by Susan Harper
Trouble in Texas
A Flight Risk Cozy Mystery
Susan Harper
Fairfield Publishing
Copyright © 2018 Fairfield Publishing
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Except for review quotes, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the author.
This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is purely coincidental.
Contents
Message to Readers
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Thank You!
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1
“Good-bye, Hawaii,” Kendell groaned slightly as the flight took off toward the continental US. “What a shame to be leaving.”
It had been quite an adventure, and Kendell was sad to see it end, but her favorite traveling companion had another adventure planned just around the corner. Pauline, an elderly woman Kendell had met during a flight from New York to London, had invited Kendell along for the journey of a lifetime. Pauline was seeing the world, and she had needed a companion. Mostly someone to carry her heavy bags and to help her out if her arthritis got the better of her, and Pauline’s grandchildren had been less than receptive about the woman spending all of their inheritance on a trip.
Thus far, Kendell had been placing stickers on her new carry-on bag from each of the locations they had visited together. There were stickers from London, Nairobi, and now Honolulu. She was looking forward adding Peru to her list. They had bumped into Jesse, one of Kendell’s friends and fellow flight attendant, on the plane. Jesse had been working, although now the woman was seriously slacking as she had found herself a seat by Pauline upon being invited to join them.
“I simply cannot believe you are inviting me to come along!” Jesse squealed as she flipped through the booklet Pauline had been carrying in her purse. It was all about Peru, and Pauline was pointing out everything she had on the itinerary. The most impressive of which would be walking the Incan trails. “It looks so beautiful!”
“Oh, I’ve heard it is simply marvelous,” Pauline said, and her little purse dog yelped. “Hush, Dot,” she whispered. She wasn’t supposed to have the little dog on the plane, but somehow the woman kept managing to sneak Dot past airport security.
Unfortunately, there was no direct flight path to Peru from Hawaii. They would first be traveling to Dallas, Texas, with only have a brief period to stretch or eat before their flight to Peru. Kendell was not looking forward to spending almost two full days just flying—normally, spending that much time on a plane meant she would be receiving a paycheck.
“I hate that we weren’t able to get a direct flight,” Pauline sighed. “I personally have never been to Texas, though. I’ve been told there might be some delayed flights out that way. Maybe we’ll get stuck for a few hours so that we can go see some sort of local Dallas attraction?”
“Eww,” Jesse said. “I don’t know about getting stuck in the South.”
“Excuse me, young lady, but you are sitting next to a Georgia lady,” Pauline warned. “God bless the South.”
“Sorry,” Jesse said with a laugh. “I’m a New Yorker through and through. Right, Kendell?”
“You and me both,” Kendell said, smirking. “But, I have to say, it sure has been nice experiencing some other cultures with you, Pauline. A few hours stuck in Texas wouldn’t be so bad. I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the Lone Star State. I have heard they have an awesome botanical garden in Dallas.”
“They have a park called Pioneer Plaza that has giant bronze statues of cattle,” Pauline said.
“You mean, like, cows?” Jesse asked. “Why would someone make giant statues of cows?”
“It’s because of the state’s cowboy heritage,” Pauline said. “The statues are lined up like they’re in a cattle drive.”
“Don’t they have an endangered species center or something like that in Dallas too?” Kendell asked.
“Highly likely,” Pauline said. “They have a lot of museums, so I’m told. I’ve heard the Old Red Museum is gorgeous.”
“Old Red?” Jesse questioned.
“The museum was built of red brick. Lovely architecture. I’ve seen pictures online,” Pauline said.
“I suppose going to a museum wouldn’t be a terrible way to kill some time if we wind up stuck in the city for half a day,” Jesse said. “I love going to see museums in New York.”
“New York does have some pretty wonderful museums,” Pauline said. “I got to experience some of them before mine and Kendell’s trip to London.”
As they were talking, one of the flight attendants paused by them and smiled. “If you like museums, Dallas has an amazing flight museum. It’s full of a bunch of old aircrafts.”
“That actually does sound interesting,” Jesse said.
“You’re only saying that because your ex-boyfriend is Air Force and you would like to take a picture of yourself standing next to an old aircraft and post it online to make him think you found yourself another Air Force boo,” Kendell teased.
“That is only partially true,” Jesse laughed. “Cut me some slack. He was kind of a jerk.”
“No doubt you would have me take the picture while you posed like your new boyfriend had surprised you with the camera,” Kendell scolded.
“How devious!” Pauline exclaimed as the flight attendant walked to the back of the plane, laughing the whole time.
“I think the Wi-Fi is up now,” Kendell said. “Hold on, let me see what else… I like how we’re planning to do a bunch of stuff on the off-chance a flight is delayed.”
“I told you there is a pretty good chance,” Pauline said. “I turned on the television before we left for the airport, and they were saying there was going to be some serious storms.”
“Yikes,” Kendell said under her breath. “Okay, I hate flying in bad weather.”
“Same,” Jesse said. “Ugh, especially in those new outfits the airlines got us.”
“I broke a heel,” Kendell said.
“Ha! Me too!” Jesse exclaimed. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I totally loved the new outfits, but those high heels were so cheaply made.”
“You would like those outfits,” Kendell said, shaking her head. The airline they worked for had issued new uniforms right before Kendell began her journey with Pauline. They were tight, 1950s-style stewardess looks that made all the perverts on the flights drool. The airline was launching some new slogan about bringing class back to the airways, so all of their new décor was very airline nostalgic. Something the female flight attendants did not appreciate. Even her friend Brandon, a male flight attendant, had looked like straight-up eye candy in his new attire. Jesse was always a bit oblivious. She enjoyed the attention she got from the new uniforms.
“Well, excuse me for wanting to look cute,” she said, fluffing up her hair and crossing her legs, showing off the frightfully short skirt of the new uniform.
“There is nothing wrong with wanting
to look cute,” Pauline assured Jesse.
“Come on, Pauline,” Kendell argued. “Wanting to be gawked at by a bunch of creepy old men is kind of sad.”
Jesse crossed her arms, sinking in her seat a bit. “It wouldn’t hurt you to glam up every once in a while,” Jesse argued.
“Kendell! Honestly,” Pauline said. “You’re making your friend feel awful for what she likes.”
“Sorry,” Kendell said. “I just feel kind of patronized in the outfits.”
“And there is nothing invalid about feeling that way either,” Pauline said.
“Kendell thinks me being too girly is supporting the patriarchy,” Jesse teased. “She’s a diehard, bra-burning feminist.”
“Oh, I knew it,” Pauline said, laughing. “Honey, let me tell you something right now. Being a feminist doesn’t mean you reject all things feminine, got it?”
Kendell smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”
“It simply means equality,” Pauline stated proudly.
“You sound like you come from experience,” Jesse said.
“Oh, I marched back in the day,” she said with a wink.
“No way you marched,” Kendell argued. “You’re way too…what’s the word…conservative?”
“A conservative woman can’t demand equal pay?” Pauline asked.
“You really are always so full of surprises,” Kendell said.
“No, you just like to put people in little boxes, my dear,” Pauline said. “And that’s just not the way the world works. Human beings are quite complex.”
Kendell nodded. She supposed she did have quite a few strong opinions that made her quick to judge. She smiled at Jesse. “I think you look cute, and there’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose,” Kendell said. “Sorry.”
“Thank you,” Jesse said. “I totally get you not liking the outfits… They are pretty impractical. I think the airline is going to release some different shoe options, at least. Too many people have complained, and the airline keeps having to replaced everyone’s shoes because the heels keep snapping off.”
After the riveting conversation surrounding things to do in Dallas and the brief brush on feminism, Kendell decided it was time to attempt to sleep for the remainder of the long flight. Jesse went back to work, occasionally popping by to ask Pauline an excited question or two about their Peru trip. Kendell reached a deep sleep, and she slept for the majority of the flight--waking only when the plane began to shake.
She sat upright to the sound of shrieking children, thunderclaps, and the flight attendants shouting that the seatbelt light was on. Kendell, barely awake, struggled to get her belt on. She looked up, seeing that even the flight attendants were darting toward their emergency seating to get buckled in. “What’s going on?”
“Our pilot just flew us straight into a hurricane!” Pauline squealed, gripping her purse while Dot yapped in a panic.
Kendell’s eyes widened. “Please tell me you’re joking!”
“Nope! The hurricane changed paths at the last second after it hit land,” Pauline said.
Kendell’s heart raced as the plane jerked back and forth. She heard crashes behind the curtain where the plane’s cabinets were probably flying open. Looking toward the front of the plane, Kendell could see Jesse locked into one of the flight attendant’s seats beyond the curtain.
“Attention passengers. This is your pilot speaking. Please remain seated at all times. We are about to attempt an emergency landing. Note that we are no longer within the path of the hurricane, but this is still going to be a very bumpy ride. Hang tight,” a voice called over the intercom.
The oxygen masks fell in front of everyone’s faces. “You have got to be kidding me,” Kendell groaned, strapping a mask to her face. She had never had to deal with an emergency landing before, and she had been a flight attendant for five years. She looked over at Pauline; the old woman looked just as terrified as she was.
Kendell gripped her seatbelt, hoping it would give her some stability and keep her from jerking her head around too much. The plane continued to bounce around, and when they finally landed, it was far from gentle, but they had made it.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have landed. Please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened… We’re not out of the woods just yet,” the pilots voice called over the intercom. As if on cue, the plane began to shake again. They were moving.
“Where did we land?” Kendell asked, removing her oxygen mask.
Pauline looked out the window. “We’re in a lake!” she yelped. “But…the storm seems to be dying down out there. That or it has moved on.”
“This is crazy,” Kendell said. “We’re on a freaking lake!” She could see out the window that several ambulances were pulling up at the water’s edge. “Thank goodness,” she said under her breath, hoping that they would be getting out of there sooner rather than later.
The flight attendants were gathered at the front of the plane, making sure they all knew their assigned duties in the midst of this emergency, and soon each of them was walking up and down the aisle passing out life jackets. Not exactly how Kendell expected to start her day.
2
By the time they reached the airport after having been retrieved from the lake, Kendell and her traveling companions were drenched. They had been able to retrieve their carry-ons, thankfully, but that hardly made up for the miserable state they currently found themselves in. The three of them, plus Dot, were huddled together on the floor in the overly crowded airport. Pauline was currently using Jesse’s laptop, which kept cutting in and out thanks to a bit of water damage, to cancel all of her plans and reservations in Peru.
“This is such a bummer,” Jesse said, sighing heavily. “I have the worst luck. The moment you invited me along, you probably doomed your vacation.”
“Don’t start a little pity-party now, dear,” Pauline said, smirking. “We are still in Texas. We had a bunch of plans of what all we could do while here. I say we have ourselves a little impromptu vacation here.”
“That does sound nice,” Kendell said with a smile.
“It’s not like I’m going to be able to get home to New York,” Jesse said. “They’ve canceled all incoming and outgoing flights. Are they expecting more storms?”
“There is some huge hurricane that traveled up the west coast of Florida, and Texas is receiving a lot of its rain,” Pauline said, pulling up a video online of some of the flooding already taking place all over Texas. “Looks pretty bad out there.”
“I don’t know how we’re supposed to enjoy a vacation in a place that looks like it’s in the middle of monsoon season,” Kendell admitted. “At the very least, maybe we can find ourselves a nice hotel to stay in.”
“Agreed,” Pauline said. “Ladies, if we’re going to do that, we’re going to all need to take to the computers. With this many flights delayed, I’m sure there are a lot of out-of-towners making last-minute bookings.”
“Excellent point,” Jesses said, standing up, her knees clacking together as she shivered from the cold. “I don’t have a change of clothes.”
“I’d offer you some of my clothes, but my bag fell over the raft on the way out of the lake,” Kendell said, holding up her little carry-on. “All of my clothes are soaked.”
“Well, ladies,” Pauline said, holding up her large bag. “I don’t know how you feel about dressing like an old woman, but I do have some dry clothes.”
“Hey, I’ll wear anything to get out of this,” Jesse said, waving her hand up and down. Her uniform had started sticking to her skin, and Kendell imagined with how tight and form-fitting it was, it was probably chafing in a number of places you didn’t want chafed.
They first headed to the bathroom where they all changed into some of Pauline’s clothes. Kendell laughed at herself because she was now wearing a Hawaiian shirt that Pauline had gotten in Honolulu. It was so large on her, it kept falling off her shoulders and revealing her soaking wet bra strap. The pants she had selected were also far too larg
e—a pair of black slacks that she had to use her own belt to keep from falling off her waist.
Jesse looked a bit silly as well, electing to wear one of Pauline’s floral dresses with the slight shoulder pads. Kendell watched as Jesse stared at herself in the mirror, dissatisfied. “I can make this work,” she said, digging through her wet clothes sitting on the sink. From the jacket pocket, she pulled out a pink ribbon that she used to tie a bit of the dress to her side, working part of the dress up her right leg a bit to reveal her calf. She tugged the fabric around her waist, bundling a good bit to her right hip and then tied it off with the lovely ribbon she had probably intended for her hair. When it was done, it actually looked like something a woman her age would wear and not an old woman’s Sunday best.
“How in the world do you always manage to do that?” Kendell asked in awe.
“Do what?” Jesse asked, fixing her makeup in the mirror.
“Look like a freaking Barbie doll no matter what,” Kendell complained.
Jesse laughed and said she would take that as a compliment. Pauline exited the bathroom stall, dressed in some dry clothes herself. Dot was running around on the floor. “Okay, ladies, let’s get to those computers,” Pauline said.
They hurried out of the bathrooms and searched for the public computers, where a number of other people were already stationed. While Jesse used her laptop, Kendell and Pauline managed to gain access to a computer where they all sat for the next hour looking up local hotels and making phone calls only to discover that place after place was booked. After they were heading into the third hour of failed searches, the three women stepped back, realizing that they would be spending the night at the airport.