The flight attendant's chirpy voice bellowed out of the PA system. "As you make your way onto the plane, please take any open seat that you see. Today's flight is completely full!"
I groaned inwardly. This simply added injury to insult. The flight was already two hours delayed, and I was desperately hoping that the middle seat would be unoccupied for the four hour journey home. I had purchased the early bird seating and was therefore nicely settled in my preferred aisle seat with a roller bag tucked away in the overhead bin and a smaller duffle bag beneath the seat in front of me. I glanced over at the portly older woman sitting in the window seat and sighed.
I would not be getting into the Midwest city that I called home until around 8 pm, and as a very busy cardiologist, I silently fretted about the packed schedule that awaited me the following day. I had been at a four day medical conference, and it had been a complete fiasco. For the last four years, I had looked forward to the conference and always had a great time -- largely because I had met a beautiful rep for a company that made medical devices for my practice, and we had struck up a sexual relationship. She was married, as was I at the time we first started our "conference romps" (as we dubbed them). But now 43 years old, I was freshly divorced and was completely free. This conference was to be our mutual celebration of that.
But just four days prior to me leaving, Jessica had texted me that she was having trouble with her daughter and would be unable to make it. It was too late at that point to cancel the trip, and so I had gone to San Diego with a sour taste in my mouth which a boring four day conference on congestive heart failure could not wash out.
I was broken out of my reverie by the sound of a woman's voice. "Sir, is this seat taken?" I glanced up to see a beautiful young woman standing above me. She had shoulder length blonde hair, bright green eyes, a charming smile -- a natural beauty which needed only a few touches of makeup to bring out her stunning features.
"No, of course not," I managed to stutter as I stood up to allow her to pass. She was wearing a thin, plain cotton dress which ended about at her knees. As she stowed her backpack under the seat in front, I was able to appraise her figure -- tall, about 5'8" I guessed, fit and trim, ample breasts (C-cup, I wondered, not being very good at breast size estimate) and well-rounded ass. She settled into her seat, clicking her seat belt together, and I did the same. She smiled at me, and I smiled back.
"Thank you so much," she said as she glanced at the lady next to her. This lady was fairly large and was encroaching on the middle seat. I could tell that my new neighbor was uncomfortable, and she shifted herself slightly so that she was closer to me and able to avoid contact with the other woman.
"Of course," I replied. And that was that, at least for the moment. The plane took off without incident, and after a few minutes I reached down to my duffle bag to grab a book. As I did so, my lanyard from the conference spilled out of the bag.
My seatmate picked it up off the floor, and read out loud, "Dev Shastri, M.D. Oh you're a doctor! What kind?" she added brightly.
"I'm a cardiologist," I answered while taking the badge back from her and replacing in my bag. The book lay forgotten on my lap, as I was eager to engage this young woman in conversation.
"I'm in nursing school!" she exclaimed. Better and better, I thought to myself. Perhaps this flight would not be without compensation.
