 

All eyes stayed on Jackson.  “That’s it.” Jackson said to himself, trying to get up before remembering his seatbelt had been stuck.  Scratching and clawing at the buckle, Jackson only made the tension tighter around his waist. 

By now, all of the eyes that rested on Jackson felt like they were burning through his soul.  Finally he dug his left hand into the clamp, tugging as hard as he could.  A snapping noise cracked loudly as the buckle had become undone.

Jackson yelped. “Ah, fuck!” Blood came pouring out of his fingers.  Two of his nails were pulled out and the others were all cracked and dismembered.  “Shit! Shit! Shit!” 

Jackson grabbed the pillow off Sarah’s seat and wrapped his hand with the pillow case.  Trying to avoid looking down at the carnage on his lap, Jackson got up and headed back towards the rear of the plane.  Passengers around him grabbed at him from their seats as he rushed through the aisle, scratches lining his arms. 

Frantic, Jackson tugged on both bathroom doors.  Both were locked.  “Sarah?” he cried out. 

The rain now pounded the roof of the plane like bullets pounding against a tank.  Nearly out of space, Jackson slid around the corner into the flight attendant’s alley.  Across the alley stood a flight attendant with her back to Jackson.  It wasn’t ‘Miss I’m So Eager to Help You’ was it?  No, she was older.  The skin around her elbows wasn’t as tight and sun spots speckled her arms.  

“Miss?” Jackson cautiously asked.

The flight attendant turned around and to Jackson’s surprise it was the older woman from the ticket counter.  “Please, call me Jackie,” she said in a soft voice. 

“Weren’t you at the ticket counter?” Jackson asked to make sure he hadn’t mistaken her for someone else.

Jackie strode over to Jackson. “Yeah…double duty tonight…oh dear, what happened to you?” Jackie asked, pointing at his wrapped up hand.

Jackson could feel the pain running up and down his entire arm as he clenched his hand.  Jackie grabbed his hand, inspecting it.  “I can help you, if you’d like…”

She stood up on her tippy toes and whispered in Jackson’s ear, “I saw the way you looked at me at the gate,” the heat of her breath made the hair on Jackson’s neck stand up.  He could feel one of her hands slowly reaching down the outside of his pants.  “I can do things to you that you’ve never dreamed of…all you have to do is ask.” 

Jackie dragged her cheek across the stubble on Jackson’s face until their lips locked.  Her breasts pushed up against his chest as she guided his bandaged hand down to the inside of her skirt.

Jackson’s heart raced and the pain he felt just a few minutes earlier seemed to have disappeared.  Jackie slowly pulled back, one hand resting underneath Jackson’s belt, “You’ve done it before…haven’t you?”

Jackson’s eyebrows furrowed.  “Done what?”

Jackie reached in again, caressing his neck.  “I understand,” she said quietly as her lips drove up Jackson’s neck.  “It took years for my ex to find out, I doubt Sarah will find out…she’s not even here, anyway.” 

Jackie began to slowly unzip Jackson’s pants and reached inside.  Guilt overcame Jackson and he pushed Jackie away, taking a step back.  “Wait a minute…” he said, composing himself. 

The plane shook as if they had just hit a wall of turbulence.  Had the plane taken off without him realizing it?

“You better get back to your seat, sir.” Jackie said sternly, adjusting her dress and walking out down the aisle. 

With his good hand, Jackson zipped up his pants and flattened out his shirt.  He thought about how he had treated Sarah throughout the years…all the lies he had told her and the women he had slept with, but now there was Rose.  He had put his past behind him and had a future to look forward to now.

Turning the corner, the lights of hundreds of personal devices illuminated the cabin.  As he reached his seat, he was relieved to see Sarah sitting by the window.  “Where have you been?” she inquired. 

Jackson tried to hide his left hand in the darkness, “I was looking for you…” Jackson took a deep breath, “Hey, did we take off?”

“I was only a few minutes, babe.  Just sit down and get some rest, you look terrible.”  Jackson sat down and Sarah pulled her headphones over her ears, closing her eyes. 

Reaching down under the seat in front of him, Jackson dragged his backpack up on to his lap.  Jackson grabbed his MacBook out of the back zipper.  It was an older MacBook but he loved it.  It was a huge seventeen inch screen that had all of the ports that would seem foreign on newer models.  In fact he’s had Gertrude, his laptop, longer than he’s been with Sarah.  The only drawback to having such a large screen was that the keyboard pressed against his stomach as it sat on the tray table. 

While he waited for Gertrude to load up, Jackson realized his lap was wet.  He didn’t think anything came out when he was ambushed by Jackie …had something leaked inside his bag?  He quickly reached down into the bag.  Nothing.

Looking around, everyone’s face was planted in front of an LED screen, mesmerized by blinding white light.  Jackson tapped on the space bar, as if that will make Gertrude turn on quicker, but she wasn’t showing any signs of coming on.  Jackson searched under his and Sarah’s seats hoping to find an outlet…no luck. Annoyed and a little upset, Jackson slammed Gertrude closed.  Device after device that Jackson pulled out of his bag had a dead battery; his iPod, his Kindle and even his phone had somehow died.  Had he really forgotten to charge everything he packed up? 

Opening up his bag, Jackson slid everything off the tray into the open zipper.  He could have sworn he heard a splash as the devices fell in, but chalked it up to the rain outside. 

“At least you don’t have a battery,” Jackson said to the newspaper he pulled out of the front seat pocket.  One of the headlines on the front page read ‘Black-and-Blue Friday: Thirty-Eight Seriously Injured Nationwide on Unofficial Holiday”.  Jackson shook his head, looking around at everyone on their personal devices and smiled at the reassurance that he hasn’t drifted into that black hole of nothingness. 

With one hand holding the paper, the other reached down to grab a chocolate bar out of his bag.  His hand was met by a puddle of water.  Looking down, his bag was over flowing with water gushing out over the floor.  Jackson jumped up out of his seat, but nobody seemed to notice the excitement. 

“Sarah!” he said, shaking his shoulder.  “Sarah, get up.”

The water rose at an unprecedented pace, as it already reached his knees.  The plane shook, swerving left and right.  The cabin broken into chaos as the water was now at everybody’s waste.  Passengers throughout the plane bumped into each other trying to keep their precious personal devices dry from the floor typhoon. 

Sarah finally woke up, still seated.  The water already up to her neck.  “My belt won’t unbuckle!” she screamed out to Jackson. “Help!” 

Jackson plunged his hands down under the water, his pillowcase bandage falling off.  Everyone around him began pushing each other and climbing on top of their seats, holding their bags over their shoulder. 

Blood filled the water around Sarah’s strapped waist as Jackson dug at the buckle.  The water was now up to Sarah’s chin and Jackson’s lower chest.  

“Get ready to take a deep breath honey…” Jackson said, out of breath himself. 

“I love you, babe.”  Sarah said solemnly.

“No…no…” Jackson reached out.

The plane jolted, knocking passengers off their seat perches.  The water now covered Sarah head as she reached out to Jackson.  Diving under the water, Jackson attempted to get a better grip on Sarah’s seat belt. 

Above the quick rising water, it had become more of a mosh pit of hipsters and soccer mom’s fighting to keep their precious smart phones from hitting the water.  From down below, the dim lights from the fallen LED screens glowed in the water.  Jackson’s heart raced as he started to run out of breath.  He was jostled back and forth and lost a grip on Sarah.  The blood in the water stung his eyes but he could clearly see Sarah’s body go limp.  Without thinking he screamed out and water ran down his throat, choking him. 

Seeing the other’s fight over these meaningless devices it made Jackson wonder what type of person you must be to push another man under water to save your iPod.  Interestingly enough, this helped Jackson find some type of peace with himself, closing his eyes as he continued to choke.  The glowing lights around him slowly dimming.  After one final cough, Jackson’s eyes flung open and his body sprung up.

“You okay, babe?” It was Sarah, dry and alive. 

Jackson was lost.  Was that all really a bad dream? He looked down at his left hand…no wounds.  Rubbing his throat he could still feel the water  rushing down.  “Yeah, I guess I was just dreaming.”  But he couldn’t help but think how real all of that felt.

‘Miss I’m So Eager to Help You’ was passing by and noticed Jackson was awake.  “Hey there sleepy head, can I getchya anything hun?”

Jackson could feel Sarah’s eyes rolling without evening looking at her.  “No, no, I’m alright.”

‘Miss I’m So Eager to Help You’ smiled.  “Alright, well let me know if you need anything,” and she made her way down to the alley.

Jackson looked over at Sarah and then her belly.  It still wasn’t as big as he expected a pregnant stomach to look, but their doctor guaranteed the big belly boom was right around the corner.  

“You sure you’re alright?” Sarah inquired.

“Yeah…” Jackson paused.  “I just…Do you think we’re making the right decision by not baptizing Rose?”

Sarah sat up, clearly aggravated.  “Great…what did your mother say now?”

“Nothing…maybe it was just the dream I had, but is it right to bring a baby into this world without some sort of moral guidance?  What if something happens to one of us?”

“Jackson, we’ve had this conversation before.  We wanted to give Rose a clean slate, not to force religion down her throat.”

Jackson, paused, considering whether or not this was the best time to talk about this.  “Yeah, I know…” Jackson stopped.

“Just say whatever is on your mind Jackson,” Sarah pushed. 

“I mean, we grew up going to church and Sunday school and we turned out alright.”

“Yeah, and we both hated going to church by the age of ten…you can still have faith without going through thirteen years of deep throated religion.”

“Maybe I just feel like it will kind of make up for all of the mistakes we’ve made.”

Sarah waved her hand in disgust, “Oh come on, Jackson, that’s ridiculous.”

Tired of arguing, Jackson opened up his copy of The Times, one eye reading and one eye on Sarah.  An announcement from the flight deck interrupted Jackson’s reading: “Ladies and gentlemen, we will begin our final descent in approximately thirty minutes.  Please gather all of your belongings and pack up your large electronic devices. Flight attendants please begin preparations for final descent.” 

Jackson folded the paper into quarters, just as his grandfather did on Sunday mornings.  As Jackson intensely began to read an article he thought about what his grandfather always told him and Sarah, “The goal in marriage isn’t to think alike, but to think together.”  Unfortunately, Jackson’s grandparents learned that too late and Grandpa Joe always wanted better for Jackson and Sarah.

“You see this…” Jackson pointed out to Sarah.  “Remember that shooting in Little Rock?”

“The one where the police officer shot down an innocent mother?  Yeah, why?”

“Read this,” Jackson handed the paper over to Sarah.  “The police officer got off clean!  How can we bring a child into a world like this and not at least push them into the right direction?  Look all around us,” Jackson pointed to multiple seat monitors around them, “There’s violence all around us, heck, I don’t even know what’s worst, the media these days or the real world.” 

Sarah finished reading the article and sat in silence. 

“Maybe we’re the ones who are wrong,” Jackson said softly.  “But it’s okay.  It’s okay to be wrong as long as we set things right with Rose.  The world is falling apart and its only hope isn’t us, it’s the generations to come.”

Preoccupied, Sarah opened up the paper to its front page and looked it over from top to bottom.  “Did you see the date on this?”

“No, I just grabbed it quickly back in the airport…how come?”

“Here,” Sarah handed the paper back over to Jackson, “Look at the date.”

Jackson searched the paper until he found the date, “So? The fifth?  Today’s the fifth.”

“Yeah, but when we left it was the fourth…this should be the evening paper for the fourth.”

Jackson took a second to think about what Sarah just said.  “Yeah…that is weird.”  A smile crept onto Jackson’s face, “Maybe this is like ‘Back to the Future’!  Let’s check the sports section…maybe we can make some fast money!”

Sarah’s face turned grim as Jackson flipped to the back of the paper, looking for the sports section.  The plane dipped and shook as the captain made another announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun our final descent.  Make sure all belongings are safely stowed away and your seat belts are buckled.  Looks like we will be landing at our final destination in ten minutes or so.  Once again, thanks for flying our friendly skies.”

Right before Jackson hit the sports scores, he thought he saw a familiar face in the paper.  Flipping a few pages back, Jackson sat in fear.  “Wait a minute…”

Sarah rested her hand on Jackson’s arm.  “I’m sorry, babe, but you had to find it on your own.”  The plane rocked back and forth, shaking the passengers around like an amusement park ride. 

Jackson helplessly stared at Sarah, “But I don’t understand…”  The plane dipped in altitude once more, turning Jackson’s attention away from Sarah.  The plane now went from a standard altitude drop to a full on nose dive.  Jackson reached over to grab Sarah’s hand but only got a handful of air.  Jackson turned to the window to find nothing but an empty seat.

“Sarah?” Jackson reached out one final time as the plane was now free falling, the newspaper resting on his knees, darkness finally fell onto Jackson Pike.

The page read:

Regional News

Local teacher and New Jersey native, Jackson Pike, was one of the first bodies to be found dead in the Gulf of Mexico last night after flight number 765 crashed on it’s way to New Orleans, LA.  Only 23 bodies have been found so far out of the 416 passengers that checked in to the flight.  Pike leaves behind his wife, Sarah, who is currently 38 weeks pregnant with their first child.  The FAA has already stated that their investigation is underway, but refuse to speculate on the cause of the accident.  All that the FAA was willing to say is that there was no clear mechanical issues prior to take off.  When pushed on the possibility of terrorist involvement, The White House refused to comment until the FAA investigation was complete. 

Jackson Pike laid dead and alone in the water.

_____________________________________________

  Sarah knelt next to the open coffin, hand resting on Jackson’s crossed hands.  The room had emptied out, giving Sarah a few final minutes alone with her husband. 

“He’s at peace now, child.” A soft voice came from behind her.  Father Kelly rested his hand on Sarah’s quivering shoulder. 

“I know…” Sarah said, her eyes locked on the floor.  “I just…I don’t know…”  Sarah’s voice faded into nothingness.  The once playful woman Jackson had fallen in love with had seemingly faded away to the stoic woman Father Kelly now spoke with.  “I feel like I should have been there with him…I mean I was supposed to be!  He needed me there!”  Tears now ran down Sarah’s cheeks.

Father Kelly now knelt down next to Sarah.  “You were with him, trust me, you were with him the entire time.”  Sarah looked up confused.  “When you love someone as much as Jackson loved you, you’re always with him.”  Father Kelly said, resting his hand on his heart. 

Sarah snorted, shaking her head.  “I don’t need any of that corny bullshit, Father.”

Father Kelly smiled, knowing he finally had gotten Sarah’s full attention.  “I’m not joking…Do you really think it was a coincidence you couldn’t go on that flight?  How long had you two been trying to get pregnant?  I believe Mrs. Pike said it was, what? Two years? Three years?”

Sarah shook her head, of course Jackson’s mother told Father Kelly about that.  Was it her fault it took them so long too?  Just like she blamed her for not being with Jackson on that flight?  “Three years.”  Sarah answered. 

“You know what I think?”  Father Kelly asked, struggling to stand up again.  “I think you were meant to miss that flight.  God works in mysterious ways and it appears that he has a bigger plan for Rose.”

Sarah looked up at Jackson, lacing her fingers through his.  “Yeah…I know…”  In a way Sarah did feel like she was with Jackson for his final moments.  One thing she did promise to Jackson, before Father Kelly approached, was that she was going to have Rose baptized, like she always knew he secretly wanted.  She hadn’t told Jackson’s mother yet or Father Kelly, but knew they would both be ecstatic. 

“Besides,” she told Jackson in her final words to him, “Rose needs a little push in the right direction.” 

Copyright William Meier Jr. 2021 ©