Hi everyone,
Here's a flash story. It's told in two overlapping parts from two points of view. I've included a title at the beginning of each one to make it easier to understand.
I did it in conjunction with Britni4u. It's a bit of fun just like her.
Cheers darling
You are one in a trillion.
CharlieB4
*
Charlie:
The plane's intercom crackled to life as the pilot pointed out we were about to start our descent into LAX. The seat belt light was flashing so people began stowing their trays and straightening their seat backs. My pulse rate jumped as I realized the moment of truth was fast approaching. Pulling the mobile out of my suit pocket I opened up the mail app and looked again at the photo that appeared, Brit.
She was pretty, really pretty and young, oh so young. A wide bright smile lit up her face and her eyes glinted mischievously. The tight black top highlighted a slim build and a short short gold skirt displayed an impressive set of legs. The cabin attendant touched my shoulder causing me to jump in my seat.
"No mobiles till we land sir," she said sternly.
"Sure, no worries," I spluttered. My face turning red as I tried to shut it down and put it in my pocket.
Her face softened, "are you an Aussie?" She asked as a little smile played across her lips.
"Uhh, yeah. Is it that obvious?" I said sheepishly.
"My sister is married to one so I recognised the accent. Hope you have a nice stay." She added brightly before continuing towards the front of the plane.
The plane banked sharply and I could see the water of the Pacific Ocean out my window. After leveling out again the whine of the hydraulic system lowering the landing gear filled my ears until it stopped abruptly when they clunked into place. It would soon be game time.
We kissed the tarmac gently and began to taxi towards the terminal. Many impatient travelers glanced at the overhead lockers wanting to get their bags. Others scanned surrounding passengers wondering who was going to get to the door first. I stayed were I was, the butterflies in my stomach that were nervous on the descent were now jumping like they were on speed.
I thought back to home, Brisbane, Australia. Twelve months ago I'd been a humble engineer in an agricultural machinery company. We made precision planters and air seeders. I'd been tinkering at home for a few years with a modified hydraulic drive for the air seeders we made. One day out of the blue, our boss and company owner strolled into the office I shared with two other engineers and informed us he'd just sold the company.
We were apprehensive about our jobs and our fears proved to be real. An overseas competitor was the new owner and they didn't want an Australian design section so we were made redundant. At first I was confident of getting another job easily. I had eight years experience out of university but when I went for jobs they always seemed to go to the new graduates. With my extra time at home I continued tinkering with my own designs.
There was a big farm field day a couple hours west of Brisbane at Toowoomba. Farmfest had a major prize on offer for the farm innovation of the year. I had nothing better to do so I entered my modified hydraulic drive. It seemed my bad luck was at an end as my design was placed second and fortuitously the head of John Deere was at the Field Day and presented the prizes. He spoke to me for about half an hour and organized for me to meet up with him in Brisbane two days later before he flew home.
At the meeting at his hotel he offered me a job. On the proviso that John Deere got first offer to manufacture my new design. They would fly me to the U.S. and I would join their design team in Moline, Illinois. It all sounded to good to be true but the next week I was hugging my parents good bye at the airport.
An added bonus was I had a stopover in LA for a day which gave me an opportunity to meet Britt, a girl I'd chatted to on the net. I had always been a bit of a book nerd so I did a lot of reading and got involved in an online book club. That's were I'd "met" Britt. We were both involved in a discussion of a new novel and there was something about her posts. It was like you could tell she was smiling when she wrote them.
We started conversing casually and became online friends. It's funny how much the anonymity of the web lets you open up. We "talked" about things I'd never discussed with anyone else. Eventually the talk led to some sort of flirting. We were discussing fantasies and I suppose it got a bit raunchy. Not cybersex but just going into very minute detail about some of the dark places we sometimes think about going too.
She sent me a picture and I couldn't believe how beautiful she was. I was reluctant to participate in the visual side, she was so young, only twenty, and pretty. I felt like a sloth in comparison. A voice jolted me out of my daydream.
"You best get moving Crocodile Dundee or the cleaners will have to sweep you out."