Descent
As soon as the fasten seatbelt sign was illuminated
she began to speak.
As if the noticeable shift in pitch had suddenly
changed the social situation.
As if on cue.
Without warning she proceeded to inform me
in every imaginable
and excruciating
detail of her travel plans.
The phone call with tears.
The last minute plane ticket that wasn’t cheap.
The messy divorce.
The awful ex-son-in-law-who-never-had-been-right.
How she would never say “I told you so”.
At least not directly.
How this was going to be for the best.
If they could just get through the next few days.
Then, almost as abruptly as before
the seatbelt light went dark and she stood,
straining to to grab her hand luggage from the overhead locker.
All conversation coming to an abrupt and decisive halt.
As if on cue.
