by Nova Rain
“We both know what that means,” Ava uttered, her tone weakening. “He’s spending Thanksgiving in New Orleans.”
“Damn it!” I cried, tearing my gaze away from the screen.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” she stated in a soothing tone, stroking the back of my head. “I’ll bring the turkey.”
At that point, an ugly realization hit me. This was the nature of Jake’s job. He would fly on weekends, national holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas… He had to work, when most of us could enjoy some time in our home, with friends and family. We had that in common. After all, news is news, no matter what the day. I just didn’t have to work on that particular day, because the usual annual stories had been assigned to more junior reporters than me. And it was this that hurt me the most. I would spend Thanksgiving in my apartment, without the one thing I was thankful for.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jake
“I’d love to spend Thanksgiving with you, but it looks like your bosses won’t let you.”
“Has United contacted you yet? Are you flying back to New Orleans?”
My response to Penny’s consecutive texts was negative, as well as identical. Still, that didn’t deter her from texting me over and over, asking the same things. I hadn’t hidden my dislike for technology from her. She was well aware of it, and yet, she refused to accept it. I preferred one-on-one conversations, where the body speaks more words than the mouth. If those weren’t possible, option number two was the phone. Frustrated by her persistence, I called Penny up and told her to meet me in my apartment that night.
For all my aversion to technology, though, I couldn’t deny that I depended on it. United would send me my itinerary via email. My superiors also liked to email me with suggestions and notifications on changes in the schedule. So, I logged in to my email and stayed logged in, just in case I received a message from them.
Prior to Penny’s arrival, I poured us two glasses of gin on the rocks and left them on the coffee table. I took mine and lifted it up to my lips, reminiscing about the glorious feeling a takeoff used to give me. The massive amount of torque, slamming me back into my seat. Two hundred tons of aircraft, people and their luggage speeding down the runway at a hundred-and-eighty miles an hour. After that, came the most precious moment of them all. The nose would rise from the ground, along with the front wheels of the landing gear. I would tilt back, my eyes up in the sky. Blue, black, clear or cloudy; it didn’t matter. Man and machine would become one for hours on end, in order to go from point A to point B.
“Me for your thoughts?” I heard Penny’s sweet voice behind me. There she was, wearing a big smile, with her red purse hanging off her shoulder.
“Hey,” I spoke in a voice but a whisper, a smile of hesitation forming on my lips.
“I was expecting a little more enthusiasm,” she complained, easing her purse off her shoulder.
I took a deep breath and brought my gaze back to the view from my window. “Sorry, Penny. I’ve been pretty distracted today.”
“I can see that,” she remarked, picking up her glass. “Is it me you’re thinking about? It’s the texts I’ve been sending you, isn’t it?”
“No,” I shook my head in refusal. “I miss my job. I feel like a fish out of water.”
“Awwww, you poor thing.” She tilted her head to the side, halting beside me. Her wet lips on my cheek soothed me for a moment. “Better?”
“A little.”
“Listen, I’m sorry about the texts.” Penny’s tone remained gentle and sweet. “A stupid report upset me earlier. Some NTSB officials said it would be wise to get you back to New Orleans to fly the plane off that levee.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I disagreed, my voice gaining in volume. “They’ll bring in test pilots. Taking off and landing in unusual places is what they do.”
“Phew!” She sighed in relief, pretending to wipe sweat off her forehead. “Oh, no…” she whispered, covering her mouth with her fingers. “God, I’m such an idiot. I forgot to ask you if you were planning on spending Thanksgiving with your folks. You never talk about them, so, I assumed you were not so close.”
“You’re right,” I confirmed. “My mother lives in Boston, and my father lives in Cleveland. They both spend Thanksgiving with their new families.”
“At the risk of sounding selfish and insensitive, I like that,” she claimed, stepping closer to me. “We’ll go to my place. I’ll cook. My friend Ava will be joining us.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” I requested. “I still don’t…”
At that moment, the ring notification of new email interrupted me. I pushed Penny aside and shuffled over to the table on my right. Reading the sender ID on the screen sent my pulse rising. The message was from United Airlines. I clicked on the email, in the hope I would be up in the air within hours.
“Captain Turner,
You are hereby suspended from active service, pending the investigation of your actions on flight 115 (JFK, New York – Louis Armstrong International Airport, New Orleans, 11-25-2019).
You’ll be notified on the status of the investigation in due time.
Respectfully,
Jonathan Powell
United Airlines
Human Resources Department”
I felt like someone had stabbed me in the back and the wound was still gaping. A huge wave of sorrow engulfed my soul, sending my heart plunging into an abyss of uncertainty. I stared at the screen in utter disbelief, my mouth agape while I struggled to comprehend why the people I had given so much to, had reached that decision.
“This is outrageous!” Penny cried out, lifting her hands to her temples. “They can’t do that!”
“They just did it,” I said, my tone faint as I palmed my forehead.
“You can’t let it slide!” she blurted out, grabbing me by the forearms. “You can’t let them win. There must be something you can do.”
“For starters, I need to contact Michael,” I declared, picking up my cell phone from the table.
“Hey, man. I was just about to call you.”
“How come? You got the same email?” Urgency sped up my tone.
“Yep. Suspended from active service. I can’t believe those fuckers. What the fuck were we supposed to do? Crash the goddamn plane?”
“They wouldn’t find that such a bad idea,” I presumed in sarcastic tones.
“Look, I just called our union leader and told him about this shit. He agreed to meet up with me on Friday morning.”
“Where?”
“Pauline’s café in my neighborhood, 10am. Feel free to tag along.”
“I’ll be there.”
Tossing the device over to my couch, I sensed a powerful tremor in my knees. It was as if they had lost the strength to support my body. Tears rising up in my eyes, I stared into the void. Penny’s beautiful face entered my line of sight, an instant before a tear streamed down my cheek. Anger sparked within me at the emotion in her eyes.
Pity.
My best thing in years, the woman that had been looking at me like I was her God, was giving me a pitiful look. Nonetheless, I wasn’t mad at her. I was mad at United management. They had no respect for me and my nine years of excellent service.
“Don’t worry, baby,” she urged, her voice a soft whisper. “We’ll fight them.”
She snaked her arms around my neck and eased me towards her. Caressing the back of my neck, she kept her silence, offering me the soothing sensation I so much needed. As much as I savored her embrace, I couldn’t give her anything in return. Overwhelmed with emotion, I kissed her temple, the feel of her hair on my skin warming my cold heart. In this dark hour, I was glad she was there with me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Penny
My proud pilot had transformed into an emotional wreck.
I doubted he uttered more than fifty words after receiving that terrible news. He stopped crying in minutes, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t suffering. He didn’t spend much time i
n the same room as me. Every few minutes, he went out on the balcony and let the wind hit him in the face.
Alas, that wasn’t the end of it. Strangely enough, Jake later took the elevator to the roof and stayed up there for a while. At first, I didn’t think much of it. But when he repeated his intention to do that again, I took the stairs, wondering what in the world he had to do out in the cold.
Hiding behind the wall, I sneaked a peek. Yet, what I witnessed caused me to regret my decision to go up there. Jake was standing in the middle of the roof with his hands in his pockets. Peering skyward, he watched plane after plane fly overhead, their lights blinking in the dark. It was then that I realized just how much he loved his job. He was willing to stay out in the freezing cold, just to catch a glimpse of something he used to command until days ago. Something that made him famous, gave him respect, but was now threatening to crush him like a bug.
My heart was shattered to pieces. I couldn’t stand seeing him like that. So, I chose to go back downstairs and wait for him to finish this ritual. And out of respect for his situation, I didn’t complain once about him leaving me alone. Jake’s future was hanging in the balance. He didn’t need to worry about me as well.
The next day, I welcomed the noise of his apartment buzzer like the desert welcomes the rain. Why? Because he and I hadn’t exchanged more than four or five sentences that day. I needed someone to talk to, and Ava was the ideal—and only—candidate for that job.
I caught the sound of the elevator as I went out into the hall. I had to prepare my friend for what she was going to face that day. I couldn’t do that with Jake just ten feet away.
“Hey!” She chirped, smiling at me, with two bags in her grasp. “Happy Thanks…”
“Shhhh!” I hissed, pressing my index finger against the tip of my nose. “Keep it down.”
“Why?” Ava asked, her smile staying on.
“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news,” I began, pulling the door behind me. “Jake got suspended from work last night. He’s a mess. Please, don’t bring it up.”
“Why the hell did they suspend him?” My friend lowered her voice, curiosity written all over her face.
“It’s just until the end of the investigation,” I elaborated. “That could take weeks. Months, even.”
“Okay. I won’t mention it,” she assured me, looking past me.
“Hi. You must be Ava.” Jake spoke in a casual tone, stopping behind me.
“Yeah. It’s nice to finally meet you.” She offered him a polite smile and shook his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Come on in,” he urged, pulling the door wide open.
These had to be almost half the words I’d gotten from him in eight hours. And surprise of surprises, he didn’t bother staying in the kitchen. He left us alone and headed off to his bedroom.
“I don’t know how to handle this,” I confessed, my friend leaving the bags on the counter.
“You’re familiar with the concept of ‘support.’ I’ve seen you use that word.” Her sarcastic comment would be welcome on any other day; just not this day.
“It’s hard supporting someone when he doesn’t even talk to you,” I countered, intensifying my stare.
“You don’t have to talk to him,” Ava voiced her opinion, turning to me. “Just be there for him. Make sure he knows he can rely on you.”
I sighed, shifting my attention to the goods in the bags. “I’m trying. Holy cow!” I exclaimed. “How did you carry that turkey over here? It’s got to be more than twenty pounds. Who’s going to eat that?”
“Not me,” Jake interjected, walking back into the kitchen. “Excuse me, ladies. I need to go get some air.”
“What?!” I squeaked, whirling my head in his direction. “Where are you going?! I thought we’d spend Thanksgiving together.”
“I’ll be back later,” he declared, his tone calm. “Don’t wait for me. You guys go ahead and eat dinner.”
“Oh, no, no, no!” I shouted, striding off towards him. “Damn it, Jake! This is your apartment! And it’s Thanksgiving, for crying out loud!”
“To you,” he pointed out, maintaining his composure. “To me, this is the first day of professional uncertainty.”
“What are you afraid of, Jake?” I went on, unable to keep my voice down. “You did everything right on that flight. You’re a star at what you do. People call you a ‘hero.’ So do I for that matter.”
“Let me explain to you what I’m dealing with here,” he suggested, anger adding volume to his voice. “Major airlines like United don’t give a rat’s ass about passengers. If a plane goes down, they just shrug it off, and say ‘this is the cost of doing business.’ They don’t care that I saved those people. Their whole fleet is insured; they wouldn’t lose a dime. For them, me landing on that levee meant that they had to find those passengers a place to spend the night. Also, they had to arrange for transport to their desired destinations, transport that United would have to pay. Both of those things cost money. You asked what I’m afraid of. Well, here it is.” He paused and bent closer. “The email they sent me last night is bullshit. Suspending me is just a clever way for them to put me on sabbatical. They won’t have to pay my salary. They’ll stall that investigation as much as they can, until I’m fed up with them and quit. That way, they won’t have to compensate me, either.”
“Can’t you get a job at another airline?” I posed a question, my tone wobbly.
“Not until the investigation is over,” he answered, glaring down at me. “And trust me, they’ll pull every string they have with the NTSB to make sure it takes them months or even years. I can’t wait that long, Penny.”
“You can find another job!” I suggested, tears blurring my vision.
“No, I can’t!” He yelled, his eyes blazing with anger. “I wasn’t going to mention this in front of your friend here, but…” he paused and swallowed hard. “I’ve got big plans for you and me, Penny. I can’t realize them working at Walmart.”
“B-big plans?” I stuttered, a tear toppling over the edge of my eye.
“Yeah.” He nodded for emphasis. He cast a glance at me first and then at Ava, before shuffling off to his front door. And just like that, he walked out, while I struggled to wrap my head around what had transpired.
“How long’s Jake been a pilot?” Ava’s question interrupted my thought process.
“A little over eleven years.” I responded, rubbing my forehead. “Why?”
“So, you just told a guy who’s been a pilot all his adult life to humiliate himself by working for minimum wage,” she remarked, moving around me. “And this guy happens to want to actually marry you someday. Oh, my God, Penny. What is wrong with you?”
“Friends are supposed to support each other too, you know,” I groaned, tossing a nasty glare at her.
“Friends must point out each other’s mistakes,” Ava responded in a stiffer tone. “Especially if they think that their friend is talking out of her ass like you just did. Girl…” She paused. “I know you’re going to hate me, but I’m with him on this one. His career is falling apart, he’s a nervous wreck, and you want him to stay in because it’s Thanksgiving? And you tell him to get another job as if it’s no big deal? Penny, he’s a pilot. That’s all he knows. Put yourself in his shoes. What would you do if someday, you couldn’t work as a reporter anymore?”
“I’d hate it.” I heaved a deep sigh, dragging my gaze away from her.
“Right.” She nodded, her voice coming out softer. “This is what I meant by ‘support.’ Your man is devastated. He’s bound to do something he wouldn’t do under normal circumstances. Do you like it? No. Do you allow it? Yes. You stand by his side, because you two have a connection. You might not have realized it, but you’ve been screaming ‘I’m happy’ ever since you guys got together. You stopped roaring at work. You’re a lot mellower, and you won’t shut up about what an amazing guy he is. Should I keep going?”
I let out a huff of exasperation. �
��That won’t be necessary. I’m scared, Ava. I think I might lose him.”
“I hate to break it to you, but if you keep acting like this, you will,” she warned. “Give him some space. He’s a sensible man. I’m sure he’ll appreciate that.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, exchanging a quick hug with her. “You’ve been a lot of help.”
“No worries.” Ava smiled at me. “Now let’s carve up that turkey.”
I took the knives out of the top drawer and joined her, my mind travelling back to the moment Jake revealed his intentions:
“I’ve got big plans for you and me.”
Maybe this delightful thought was my defense against the guilt that had swept through me. Despite my assurances to Ava, I had made too many mistakes that day. I hadn’t tried hard enough to respect Jake’s predicament. It was sad to think that I had made this laid back man yell at me, but it was true. And if there was any hope of keeping him in my life, I had to tread lightly from now on.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jake
As it turned out, I wasn’t the only who considered that Thursday to be an ordinary day.
The view of Thanksgiving traffic was depressing. There was an absolute gridlock on Fifth Avenue, stretching for twelve blocks. Was that different from any other day? No. The usual foul smells and voices were in the air. Exhaust fumes from cars, trucks, and buses, people screaming at each other for this or that… I would be crazy to join in on this insanity. If anything, getting stuck in traffic would make my bad mood even worse.
Walking down the sidewalk, I recalled my argument with Penny. The fact that she wanted me to stay put was understandable. I didn’t want to leave, either. Strolling around in the cold was not one of my favorite pastimes, with or without company. Still, I felt like the air in my apartment had somehow become too thick to breathe. I needed to get away, even if that meant walking parallel to rows of stationary cars and their rude drivers.