Air travel nowadays is a crapshoot. The worst aggravation can happen when you least expect it. That day when I flew back to the Dallas/Fort Worth airport after a short business trip, planning to catch a connection back to my home in Austin, I had no idea how screwed up things were going to get.
It was the end of May. We had taken off from St. Louis late on a beautiful sunny afternoon with no problems. The pilot had even come on the P.A. during the flight and given us good news. Things were going so well, he said, that we were going to arrive at DFW ahead of schedule.
When he came on the loudspeaker again shortly after we touched down and were taxiing toward the terminal, I could tell as soon as he started to speak that something had gone wrong. I didn't understand what it could be. I mean, here we were. All we had to do was get to a gate and get off the plane, right?
Well, that was the problem. There had been a bad thunderstorm earlier that afternoon in the Metro area. Planes that should have left hours ago were still here, and there was no gate for us. Nor would there be for at least another hour and forty minutes.
A collective loud groan went up from the passengers at the news. There's nothing as depressing as looking forward to getting off a crowded plane, stretching your legs, getting your blood circulating and a breath of fresh air, only to be told that you're going to be crammed together like sardines for God knows how long.
Trying to make the best of a bad situation, the flight attendant came on the speaker and suggested that we pull out our cell phones and tell whoever we needed to about the delay.
I was sitting on an aisle seat on the left side. The guy next to me in the window seat shifted and sighed. He hadn't said much during the two-hour flight. I'm not usually the type to chit-chat with strangers on a plane, but I'd have liked to have gotten to know this one a little bit. Part of it was that I was at loose ends these days with the recent breakup of a long-term relationship. Part of it was that he was just my age and type.
He was still this side of forty, tall and trim, legs long enough that he looked a bit uncomfortable in the cramped airplane seat. He was dressed in an oxford shirt, which I could tell was made out of good material, necktie, and grey wool dress slacks. Probably he was returning from a business trip, just like me.
He had red hair clipped very short, almost buzzed. I've always been a sucker for red hair and the fair skin that usually goes with it. He had good features too, straight nose, square jaw and full, slightly pouty lips, framed by a neat goatee. I'd wanted all during the flight to look straight into his eyes and find out their exact color. He also had nice hands, and, the only feature that had disappointed me, a wedding ring on the left one.
At the moment my hot married seat companion was bending down, rummaging in his briefcase stowed underneath the seat in front of him. He pulled out a cell phone. I had one too, but hadn't bothered to get it out. I was planning to take the airport shuttle home to an empty apartment--no one was meeting me.
The man next to me frowned, held the phone to his ear, pushed some buttons, held it to his ear again, then dropped his hand in a gesture of disgust.
"Not working?" I said.
He looked at me as if seeing me for the very first time. His eyes were green. He clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"Battery's just about dead. Forgot to charge it last night."
I bent down, fished mine out and offered it to him. "Here. Use mine."
"You sure?" Married men were always so cautious. Maybe with guys like me around they needed to be.
I gave him my most guileless smile. "Absolutely."
He sized me up a moment longer, then took it, glanced at the keypad, and punched in a number. I looked away, giving him some personal space to talk to his wife, tell her he was delayed and didn't know how long it was going to be, et cetera, et cetera.
He stopped talking. The next moment I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned, a jolt going through me at his touch, as fleeting and impersonal as it was.
My companion was holding my cell phone out toward me. He still wasn't smiling, but seemed a hair more relaxed. "Thanks."
I took it and nodded. "No problem. Let me know if you need it again." I folded it and put it in my shirt pocket.
"You're not going to use it?"
I shrugged. "I got no one I'm going home to."
He didn't have anything to say to that, but after a few moments, he said, "This sure is a bitch, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Unbelievable, landing early and then sitting here like this."
"I still have to get on a plane to San Antonio tonight. What if I miss it?"
"I hear you. I'm supposed to leave for Austin at nine. You can bet that plane's the last one out tonight." I held out my hand. "By the way, I'm Stan."
He shook it. "Burt."
We talked about the gloomy prospect of getting stranded here, which was looking more and more likely. Occasionally the plane taxied forward for a bit before stopping again, but looking out the window we could see the long line of planes in front of us. We were still far from the terminal.
Burt turned away from the depressing sight. "The least they could do is serve us free drinks."
An idea flashed into my evil mind. I'd gotten him talking. Maybe I could loosen him up a bit more.
I reached back down into a pocket of my carry-on and pulled out a small bottle of red wine. I'd brought it from the mini-bar in my hotel room as a souvenir. I held it up and wiggled my brow playfully at him. "No sooner said than done. Here you go."
He protested. "I can't take that. Besides, we're not supposed to drink our own stuff."
"Who's looking? There isn't a flight attendant for miles." They had disappeared, probably to escape our wrath. I unscrewed the cap and held the bottle up again. "C'mon. Live dangerously."
Burt hesitated a bit longer, then smiled, making his already handsome face irresistible. "Okay, you talked me into it." He took the bottle from me and raised it to his lips, taking a cautious swig, then quickly lowered it to his lap.
"Take some more," I urged.
He shook his head. "Don't you want any?"
I twinkled at him. "Well, leave me one swallow."
This time he took a longer hit, then leaned back, closed his eyes and sighed. "Thanks. Good stuff." He handed me back the bottle. I raised it toward my mouth.