Destination D

by Lori Beard-Daily

  “I can’t stay…hello?” Click. “She hung up on me!” Amanda stared at the receiver. Her hands trembled as she attempted to place it back in its holder. She looked at the clock: 12:05 p.m. She closed her eyes and ran her fingertips gently up and down the back of her head in hopes that the pain and the thought of that woman would both go away.

  I’ve been planning this party for Tracey for months, and now the day has finally arrived, and it took her all of five minutes to ruin it. She clinched both fists, raised them above her head, and violently shook them as she screamed in silence.

  Pamela Madison was the firm’s only black female attorney. She’d graduated in the top ten percent of her law class at Columbia University and was known for her intimidating tactics in the law firm as well as in the courtroom.

  Pam’s reputation preceded her. Moving from a prestigious law firm in Chicago, she quickly learned many effective yet unscrupulous tactics, making her well sought after by several prominent law firms across the country. Sterling, Mathis, and Silverman nabbed her with a lucrative bonus and a six-figure salary that primed her to be the first black female partner in the firm.

  Although Pam could be ruthless, you had to admire the singular quality that put her a cut above the rest: Pam knew how to get what she wanted. The problem was that she didn’t care who she hurt in the process. She was the first attorney to arrive at the office each morning, and the last to leave every night.

  Always poised to strut her credentials confidently, Pam was notorious for un-leveling the playing field with the prosecuting attorney that was going up against her in the courtroom. And once she found the person’s weak spot, she was merciless. One case in particular was a widely publicized sexual assault.

  Pam had stood next to her client in the courtroom. A small smiled played across her lips. She leered at Allison Hughes, the opposing attorney who was decked out in her finest courtroom attire. Her exquisite tailor-made pantsuit gave the impression that she was at the pinnacle of her game, but Pam knew that Allison was no match for her. In an icy tone, Pam had whispered to Allison, “I hope you’re getting plenty of rest, because you’re going to be worn out after you lose this case.”

  Allison’s face turned colorless. “Excuse me?”

  Pam was silent. Her eyes spoke volumes and she knew Allison got the message. You heard me. I didn’t stutter.

  Allison bit her lip, put on her best poker face, and directed a pensive look toward the judge.

  “Judge Hampton, may I approach the bench?” Allison had asked in almost a whisper.

  “Yes, Miss Hughes. Is there a problem?”

  Pam couldn’t help but stifle a laugh as she watched Allison walk pointedly over to the judge. She could tell that Allison was getting more and more worked up by the second.

  Pam, on the other hand, had three parts to her courtroom strategy. Number one: Getting the prosecuting attorney rattled before the trial. Unbeknownst to Allison, she had just fallen victim.

  Allison shot Pam a deliberate cut of her eyes as she assertively turned to face the judge. “Well, Your Honor, Counselor Madison seems to think that making threatening remarks before my opening argument is going to shake me.” Allison waved her finger accusingly in the direction of Pam as she proceeded to tell the judge what Pam had said.

  “Is that true, Ms. Madison?”

  Pam approached the bench, unfazed by Allison’s allegations. A devilish grin spread across her face as she pretended to make peace with Allison.

  “On the contrary, Your Honor, I was simply expressing to Counselor Hughes that I hope she had plenty of rest for this case. It’s going to be a long one, and I know that she has had some personal difficulties and I was only implying that…”

  “Implying what? That I can’t try this case?” Allison had blurted out. The blood vessels in her forehead were making a well-defined V in the middle section of her eyebrows.

  “I didn’t say that,” Pam had calmly insisted, knowing that Allison Hughes was as high strung as they came. Recently, rumor had it that Allison’s newlywed husband was found in bed with another man. It was just a matter of time before the network got wind that her Fortune 500 executive husband was really a closet homosexual. Pam shuddered at the thought of the embarrassment it would cause Allison. And although Allison was doing everything she could to try and have some sense of normalcy, it was obvious that she was clinging to the edge of a dangerous cliff, and Pam was ready to push her right over it.

  “I know your tactics, Counselor, and I will not allow you to intimidate me,” Allison said, trying to contain the pent up frustration swelling inside of her. Pam knew at that very moment Allison was teetering on the brink. Any sudden collapse would push her right off this case.

  Judge Hampton intervened. “This is a courtroom, and you are both professionals. So let’s act like professionals.”

  Allison tried hard to keep her composure, but the perspiration from her underarms was already making a dark puddle on her light gray blazer. She resumed her position with her client and took a tissue from her briefcase to wipe the perspiration that was now falling profusely from her brow. She smoothed her thick honey-blonde hair back in place and began perusing over her notes, nodding as her client whispered in her ear.

  Pam was as smooth as she was alluring. She walked coolly back to her seat with a smirk on her face and gave her client a reassuring wink as she slowly broke down her opponent. This was strategy number two.

  “Counselor Hughes, will you be giving opening arguments?” asked Judge Hampton.

  “No—I mean yes, Your Honor.” Pam’s sedate green eyes honed in on Allison as if she was putting her in a trance. Allison slowly began to speak, stuttering over her words. “Your Honor…Mr. Fielding…has…uh, been…a…excuse me, Your Honor.”

  Allison had looked up at Pam and scanned the room with her eyes, as if she was lost. She picked up the glass of water that was sitting on her desk, and as she drank, her hands shook, causing the water to trickle down the sides of her mouth.

  Perspiration slid from her forehead, landing on her cheeks, and down her neck to her silk blouse. Allison removed her suit jacket, unaware that her undergarments could be seen through her soaked blouse.

  Pam had carefully observed the scene unfolding before her. Her intimidating gaze distracted Allison so much that she forgot her opening arguments altogether.

  Judge Hampton frowned. “Ms. Hughes, are you all right?”

  “I’m sorry, but I’m just really warm…”

  “Court will be in recess for five minutes. Ms. Hughes, I want to see you in my chambers.”

  Allison’s body language was that of a clumsy moth that had accidentally flown too close to a spider’s web. She’d attempted to catch a glimpse of her client’s eye to reassure him that she was still in control, but Pam could tell that it was too late. She had already lost his confidence and it was evidenced by the defeated looked on his face.

  This was the grand and final strategy, number three. Pam’s plan was working better than she had expected. It was obvious that Allison was incapable of trying this case. Furthermore, Pam knew that it would take a while to get the case reassigned to another attorney, and this would give her even more time to plan a new strategy. Pam looked at her client again, and gave another assuring wink while Allison’s client sat looming in regret and fear.

  Although Pam stood only 5 feet 4 inches tall, in the courtroom, she was a titan with fifty-four trials under her belt. She had never lost a case and that one appeared to be no exception.

  Rough Air

  Dee climbed into the hotel van and said, “I’m really getting a bad feeling about this trip.”

  “Dee, you’ve been getting some bad vibes for a while now,” Birdie answered back.

  “Yeah,” Jodie chimed in. “Maybe you need to take some time off.”

  Birdie turned and nodded at Jodie. “You may be suffering from burnout. And we all know how that goes.”

  “Sure do,” Jodie laughed. “Whenever I f
eel a case of burnout firing up, I immediately take three days off, whether it’s calling in sick or just moving a trip around so I can go lay on the beach for some simple R and R. I come back ready for my next trip and I’m good to go.”

  Oh, but I’m way past the burnout stage. Well, well past it, Dee thought. A faraway look appeared in her eyes as she watched the snow-capped mountains appear larger as they neared the airport. A tear slid down her face and she swiftly wiped it away, hoping no one could see her agony.

  Birdie looked over at Dee and noticed how unusually quiet she was. They had been flying trips together for the past two weeks; it seemed as if every time they headed back to the airport, Dee grew very solemn.

  “Dee, are you all right?”

  No, I’m not all right. I’m tired of living out of a suitcase for three days. I’m tired of the dumb questions passengers seem to come up with all of the time, and most of all, I’m tired of this smelly uniform and having to be with all of you every week!

  Dee cleared her throat. “Yes, I’m fine,” The last thing she needed was to let them know what she was really thinking. Unless she wanted her business to hang out on the line, she couldn’t tell another flight attendant how she was really feeling.

  “Look at those mountains!” the pilot shouted. “They’re even beautiful in the dark. I think I’m coming back here next week to do some skiing.”

  “That sounds like a great idea, Mike. Dee, are you back on this line again next week, too ?” Jodie asked. Dee stayed wrapped inside her own world and continued staring out of the window as Jodie tapped her on the shoulder.

  “Hey, Dee, did you hear me?”

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  “Are you on this trip again next week?”

  “Um…I don’t know. I can’t remember my schedule. I might have swapped it for a turnaround.”

  “Hey, why go up and back in the same day when you can layover for three days?” Jodie giggled. Her perkiness was starting to get on Dee’s nerves.

  “Sometimes, I just need to get back the same day, you know? I just need to get this over with,” she mumbled under her breath.

  Impatient passengers crowded around the ticket counter in the gatehouse waiting to see if their names could be added to the standby list on the flight from Salt Lake City to Atlanta, and on to Miami. The flight was sold out, and several people were hedging bets on how many people would have to watch the plane take off without them. The people with confirmed reservations were seated, calmly reading newspapers while others made pallets of luggage on the floor, preparing for a long night at the gate.

  Once the boarding began, passengers clutched their tickets as if they were holding the winning numbers in the state lottery. When their row numbers were called, they scurried on board as if prize money was being given away.

  On the plane, seas of navy blue blankets were cast across the seats. Several passengers immersed themselves in them and drifted to sleep. The plane was silent except for a group of college students sitting in the back of the plane. One of them was a freckle-faced young man with auburn hair. He was wailing loudly to Jay-Z playing on his earphones.

  “Shhh! Would you please keep your voice down?” Jodie said, in a gentle yet firm voice. Her charcoal ponytail swayed between her shoulder blades as she briskly walked by. “You’re going to wake the other passengers,” she scolded.

  “What’d you say?” Jackson asked at the top of his voice. His bright red hair and clean-shaven freckled face made him look too young to be up at this early hour.

  There were two girls seated on either side of him. The girl on the right giggled as she pulled one of the earphones out of his ear and whispered loudly in it. “She said to keep it down, you wanna be 50 Cent!”

  “In other words, shut up with the singing. You’re being a nuisance to the other people on the plane,” the younger-looking girl on the right snapped back.

  Both girls were wearing Hampton University sweatshirts and looked young enough to still be in junior high school, especially the girl with the chestnut hair and slanted eyes. She was seated on his left and wore braces and small wire-rimmed glasses. The girl on the right looked a little older. Her dark wavy hair was tied up in a blue scrunchie. Her complexion was a smooth mocha brown with little need for make-up.

  Jodie rolled her eyes at him as she strolled past to check on the front of the cabin. Jackson mouthed “sorry” and nodded that he would comply.

  Dee tried to get comfortable, but after two hours, it was impossible. If there was one thing she disliked more than being a flight attendant, it was a long flight. Either you stayed busy the whole time or you did nothing the whole time. Dee decided she preferred neither as she began strolling down the aisles. She paced up one side of the middle cabin and back down the other, purposefully avoiding the back cabin. The exercise kept her from falling asleep. A flight attendant call button finally broke the monotony. Great, something to do, she mumbled bitterly under her breath as she walked toward the light.

  “May I help you, ma’am?”

  An old woman looked up at her and smiled. “Yes, dear. Can you tell me where we are now?”

  The ludicrous questions had already started and they were only halfway through the flight. Dee liked to call these questions “101 ways to not get a flight attendant to ever answer your call button or a.k.a. The Dumb List,” because people were always dumb enough to ask flight attendants questions like that. In her mind she would answer: How do I know where we are? I’m 30,000 feet in the air just like you. What do I look like? A walking compass? But instead she answered, “I’m not quite sure. The pilot will be making an announcement shortly.”

  The old lady nodded in satisfaction and patted Dee on the shoulder. Her frail fingers could barely hold up the five carat ruby ring on her fourth finger.

  Dee rolled her eyes hard as she walked toward the front of the airplane. She was careful not to trip over one man’s foot that had made its way into the aisle while he lay sleeping. If you don’t get those big boats out of this aisle…Man, I wish I had a dollar for everyone over 6‘3” who does this. I should just pop his feet one good time with the beverage cart. It would serve him right for not putting his long cheap behind in a first-class seat!

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about forty-five minutes outside of Atlanta,” the pilot announced over the intercom. “We are expecting some tail winds, which may put us in a little earlier than the ETA. So, just sit back, relax, and let Atlanta’s finest flight crew assist you with having an enjoyable flight.” Dee winked at the elderly lady whose destination question had just been answered. Dee was happy to hear that they were so close to landing because she couldn’t wait to get off.

  The passengers stirred a bit. Their arms stretched out of blankets and eyes fluttered as they gradually began to wake up. Jodie and Birdie started moving the beverage carts toward the galleys in preparation for landing. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a jolt smacked the plane. The outside force was so unsettling that it tossed the plane about like nunchucks being used for the first time by a martial arts amateur.

  Jackson’s head plunged into the back of his seat. His arms flailed in the air, hitting his face and causing his earphones and MP3 player to plummet to the floor. The girls that were seated next to him were no longer giggling, but had turned pale from horror as the plane bobbed and weaved.

  “Ladies, and gentleman, this is your captain speaking, we have just hit a patch of rough air. We are working with flight control to get us into some smooth air, but it may be a little bumpy for a few more minutes. I want the passengers and the flight attendants to remain seated with your seat belts securely fastened.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to tell me twice,” Dee said as she turned to rush back toward her seat. But before the pilot could finish his sentence, one of the beverage carts came hurtling down the aisle, charging in the direction of the man’s foot that had been sticking out. He had managed to stay asleep while the other passengers numbed themselves into a glazed st
ate of denial. Dee saw the cart and ran after it. She caught it by its handle with the tips of her fingers and reeled it in toward her palms and clutched her fingers around it.

  “Oh, my God! That was a close one!” She wiped the pellets of perspiration off of her forehead with her sleeve and the plane jerked again. The 70-pound cart began to slip out of her grasp and was inches away from crashing into the man’s foot. “Hey, wake up, mister!” Dee yelled. “Hey, can somebody please wake this guy up? I can’t let this cart—oh no!” she mumbled breathlessly, trying not to frighten the passengers who were now searching Dee’s face for some symbol of protection. She stretched out her long legs and hunted for the brake with her foot.

  “Uggg, pl-please…just let me stop this from…going into this man’s foot,” she prayed and within seconds, she found the brake and pressed it down.

  The passenger awoke just in time to picture his foot being snapped off by the weight of the cart. Dee looked at him and shook her head in disbelief. Okay, now you wake up. “That was a close one, huh? Glad we were able to save that foot!” Dee said as she let out a fake smile. You idiot!

  As the plane continued to jostle back and forth, Dee became exhausted, but her adrenaline allowed her to pull the cart back up the aisle and into the galley with the help of Birdie. I knew I had a bad feeling about this flight.

  “Thanks, Birdie,” Dee said, panting like a novice runner.

  “Can you believe this turbulence?” Birdie asked with a petrified look on her face.

  “See, I told you I had a bad feeling about this!” Dee was still trying to catch her breath while she latched the cart back in its holding place.

  “Yes, you did, didn’t you?” Birdie said, as she immediately sat down. “I don’t ever remember being in anything like this.”

  Birdie had been flying for more than thirty years and usually flew international trips. But this month she’d decided she wanted a change in routine and flew domestic instead. Little did she know that this might be the flight that would help her finalize her decision to retire.

  Dee heard whimpering coming from the back of the plane as she sat down and buckled her seat belt. What now? She turned around as the whimpering became louder. No, I don’t want to do this, but… Dee thought to herself as she unbuckled her seat belt.