BOMAW 7-9

by Mercedes Keyes

  "Thank you. And uh, the pilot ... he's fully rested? Not sleepy or anything is he? I saw on this program that pilots are scheduled to fly so frequently they're not getting proper rest before the next flight. Is this his first flight this week? Or maybe, his third or fourth? 'Cause if it is, maybe we should just wait for the next flight, for somebody that's been off work on vacation, been sleepin' and restin' and can't wait to get back in to work, full of energy ... ready to fly to Africa and not blink."

  Mundo started laughing, "Mama you trippin', calm down."

  "Look boy, go sit your end down somewhere. Don't tell me, I need to know if he's all right to fly!" She fussed at him, Shawn started laughing then, "Baby calm down."

  "No no, I have my wine, yes and this is good, however, I now need to meet the pilot. I need to look into his eyes, I need to feel that this man is wide awake and ready to fly. Can I meet him please? He does not have to stay long." Sylvia nervously chattered. Shawn put his arms around her, trying not to laugh at her.

  "Mrs. McPherson, I assure you, the pilot will be out; and he will make it a point to come over to speak to you, I'll make sure of it."

  "That would be so nice; see I got my kids with me on this airplane. My husband here, we have plans, we have a house to finish..." She turned to Shawn, "...don't we baby, don't we have a house to finish? And a bed and breakfast, and your studio ... baby this plane ride could just ... chuck that all away."

  "Sylvie listen, we have all those plans and we'll see them through. Come on now, we'll be fine." He simpered.

  "Don't laugh at me Shawn, don't laugh at me. This is serious. This plane goin' wa-a-ay up in the air, wa-a-ay up high, high above the clouds. Once we get up there, there is only two ways of coming down, the right way and the wrong way. That's 50/50 ... meaning it could come down either way. If it comes down the wrong way, .... ooooh ... oooh Lord I gotta use the bathroom. Oooh my God, we should've got on the train, or maybe just drove there."

  "Baby you're gettin' all worked up again. Mundo! Stop laughing at your mother!"

  "Remind me, when we land, if we all safe and in one piece, to slap - the taste out his mouth! Oh Lord Jesus ..." She sat back trying to breathe.

  "Ma'am, take a sip of your wine. Come on, everything is going to be okay."

  "You don't know that. How do you know that? Can you predict the future? You got a special hook up with the Lord? I don't think so. This airplane is big! You see how big this plane is? All these people gettin' on here? All that luggage? How much you think all that weigh? That's too much to be trying to get up in the air. That don't make no sense to me. Where the propellers at? You know that turn round and round and round? Ooooh Lord... Jesus Jesus .... all this metal and steel and its goin' into the air and staying up there? That ain't right. It just don't make no sense. You all can laugh at me all you want to, 'cause I ain't even trying to care! This ain't right. Ain't no wings on me! I can't take over and fly if this plane decide it don't want to, no more."

  "Ma'am, you're working yourself up again. Come on now, sit back, buckle up, sip your wine. The plane has been checked over thoroughly, all is in good working order I assure you."

  "Em hm, that's what they train you to say. You say that to everybody." Sylvia looked away from the stewardess up over her shoulder at her daughter, "Baby listen to mama, we got Darren and Isaac to think about, we can just get off of here and drive there." Sylvia almost pleaded.

  "Mama you know how long it would take us to drive across the country? They'd be coming back by the time we got there."

  "Oh Lord Jesus, okay... okay, I can do this. I can do this. If it goes down, we go together, Lord just please make it quick. I don't wanna see my kids suffer." She covered her eyes and started crying. "Shawn I can't believe you brought me and our babies on here." She started weeping softly.

  Shawn sighed, waved the stewardess away and motioned for Crystal to sit down. He pulled her to him and held her, "Baby, I know you're scared, but its gonna be okay." He whispered in her ear to sooth her, buckling her seat belt at the same time. "Driving honey, we could have a fatal crash. On the train, it could derail. In fact, there are more odds of a car crash and train derailment than there is of a plane going down." He soothed, wiping at her cheeks. "Here, take a sip." He lifted her wine glass to her lips, realizing she really did need to relax and thought he'd better explain to her what turbulence was.

  By direction of the head stewardesses, everyone was to sit back and buckle their seat belts. Make sure there were no items on their laps, all items on the floor needed to be pushed underneath the seats or stored in the overhead baggage compartment. As she went about her normal pre-flight jargon, Crystal sat back making sure Darren was comfortable between her and Angela. Isaac sat in the row of seats across the aisle from her with Benjamin and Mundo. Between the two of them, already getting comfortable with his coloring book and crayons. Even though she knew he was tired, Ben was staying alert, leaning towards Isaac, telling him that he could have his coloring book and crayons as soon as they were airborne. Of course, true to his habit, Isaac was asking him all kinds of questions and Benjamin took the time to answer each one as they were asked. Mundo, had already put his seat back ready to sleep the entire flight through, if he could manage to get away with it.

  She knew that she shouldn't be looking at him as she was, but she couldn't help herself. He was distracted by Isaac and there was nothing blocking him from her view. He had very broad, strong shoulders, a thick strong, long neck with a stubborn hairline that grew down it and off from his sideburns as well. His hair had a wavy texture to it, while being jet black and shiny, very much like some Mexicans she'd seen. It was very coarse and she had a strange feeling that if he let it grow, it would be incredibly curly. She wondered was that the reason he kept it cut so close? He needed a lining along his neck, also at his sideburns. If she cut his hair, she would let it grow a bit more on the top, sides and cranium and taper it just so. That way she could give him a really cool Caesar look along the front.

  Caesar, that was his middle name. She'd heard it for the first time at the ticket counter when they were checking in with their bags, verifying their seats and getting their luggage boarded.

  Caesar, Benjamin Caesar.

  She loved his name. She knew that Benjamin literally meant, son of Jacob. She wondered if his mother had named him so purposely to give credence to her claim that Jake was his father? For all that they knew, maybe he was, it wasn't definite as far as she knew until the test came back. Fact of the matter, who his father was made little difference to her, it could not take away from the man that he was. Caesar, it meant leader. After the famous, or infamous ruler, Julius Caesar. In school, she'd studied a great deal about Roman history, so she knew that the name also meant hair. Because Julius Caesar had been born with a head full of hair, that dominated his head. She smiled, yes, Benjamin Caesar needed a haircut, for which she was certain, he must have been born with a head full. Gorgeous, incredible, thick, coarse wavy hair. She wanted to run her fingers through it. Again, as she stared at him, at his profile, she wondered, what would it have been like, to let him kiss her? Another thing she noticed, he had full lips. Not the thin lips like so many white males, like Victor. Victor's weren't so bad, they weren't as thin as many, but certainly not as full as Benjamin's.

  She sat gazing at him with a strange longing, one that stirred the desire in her, wishing, she'd at least let them kiss, even if just once, just to see, if there might have been something there. Now, it was too late, because they both agreed, to be just friends. Crystal knew under the circumstances, that was for the best. Best for both of them. Yet, even when something was decided upon for the best, it didn't stop one from wondering? Imagining, and yes, fantasizing about it.

  He knew.

  A chill raced down Crystal's spine because slowly his head had turned and he looked right, directly into her eyes, as if he knew that she had been looking at him.

  With her face on fire Crystal turned away, looking down at Dar
ren, anywhere but back in that direction. Her heart had skipped a beat. Her mind flashed over and over, 'How did he know I was looking at him? How did he know it?'

  Because of the hair standing up on the back of his neck, Benjamin had a feeling she, Crystal, was staring at him. When he'd turned to see for himself, finding it to be true had stunned him and her as well. This time it was his turn to stare. They sat across an aisle from one another. So close and yet, so far away. They hadn't been so far from each other last night. He could still feel the sensation of her against him. He could still hear that song playing in his head, 'Can I have this kiss forever?' While the song had been about a kiss, it wasn't something she was prepared to let happen. The fact that he had Gail, he knew he had no business asking for one. Yet and still, the sensation, the need was still there. There was no sense in denying it. He flexed his hands, his fingers, remembering them as they held her close. The vision of them together on the dance floor kept playing over and over in his head. And it, the image of that, lead to him seeing them together in another way ... in bed together. The daydream brought an instant stirring to his loins. He crossed his legs to squelch the sensation. With Stewardesses walking by and looking down into his lap checking for seatbelts, the slightest arousal would be easily seen with his pants pulled tight across his groin area. He shifted, adjusted and made them as loose as possible; after all, he was Shawn's son, a McPherson, in every way.

  He wished that she would look back at him again. He wasn't afraid of this, this thing that was between them. No doubt, there was something. The question is, what was it? How real? How deep? How true?

  "I wish this dumb'o'plane would fly already, I wanna color." Isaac muttered impatient. "What's takin'im so long, don't he know how to fly this thing?"

  Benjamin turned back to him laughing, remembering when he was a little boy, impatient with everything. And Quincy, teaching him patience, he'd always known what to say to him and Kevin, always knew what to do, and never hesitated to see to them.

  "Bet you don't know how to fly it?" He challenged Isaac.

  "Uh huh, I could too." He exclaimed seriously.

  "Oh yeah, and if you were the pilot what would you be doing right now?"

  "I - I'ah be flyin' it in the air already."

  "I see, and what about your pre-flight test procedures?"

  "My, pre-flight test what?"

  "Well, first before you can put this baby in the air, you have to make sure that everyone schedule to be on board, listed in your manifest, is on your plane and in their seats.-..."

  "A mana - what?"

  "A manifest, if yours, if you are the pilot, it lets you know who you must be responsible for. Because when you're the pilot you see, and if you're gonna fly this plane, you're responsible for it, and all the people on it. But even before then, you have to make sure your plane is okay to fly. You have to make sure all of the mechanics have seen to all the things that makes the airplane work right. You know, like stay in the air, turn left, turn right, lower elevation, or pull up if it needs to. All of that has to be seen to first. Tell me, what's one of the most important things about an airplane?"

  "The wings?" Isaac asked.

  "Yep, that's really important, the wings, good answer, what's another one?"

  "Hmmm, ummm, that - that thing that goes, round and round really really fast?"

  "Those would be propellers, and now, they've replaced them with high powered engines that have something in them that spins very similar to a propeller, so that's another really good answer. Come on, give me another one."

  "Okay okay, let me think, gimme' a minute, cause I gotta cons'ta'pate."

  Benjamin's head went back and he barked with laughter, then looking back at him, he ruffled his blonde head of hair, "Come on, if you're gonna be an air pilot someday, you have to know your job." He went on to entertain him with talk about the important job of a pilot until theirs came out to introduce himself, explaining that they would be heading underway soon and to make themselves comfortable and to enjoy their flight. Isaac watched him with wide eyes, standing in his fancy uniform and hat. Very closely, he watched him walk over to his grandma and talk to her too. He then stood, caught his eye and winked at him with a smile.

  "Benamin, I'm gone be a air pilot too!"

  "You sure about that?"

  "Uh huh, I am gonna."

  "Okay, we'll see, if you are, you'll have to be the best ever. Now come on, finish telling me everything you have to do."

  He sat back and did just that, rattling on and on, with Benjamin feeding him more information, giving him more to talk about, encouraging him to explore his imagination even deeper.

  Crystal sat watching and listening, smiling and sometimes laughing at the answers Isaac gave. She watched Benjamin patiently talk to her son, planting a seed for the future and stimulating it to growth, even though he was only a bit over 3 years old. She watched him match his enthusiasm for what they were discussing and show not the slightest sign of getting tired of him. Smiling to herself, she turned to look down at Darren, he was nodding off towards her lap. She leaned down and kissed his head and felt for once in her life, truly at peace.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 150

  Chapter 151

  Chapter 152

  Chapter 153

  Chapter 154

  Chapter 155

  Chapter 156

  Chapter 157

  Chapter 158

  Chapter 159

  Chapter 160

  Chapter 161

  Chapter 162

  Chapter 163

  Chapter 164

  Chapter 165

  Chapter 166

  Chapter 167

  Chapter 168

  Chapter 169

  Chapter 170

  Chapter 171

  Chapter 172

  Chapter 173

  Chapter 174

  Chapter 175

  Chapter 176

  Chapter 177

  Chapter 179

  Chapter 186

  Chapter 187

  Chapter 188

  Chapter 192

  Chapter 193

  Chapter 194