I look past Nathan to find a tall Black man in a crisp white shirt, black tie, and black jacket bearing gold bars on the shoulders. His traditional pilot’s hat is emblazoned with gold wings.
“Morning, Cap.” Nathan scoots into a row and kneels on a seat so he’s still facing us while making room for the pilot-in-command.
As our PIC moves closer, I notice the man’s eyebrows are lightened by strands of gray. From a distance I wouldn’t have taken him to be old enough for gray hair. Maybe I judged wrong, or maybe he’s prematurely graying from the stress of the job. He’s also bald, but he must have shaved his head. He approaches, and I confirm his lack of wrinkles. Yes, he’s definitely notthatold.
The other flight attendant waves him into our little huddle. “You’re the only one who hasn’t met Claire yet, baby. Though Nathan met her yesterday.”
Does she call everyonebaby, or are they a couple?
Nathan looks at me and tips his head toward the captain. “Vincent and Desiree have three kids, and when the youngest took off for college last year, she became a flight attendant to travel with him.”
That is the best answer I could have gotten to my unasked question. Being away from Wyatt is definitely the hardest part of this job. I smile from wife to husband. “How sweet.”
Vincent extends his hand to shake mine while arching an eyebrow at Nathan. “You didn’t tell me you knew Claire.”
I slide my fingers around Vincent’s beefy palm, both appreciative that he doesn’t know the details of how I met his first officer and hoping to distract him from questioning us further. “Nice to meet you, Vincent. I hear I’m really lucky to be on such a great trip my first flight out.”
“Yeah. I flew for two years before getting San Luis Obispo.” The man pumps my arm and gives a hearty chuckle. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s going to ruin you for all other trips.”
Nathan shrugs a shoulder. “Actually, working with these two is going to ruin you for all other trips. I try to work with them as often as I can because they’re the best.”
Vincent releases my hand to cross his arms and challenges his friend with a smirk. “Sothat’swhy you picked up this trip?”
Nathan sips from the straw. “That, and I didn’t want you to have to work with another first officer. SinceI’veruinedyoufor all other trips.”
The man’s laughter grows even heartier.
“Are you ready to board passengers?” A voice comes from up front, where a scrawny Asian man wearing a navy vest sticks his head inside the main cabin door.
My heartbeat jumps. I haven’t even started my preflight inspection.
“Give us five minutes, baby.” Evidently Desiree does call everyonebaby.
The man disappears.
“Gate agents.” Desiree grunts. “You could be just arriving at the plane and they’ll ask if you’re ready to board.”
“She used to be a gate agent,” Nathan stage-whispers.
Desiree swats his arm. “And that’s how I know when to stand up to them.”
“Well, I’d better get ready then.” I jolt into action, checking to make sure the back of each seat holds a passenger safety card on my way up to the front galley.
Vincent follows and picks up the PA. The rest of his brief echoes through the speakers overhead. “An hour-and-forty-minute flight to Los Angeles. Thirty-two thousand feet. Only call us in Emergency Mode if there’s an actual emergency, like smoke in the cabin. If someone gets upto use the john while we’re taxiing, just call us in regular mode so we don’t freak out.”
I chuckle at that last word of advice, trying to retain the rest of the info as I check to make sure the fire extinguishers are operational and the oxygen tank full. What else?
Vincent heads into the cockpit, but Nathan picks up the PA. His voice isn’t as deep as the captain’s, but it’s just as loud over the speakers. “And have those sodas in socks ready to defend us from terrorists.”
I pause in loading a filter packet of coffee grounds into the coffee maker to scrunch my nose at him. I suspect he’s teasing.
“Say what?” Desiree’s voice echoes over the loudspeaker this time, as she’s picked up the PA in the back of the plane. Didn’t she learn the soda-in-sock trick at training too?
Before I can answer or ask my own questions, the first passenger shows up in a wheelchair. Nathan moves out of the way so I can retrieve the woman’s luggage.
We’re a regional airline and don’t fly any farther than Hawaii, so our planes are smaller than a lot of the bigger aircraft, but the woman still moves slowly enough that by the time we reach seat 7A, other passengers have boarded. I have to fight the current to get back up front, and this is how the rest of boarding goes.
Finally, seat belts are buckled, doors are closed, and I’m in my jump seat, trying not to make awkward eye contact with the passenger directly in front of me. I especially don’t want him to be weirded out by this proud smile taking over my face. This is how I felt when dancing onto the stage for the first time as a ballerina.
