by Larry Lounsbury

Created on: September 14, 2010

"Seeking Paradise"

     A fasten your sea belt sign alarm rang out jarring me from my wandering mind. To my right the soft turning of pages continued unabashed. Barely turning my head least my sourjourner to my left should see me; I allowed my eyes to momentarily catch a glimpse of the mountainous man cringing against the window seat. His hands were animated with a life of their own, going from his head to navel the back from one side of his chest to the other.

     “Attention, we seem to have run into a bit of turbulence; please fasten your seatbelts for the remainder of the flight,” the captain calmly said. I have always had an astute ability to read people’s body language and even a voice can often reveal something in the nature of a persons true thoughts. The captain’s voice was calm, too calm and animated for anything normal. 

     “Don’t you think you should put that backpack on the overhead,” the passenger to the left of me said gruffly. I could feel my hands automatically forming fist as I pictured pummeling him. “No thank you, all my food is in there along with some change of clothes,” I said.  After that brief foray I noted with a smirk that he was pleasantly silent. Maybe he should have thought of listening more closely to the stewardess as she went over the emergency exits?

     A subtle waft of perfume entered my nostrils from my right. I resisted the urge to turn, or even look; least I disturb the tranquility of the parsonage of the person seating herself to the left of me. “Got anything good in there for me,” she said smiling as she seated herself. My neck muscles tightened and then my eyes quickly scanned her face.

   She could have been in her late thirties or early forties, but I was never good with guessing a woman’s age. Her smile captivated me. It seemed so out of place on board the hustle and bustle of this aircraft. She had long black hair with almond shaped eyes that complimented her smile. Everyone was uptight, even the airline hostess seemed tense. Snippets of conversations seemed to melt through the usual boring trip.

     “You mind if we trade seats with you,” a female voice pleasantly asked behind us. The woman next to me learned closer to me as if we both were eavesdropping coconspirators. Then her face turned to mine, relishing

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