Friday Fiction: The Flight with the Baby

Here’s a new piece of flash fiction for Friday Fiction, an idea that came to me earlier in the week. I have fun writing from a man’s perspective, and several of my books are written in alternating perspectives.

The Flight with the Baby

Jessica texted him before he got on the plane. Have a safe flight, it read.

He didn’t text back.

They’d had their third massive fight. The same one they’d had the past two times. She was ready to have a baby, and he wasn’t sure about it. Not with his upbringing. Not the way his brother turned out. It made him wonder why he wasn’t honest about his concerns during their pre-marriage counseling sessions at church. She knew about his dysfunctional family, and yet she persisted in asking him when he thinks he will be ready to have children.

Jason makes his way to his seat and cringes when he sees that he’ll be seated next to a woman holding a baby and with a small child in the seat next to hers. When will the airlines be able to assist you with seats properly—that if you don’t want to sit next to children, please pick seats X, Y, and Z? She smiles at him, and it takes everything in his power to force a smile back. Four hours sitting here with these three, he thinks. This isn’t going to bode well.

Moving to his assigned window seat, he buckles in for the flight. He hopes the baby doesn’t cry the whole way; he has work to get done before his big meeting tomorrow. He’s making a pitch to a prospective client, and he wants to secure the deal. He’s feeling positive about it, and thinks it will go well.

As the plane makes its way down the runway and into the air, the baby begins to cry. So does the three-year-old. “I’m so sorry,” the woman leans over to say to him, “they’ve never flown before.” Jason nods. He has visions of this flight becoming a complete disaster for him.

“My ears hurt,” the three-year-old says to his mother.

“It will pass,” she says, trying to comfort the child. Jason watches her trying to manage the two crying children. The flight attendant comes over and asks the woman if she needs anything. She reaches for the bag under the seat and pulls out a child’s cup. “I know you haven’t started serving drinks yet, but may I get apple juice? It might help the situation.”

Jason hopes the idea of the apple juice will solve one problem. But what about the baby? She’s screaming her lungs out now.

Within minutes, the flight attendant returns with the apple juice, hands it to the mother, and swiftly walks away. With the baby crying, the three-year-old still in tears, the woman appeals to Jason. “Is there any way you could pour this juice into the cup for me? I’m so sorry to ask, but you’d be a life saver.”

Reluctantly, Jason takes both the cup and the apple juice, and does what the mother asks. He’s not fond of touching someone else’s cup filled with germs, but he manages to get the juice in the cup. She hands it to the child. “Thank you,” she says to Jason.

“Pee-pee,” the child says.

“Now?” the mother asks.

The child shakes his head “yes.”

When they reach cruising altitude, the seat belt lights are turned off.

The mother turns to Jason again. “I hate to ask you this—I hate asking anyone for favors, in fact—but is there any way you could hold the baby while I take my son to the bathroom? The three of us won’t fit.”

Jason feels the woman is trespassing on his personal space and the privacy he needs to get his work done, but there’s something in her face that makes him unable to say no to her. Also, his conscience is telling him to be helpful. The son is squirming, and Jason worries he may wet himself on the plane if he doesn’t get to a restroom quick. He remembers being young himself and having to get to a bathroom, so he tells the woman he will hold the baby. The woman unbuckles the child and herself, and then hands the baby to Jason.

“Be right back,” she says. “And thank you.”

The baby is still crying. Jason can’t remember the last time he held a baby this small. It’s been years—since his niece and nephew were small. He begins to hold the baby and talks softly to the baby. He can sense people around him looking at them, but he pays them no mind. “There, there,” he says to the baby. “Everything will be alright.”

He begins to hum and to gently rock the baby the best that he can while being confined to a seat on an airplane. “You’re going to be alright, little one.”

In minutes, the baby stops crying. Jason’s ears are relieved. The baby has calmed down, and Jason has done it. He looks at her little fingers, her little nose. She smells like a baby freshly bathed, a combination of natural baby scent and talcum powder. She looks at him with her little eyes. He wonders of she knows he’s been a jerk to his own wife. Someone who longs to hold one of these in her arms.

When the mother returns with the child, she marvels at Jason’s skills. “Seems you are the magic touch we needed.” She buckles her son back into his seat, and then sits in her own. She turns to Jason. “I’m almost afraid to take her back. She’s so content. But I do have one bottle in case of emergency.”

Jason smiles at her. “I give you credit, traveling with two little ones.”

“I have no choice. My mother’s ill, and I’m going to help her.”

Immediately, Jason is filled with empathy for her. The old adage never judge someone else, you don’t know what they’re going through, comes to his mind. He feels bad for judging her and acting selfish when he got on the plane. He feels bad for how he spoke to Jessica, for keeping his fears about being a dad to himself, when all she wants is a baby to call their own. When he gets home, he’ll apologize.

“I’m sorry. I hope she gets well soon,” Jason says.

“Thank you, but she won’t. Hospice,” the woman says, tears filling her eyes.

He looks back down at the now sleeping baby in his arms. She’s adorable. He hopes the grandmother will be well enough to hold her.

“Clearly, you have children of your own,” the woman says to him.

“I don’t. Not yet, but hopefully soon,” he says.

*

About the author:

STEPHANIE VERNI is the author of THE LETTERS IN THE BOOKS; FROM HUMBUG TO HUMBLE: THE TRANSFORMATION OF EBENEZER SCROOGE; BENEATH THE MIMOSA TREE; INN SIGNIFICANT; LITTLE MILESTONES; THE POSTCARD; and ANNA IN TUSCANY. She is also a co-author of the textbook, EVENT PLANNING: COMMUNICATING THEORY & PRACTICE. Currently an adjunct professor at Stevenson University Online, she instructs communication courses for undergraduate and graduate students. She and her husband reside in Severna Park, Maryland, and have two children. On the side, she enjoys writing travel articles for marylandroadtrips.com.

Connect with Stephanie on Instagram at stephanieverniwrites.