Fear of Flying

And an unconventional healing

Running to catch their flight, Joe and Suzy pushed their physical stamina to its limits. Weighed down by luggage, their hearts seemed ready to explode. They would not have had to run except that their flight was cancelled so they had to book another one that was boarding at the far other end of the airport. They had four minutes to make it to the gate.

Joe was fond of telling the story of the very last time he and Suzy ever flew. They made it to the gate without a second to spare but right after the plane took off into the sky it had to turn around and land so that Joe could be taken to the hospital to be treated for a heart attack.

“Although we love her dearly, Greta Thunberg had nothing to do with our decision to never fly again,” Suzy would say.

“We had never even heard of her back then,” Joe would then say. “It’s not about our carbon footprint; it’s about my heart. I just don’t ever want to risk going through that again.”

“It was about a year later when Joe and I bought our boat. Now it’s the only way we travel.”

“Is that why you guys didn’t come to my wedding in Wichita?” Suzy’s cousin once asked.

“I’m afraid so. We’re so sorry, dear cousin. But now we only go to places that are accessible by boat.”

“Life is so glorious living it on the water,” Joe would say dreamily. “Our lives have utterly transformed and we have become so much happier. Who needs the stress of cities or the horrible vibes of airports? Floating on the water, all stress just washes away. I wish I knew that when I was younger. I would have spent my whole life on a boat. And I probably would never have had a heart attack.”

“But thankfully Joe was healed when we sailed down to Central America to visit a dolphin reserve and swim with the dolphins. We were in the water and suddenly six dolphins surrounded Joe. I was afraid they were gonna kill him and eat him or something…”

“I’ll tell it, Suze. The dolphins weren’t gonna eat me. They were healer dolphins. They formed a circle around me and healed me with their sonar. I could feel the energy tingling throughout my body. It was mind-blowing. I was completely healed and rejuvenated.”

It was at this point in the story when people tended to excuse themselves to go to the bathroom or to replenish their drinks.

“And I know it’s true. Let me tell you, from that day forward Joe has been a whole different man in the sack, if you know what I mean.”

“Yup, my life changed that day. It’s like I’m in my twenties again — except not so stupid. Life is truly grand now, especially since we moved down to Central America where we live now when we’re not traveling. When we are down there we go swimming with the dolphins every day.”

“Yes, we have many dolphin friends.”

“I had a conversation with a dolphin one day and told her about how I refuse to fly. She said that was dumb. She then told me that dolphins love to fly. I said, ‘dolphins can’t fly’ and she said, ‘Haven’t you ever seen a dolphin come flying out of the water into an arc through the air before flying back down into the water? You humans call that breaching but we call it breathing. But technically it can also be called flying. We dolphins go flying every day. Sometimes we have contests to see who can fly the highest. Oh, we really do love flying!’ then I said, ‘At least you guys don’t have to deal with airports,’ and she said, ‘That’s true. Why do you humans have to make everything so complicated?’”

Usually by this point in Joe and Suzy’s story most of the humans listening had left. Their number of human friends seemed to shrink drastically. But that did not matter. Joe and Suzy never tired of telling that same old story. In their later years they would sit alone on the deck of their boat and around sunset over a glass of wine they would tell that story to each other. Near the end of the story they would hear laughter and then look overboard to see that they had an audience after all. There would be several dolphins treading water listening to Joe and Suzy’s story.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction. White Feather Archive Index