Flight SQA016 (The Flight Series)

by A. E. Radley

  “Does your mom make you eat salad?” Henry asked.

  “No, my mother is dead.”

  “Oh. My daddy is dead.”

  “Oh,” Olivia looked at the boy moving around pasta shapes with his fork. “I’m sorry to hear that, my father is also dead.”

  “I don’t remember my daddy. Mommy says I was an egg when he died,” Henry said with a shrug. Olivia didn’t know what to do with that information and began eating. Henry held up a pasta shape on the end of his fork for Olivia to see. “A giraffe!”

  Olivia nodded. “Yes, it is.”

  “You eat it,” Henry insisted as he held the fork aloft for her.

  “I can’t eat your dinner, that’s for you to eat,” Olivia told him.

  “One giraffe,” Henry pleaded. Olivia regarded him for a minute before spearing a thin slice of cucumber on her own fork. “I will eat one giraffe if you eat one slice of cucumber.”

  Henry regarded her for a moment, his five-year-old brain ticking over whether the payoff would be worth it. His mind made up, he used his hand to pick the slice of cucumber from the end of her fork and held it in between his finger and thumb suspiciously. Taking his cue, Olivia picked the giraffe pasta shape off of Henry’s fork and held it.

  “You first,” she told him.

  Henry took a nibble of the cucumber and carefully chewed it as Olivia put the pasta in her mouth. Henry looked at the cucumber with surprise and put the rest of the slice in his mouth and happily ate it.

  “When I was a little girl, cucumber sandwiches were my favourite,” Olivia told Henry as she continued to pick at her salad. “Would you like to try some lettuce?” Henry crinkled his nose and shook his head, clearly having gone as far as he wanted on his culinary exploration for the day.

  “Would you like some more cucumber?” Olivia asked and handed him a piece at the very moment Emily returned from the galley. She saw the interaction and paused in shock as she watched her son eating a slice of cucumber. Then she smiled and shook her head before walking on.

  “Have you been to London before?” Olivia asked Henry, making conversation with him as if he were an adult.

  “No, I’ve never even left New York before.” Henry smiled. “Now we’re going to London because I went to the hospital on Friday.”

  “Oh dear,” Olivia frowned. “I am sorry to hear that. Are you feeling better now?”

  Henry shrugged. “It still hurts but it always hurts. But Mommy says that Doctor Harvey’s friends will fix it and Doctor Harvey says that I’m special and because my heart is sick his friends will be able to teach lots more of Doctor Harvey’s friends how to fix hearts like mine and make people all over the world feel better again.”

  Olivia smiled at his understanding of what she presumed was a teaching hospital. “Well, that really is something to be proud of.”

  “Tiny is scared but I’m not,” Henry said as he continued to push his pasta around his bowl.

  “That’s only natural; if I was Tiny I’d probably be frightened too. But with a best friend like you, I’m sure he will be fine. As long as you eat your dinner so you’re able to be big and strong for him.”

  Henry’s gaze angled up towards Olivia and he gave her a look that said he knew what she was doing but he reluctantly ate some more pasta regardless.

  Emily arrived at the table and smiled at Olivia. “Can I take your plate for you?”

  “Thank you.” Olivia nodded.

  “And would you like your main course now?” Emily asked though they both knew it was only a formality as Olivia always wanted her main course immediately after her starter.

  “Yes, that would be lovely.”

  Emily picked up the plate and cutlery and returned to the galley.

  “So, are you married?” Henry asked Olivia. “Do you have kids?”

  “No and no,” Olivia answered.

  “Oh,” Henry frowned. “You’ll be a great mom one day.”

  Olivia smiled at Henry’s simplistic outlook on the world. “Thank you, Henry.”

  “Are you lonely?” Henry asked suddenly, and Olivia looked at him in surprise.

  “Why do you ask that?” Olivia asked, avoiding the question.

  “You said your mommy and daddy are dead and you’re not married and you don’t have any kids and you travel a lot.” Henry shrugged and picked up a piece of pasta shaped like an elephant and put it in his mouth.

  Emily returned and placed a plate of salmon, new potatoes, and green beans with hollandaise sauce in front of Olivia. Henry peered at it with part suspicion and part disgust.

  Emily noticed Henry’s reaction. “Eat your own, don’t worry about other people’s dinner.”

  He nodded and continued moving his dinner around his bowl.

  Emily looked at Olivia. “Can I get you anything else?”

  “No, thank you,” Olivia said and unwrapped her fresh cutlery.

  Emily quickly returned to the galley and Henry looked up at Olivia’s plate. “What is that?”

  “Salmon,” Olivia explained. “Would you like some?” Henry shook his head quickly and looked back at his bowl. “Do you intend to separate all the animals into piles and then eat them or just separate them into piles?” Olivia realised what Henry was doing. He scowled slightly and started to eat the animals from the lion pile.

  “Salmon is fish,” Henry told her with a serious expression.

  “Yes, it is.”

  “What is pasta?” Henry asked as he looked at a lion-shaped piece on the end of his fork.

  “A mixture of flour and water,” Olivia answered as she methodically cut her potatoes to release the hot steam.

  “Sounds horrible,” Henry said with a wrinkled nose as he looked at the pasta piece.

  “Does it really matter what it is as long as you like the taste of it?” Olivia questioned.

  “How do planes fly?” Henry asked suddenly, as his attention was captured by the window to Olivia’s left.

  “A balance of thrust, lift, weight, and drag,” Olivia replied. Henry looked at her and blinked. “The plane has really, really big engines,” Olivia tried again.

  “Cool.” Henry smiled. She nodded in satisfaction that he had accepted her answer and returned to her meal.

  “What’s a chocolate fon ant?”

  “Fondant,” Olivia corrected lightly. “It’s a chocolate cake that melts in the middle.”

  “Wow,” Henry’s eyes lit up.

  “Indeed, however I’ll most likely be too full to eat all of it so I had intended to share it with you but only if you’d finished your pasta,” Olivia had barely finished the sentence before Henry started shovelling pasta into his mouth and happily finished up his meal.

  “Are we in space?” Henry asked her as she lowered her cutlery to her empty plate.

  “No.”

  “Are we near space?”

  “It depends on how you think about it,” Olivia said with a thoughtful look. “If you consider how far above the ground we are then we are relatively close to space. We’re closer to space than we are to the ground.”

  “If we stood on the roof of the plane and stretched up really high would we be able to touch space?”

  “No.” Olivia shook her head. “You’d blow off of the plane. And freeze to death on your way back down to earth.”

  Emily had clearly been listening in on some of the conversation and quickly approached their dining table. “All finished?”

  “Yes, it was delicious,” Olivia confessed.

  Emily looked at Henry’s empty bowl. “Wow, Henry, you finished your dinner too?”

  “Yep.” Henry smiled with pride.

  “Miss White, if it’s okay with you, I’d like two spoons for dessert,” Olivia said.

  Emily looked at her blankly for a second before realising what she meant. “Oh, you don’t have to do that, Miss Lewis.”

  “I’d like to, if I may, Miss White?” Olivia knew better than to randomly feed someone else’s child, except for the cucumber but
that was mainly water anyway.

  “Her name is Emily,” Henry provided helpfully and Olivia found herself smiling at the awkward social situation they all found themselves in, which wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as it usually was for her.

  “That’s very kind of you, Miss Lewis,” Emily replied with a smile. “Just don’t let him eat it all because he will, given half a chance.”

  Olivia smiled and Emily returned to the galley.

  “Why does Mommy call you Miss Lewis but I call you Olivia?” Henry asked with a frown.

  “Um, well,” Olivia tried to think of a way to explain it. “Well, it’s because she’s at work.”

  “So, if we went to the park you can call her Emily?” Henry clarified just as Emily returned with spoons and napkins. His mother had clearly heard Henry’s comment and started to blush.

  “I’m sorry if he is being a chatterbox,” she said.

  “Not at all,” Olivia replied as Emily placed the cutlery on the table. “He’s quite the gentleman.”

  “Yes, he is,” Emily admitted with pride. “I’ll just go get your dessert.” As Emily left Henry picked up Tiny and brought the stuffed giraffe to his ear.

  “Tiny says he wants to go to the park with you and Mommy.”

  “Oh, really?” Olivia grinned. “What about you?”

  “What do you mean?” Henry frowned.

  “Well, if it’s Tiny who wants to go with us what will you do while we are all at the park?” Olivia questioned lightly.

  “Oh,” Henry suddenly realised his mistake and quickly gave a shrug. “I will have to come too.”

  Olivia laughed. “Well, I think you and Tiny need to concentrate on getting better first.”

  Emily returned and placed the dessert in the middle of the table and looked sternly at Henry, “It will be hot in the middle so be careful.”

  Once Emily had left, Henry dropped Tiny to the floor and edged forward in his seat so he could be nearer the delicious looking dessert. He looked up at Olivia with excited eyes.

  “Let’s cut it in half,” Olivia said as she lifted her heavy silver spoon and delicately cut the sponge in two and watched as the steaming hot chocolate sauce in the middle oozed over the plate.

  “Wow,” Henry whispered with low reverence. Olivia thanked whoever had invented chocolate fondants. Not only did the dessert make him smile, it also had the bonus of keeping the boy quiet for a while. A few minutes later they were finished, and Olivia leaned forward and wiped chocolate from Henry’s face with her napkin.

  “If you could be any animal what would you be?” Henry asked seriously.

  “Um, I don’t know,” she said honestly.

  “You must know,” he told her as if the topic came up every day.

  “Well, um, I don’t know, a cat?” Olivia tried.

  “A cat? That’s so boring,” Henry rolled his eyes. “Lucy wants to be a sparrow. That’s boring too.”

  “Who is Lucy?” Olivia asked. She genuinely wanted to know more about this woman.

  “Me and Mom live with her,” Henry said. Olivia’s chest began to hurt. “And her husband, Tom.”

  “Oh, I see,” Olivia said and smiled, her mood turning and the pain going as easily as it had arrived. “Are they family?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” Henry said with a shake of the head. “But they are like family.”

  “What animal does Tom want to be?” Olivia asked, mainly for inspiration.

  “A hawk,” Henry said. “He likes flying.”

  “Ah,” Olivia nodded her understanding.

  “Are you really sure you want to be a cat?” Henry asked, clearly hoping that Olivia would choose something better on a second attempt.

  “I’ll tell you what,” Olivia said seriously. “I’ll give it some thought and I’ll get back to you, is that okay?” Henry smiled widely.

  “Okay, little man,” Emily said as she approached and started to clear the plates. “You need to go to bed.”

  “But I’m talking to Olivia about what animal she wants to be.” Henry grumbled.

  “Well, you’ll have to finish that discussion later, because Miss Lewis needs to go to bed and she can’t do that if you’re talking about giraffes.”

  “I’d be a giraffe,” He told Olivia.

  “I probably would have guessed,” Olivia admitted.

  “Do you tell Olivia when to go to bed too, Mommy?” He asked as Emily removed everything from the table and onto a tray she was holding.

  “Yes,” Emily said seriously. “I set bed times for everyone on board.”

  “Wow,” Henry whispered, impressed with his mother’s wide-ranging powers. Emily placed the tray to one side and folded the table back into place.

  “I’m going to put these things in the galley. Say goodnight and thank you to Miss Lewis. I’ll be back in a moment.” Henry made a sad face as Emily left.

  “I’m sorry, Olivia,” he said sincerely. “I know it’s early for bedtime but Mommy is very strict.”

  Olivia bit her lip to smother her laugh. “It’s probably for the best. Thank you for your company over dinner, Henry.”

  Emily returned with some bedding and started to convert Henry’s chair into a bed.

  “Tiny says he likes you,” Henry said as he picked the giraffe up.

  “Well, I very much like Tiny, and you,” Olivia admitted.

  “Will you be here when I wake up?” He asked as he looked over to where his mother was making up a bed and knew that it wouldn’t be long before he was also relegated to sleep.

  “I certainly will,” Olivia smiled. “Maybe we can have breakfast together?”

  Henry smiled happily. “I’d like that.”

  “Okay, Henry, time to get ready for bed,” Emily announced as she approached with a tiny Ironman rucksack that contained his travel necessities. She bent down and unfastened his seatbelt and held his hand as he stood up.

  “Night night, Olivia,” he said as his mother led him away. Emily looked over and mouthed her own thank you and Olivia watched as they disappeared towards the washrooms.

  CHAPTER 9

  “Everyone’s asleep,” Emily commented to Jessica as she entered the first-class galley.

  “Great. Henry okay?”

  Emily nodded as she began to put the dirty crockery and cutlery into a shelved trolley. “Yes, he woke up once but he seems to have drifted off again now.”

  “He’s adorable,” Jessica grinned while she filled in some paperwork. “Such a great kid.”

  “Thanks,” Emily said with pride. “I’m very lucky with him.”

  “And he’s taken to Miss Lewis,” Jessica pointed out with a grin.

  “Yeah,” Emily sighed. “Henry is such a chatterbox; I dread to think what he has said to her.”

  “Well, whenever I passed them all I heard was stuff about giraffes,” Jessica said. “Miss Lewis seemed to really get on with him.”

  “Henry doesn’t usually take to other people like that, but for some reason he connected with her right away. I just can’t figure out if she was being nice or if she really didn’t mind him sitting with her. You know how kids can be, making demands and some people don’t want to say no.”

  “She seemed happy enough,” Jessica said with a smile. “And you said she had him eating cucumber so she’s clearly a good influence on him.”

  Emily laughed. “I thought I was going to pass out from shock! Henry doesn’t eat anything green, ever. He asked if he can have cucumber sandwiches when he gets home.”

  “Aw, he is so sweet. It’s good that he had some distraction, he must be frightened about the operation.”

  Emily shook her head. “No, he is fine but Tiny on the other hand is very scared.”

  “Ah.” Jessica nodded knowingly. “Poor Tiny.”

  “Exactly,” Emily replied. “I wish he’d talk to me, but more and more everything goes through Tiny.”

  “At least he has Tiny or you’d not hear anything,” Jessica said.

  Iris Wi
nter entered the galley. “Are all the passengers settled?”

  “Yes, they’re all asleep,” Emily replied.

  “And how is young Henry?” Iris asked.

  “He’s sleeping at the moment. Thank you so much for allowing him to move up here so I can keep an eye on him,” Emily said.

  “It made sense as there were spaces in your cabin. I had a call from the marketing department. It seems they wish to interview you about Henry for the internal staff magazine. Just a small piece about the airline agreeing to fly him to London for his operation.”

  “Okay, that sounds fair.”

  “They would also like a photograph of Henry, for the article,” Iris continued.

  “Okay.” Emily thought for a moment. “I have a few nice ones at home that I can send to them.”

  “I rather think they wanted one that was more up-to-date,” Iris commented. “Maybe even one of him after his operation? One that speaks to the readers a little more.”

  “You mean one in the hospital?” Emily asked, quickly catching onto the unspoken meaning.

  “Why, yes, that’s a very good idea,” Iris said as if the thought had never crossed her mind. “And, of course, another one on his flight home. Maybe with a couple of key members of the crew, the captain, myself, etcetera.”

  Emily quickly plastered a false smile onto her face. “Yes, of course.”

  “Wonderful, I’ll call and tell them once we get to London,” Iris said. “I assume you’ll be taking the shift down here for the next few hours?”

  “Yes, I want to be near to Henry,” Emily confirmed.

  “Good, I’ll leave you and Sean down here so ensure you keep an eye on the call buttons in the premium and economy cabins as well,” Iris said and then turned to Jessica. “And I shall expect to see you in the crew quarters shortly.” Iris left and drew the curtain behind her. Jessica peeked through the curtain to assure herself that the woman had gone and couldn’t hear before turning around and looking at Emily open-mouthed.

  “Did you know they wanted to use Henry for publicity before they offered free travel?” Jessica asked, already knowing the answer.

  “No,” Emily said bitterly. “They didn’t mention a thing.”

  “Sounds like they want to make it into a real sob story as well, a photo of him in his hospital bed and everything!” Jessica shook her head. “This is Iris’s doing!”