SERIAL FICTION

Their Nerves Struck at the Airport

Shadows Of Mayday #23: Chris and Sarah #3: Sarah’s nerves played up, for their trip but also when Chris saw the book she had bought

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At last the morning came that the taxi driver rang their front door bell to take them to the airport. It took only a half an hour to drive there and as they unloaded their baggage in front of the terminal building, Sarah spontaneously kissed Chris on his cheek.

“Finally,” she said, “it’s finally going to happen.”

Chris smiled, hugged her and off they went, into the terminal building to find the desk where they had to check in. They were one of the first to book in at desk 11.

Only fifteen minutes after they had stepped out of the taxi, they walked through customs and were in the tax-free shopping area of the international airport.

Both Chris and Sarah enjoyed browsing the different shops. Just being there already put them in a holiday spirit. In the tax-free bookstore they each bought two books to read on the plane and during their vacation, either by the campfire in the wild parks on in bed in the hotel rooms.

Chris and Sarah installed themselves in a coffee bar not far from the gate where they had to board their flight. They read the back covers of the books the other had bought.

Chris had two historical crime thrillers. That didn’t surprise Sarah, as Chris had always liked to read about things that happened in history. He preferred real facts to fiction.

When Chris read the back cover of the first of Sarah’s books, he frowned and looked at her. She anxiously awaited his reaction. He smiled and reached for her other book to read the back cover. This time he didn’t frown, but only furrowed his eyebrows. There was a question in his eyes.

The books were of an erotic nature, more or less in the same genre as the one she had read months ago. Sarah blushed but said nothing. How could she ever tell him she was interested in trying the things described in the books?

Chris sat with his own thoughts: Why does Sarah read those books? Does she want to try some of those things? Is she really interested in it or is she only ready the books because her friends do it? Can I even talk to her about it?

He didn’t want to ask her, afraid to embarrass them both.

It had been ages since they last talked about their sex life, about their desires and fantasies. Ever since they had realized there would be no children, they stopped talking about intimacy; about sex. It was as if the subject was off limits from that moment onward.

Maybe during this holiday, he should try to change that. Their marriage was a good one, but something seemed to be missing — a vital part, but not important enough to wreck their marriage.

They made love once a week, which was good, but it was more a thing of just going through the motions. Recently something had changed in their dynamic. Whether it was the book they both had read or whether it was just a next phase of their lives they were moving into, Chris didn’t know. He instinctively felt that if they didn’t act on it now, they might still drift apart. That was exactly what they had tried to avoid all these years, after they had to work through the disappointment of not having a family.

From where they sat at the coffee bar they noticed the airline personnel appearing from doors behind the counter at the gate. The stewardesses busied themselves on the computers, talked to each other and looked through some papers. All the while they ignored the waiting passengers.

“Should we move closer?” Sarah asked nervously.

“No,” Chris said, “they won’t leave without us. The moment the boarding starts, everyone will rush to the gate. We can just as well wait until the main rush is over.”

What he predicted indeed happened.

One of the flight attendants called all first-class passengers and anyone in a wheelchair or who needed help to get onto the plane. Several people stood up and moved towards the counter. Their passports and boarding passes were checked and they disappeared through the door into the boardwalk that connected the plane to the building.

Once this first group of passengers had boarded the plane, the rest of the passengers were called to the counter. Everyone went to the counter at once.

Only when about ten people still stood at the counter, Chris and Sarah crossed over to the waiting area and joined the line. By then Sarah’s nerves were shattered.

Chris stayed calm throughout their wait, but she wanted nothing more than to join the long line. At least then she would have been doing something and it might have calmed her nerves.

By the time she stepped through the door of the aircraft and saw the rows and rows of seats inside, her nerves calmed somewhat.

Chris and Sarah found their seats and even found space in the overhead compartment directly above their heads to stow their small backpacks. Both kept one book out to read during the flight.

As soon as they were buckled in and the wait started for the plane to taxi towards the runway, Sarah’s nerves played up again. Her hand crept towards Chris’s and she locked her fingers in with his. Chris looked at her in surprise. It had been ages since she last held his hand like this.

Sarah only relaxed once they were airborne. She couldn’t quiet down her nerves entirely though. Sarah had never been in a plane before and credited her nerves to the fact she would be caught up in this aircraft between all these strangers for so long.

She reached for her book and opened it. Losing herself in a story might be what she needed to calm her.

Next to her Chris opened his book too. By the time breakfast was served, they were lost in their respective stories.

Continued: Shadows Of Mayday #24

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This story is a work of fiction, and the author’s tribute to all victims of air crashes. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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