AMERICAN AIRLINES CREW POINTS AT THE PLANE’S WINDOW WHEN MAN INQUIRES ABOUT THE FLIGHT DELAY

 

No matter how far away you live despite all the luxury and amenities at your disposal nothing could beat the comfort of the home. It is the only place that can give you peace and a cozy feeling that no other quilt in the world can provide regardless of its softness. No wealth is equivalent to having a home and family to come back to after work and lucky are those who are blessed with it. But sometimes, we understand the value of family only when we are on the verge of losing it or see someone going through the same. A similar realization happened to the protagonist of the story in the midst of his journey that moved him to tears.

Waiting For Holidays

As David entered the office almost everyone was out of their seats, this was quite unusual for him. Otherwise, he would watch them making plans for the meetings, scheduling them and most of the people’s heads buried under the file. But today the things were different. What had caused such a change in the office?

Frustrated

As a lot of meetings were lined up along with piles of files to be worked at, he found it frustrating when he saw them all having fun and taking the work at a slower pace. Two things annoyed him a lot – slow devices and most importantly slow people. The whole office was acquainted with the pet peeves of their boss and never dared to annoy him. But today it seemed like they had come from home just to test his patience.

Finding The Reason

David was a work alcoholic as well as a miser. The situation that he was facing in the office was irritating him. No doubt he had made this company a success from working hard day and night and now it was counted among one of the topnotch financial firms and was listed in the magazine too. It was difficult for him to see people wasting their time.

Routine

As he took his seat and called his assistant as usual. It was his routine to talk to his assistant daily as soon as he used to come office which was a surprise for everyone that worked for him. They had rarely seen him utter a word let alone talking. But out of all the people in the office, he used to like her a lot. This used to make a lot of girls jealous of her.

The Assistant

His assistant was not only intelligent but was insanely sarcastic too. She was always the one he would turn to if he needed an honest opinion without any flattering. She was in her mid-fifties and had worked for him for more than 10 years. He would always consider her as a family member than an employee. For him, he was his Chandler as well as Joey.

4th Of July

His assistant finally told him that it was the 4th of July and people were excited about going home. To which David made an annoying face while she smiled and said: “there are people who still love going home and spend time with their peers unlike those who had made office and work as their home “. It was only her jokes he would ever laugh at otherwise no one could see any emotions in him.

Lack Of Emotions

Sofia, his assistant often worry about his health, she had rarely seen him talking to anyone other than her or sharing his sorrows or happiness with anyone. His lack of emotion would annoy his employees. He would rarely go home and always engrossed himself in work. Would he ever change and mend his ways?

A Phone Call

Just when she was about to leave the cabin he got a call. She found it quite bizarre because if anyone wanted to call him, they would usually call at the reception.No one had his number except for his family members who seldom called. Then who might have given him a call? Would there be any chance that it might be a family member?

Tensed

He picked up the phone after it had rung for a considerable amount of time and said a faint hello as if he doubted that there was a ghost on the other end. His voice was quite intense in the whole conversation and he rarely spoke as usual. Who might have called him out of the blue and was everything fine?

Discussion

As he hung up the phone, David looked up to call Sofia and was amazed to find her leaning against the wall as if she was trying to listen to the conversation. If there was any other person whom he had seen doing the same he would have sacked him/her at the very moment, but then it was his assistant. The sarcastic intelligent woman.

Plans

Finally, David started to speak and told her that his mother had called him and wanted him to visit her on the holiday. His assistant was happy that finally he would get a life outside the workplace and enjoy a little. But for him, it was 5 hours of torture in the plane because apparently, he hated traveling. Would he consider going to his hometown for a change?

Booking Tickets

Sofia didn’t waste any time and started looking for the availability of seats on the plane. Unluckily there was no private compartment left as it was a holiday and seats had been reserved in advance. She was reluctant to break this news to David as she feared he might even cancel the plan of going to his house. What would she do now?

Telling The Truth

She finally told him the truth, and for a moment as she expected there was a no response from his side. But what came afterward from his mouth was unexpected but positive. He asked her to book his ticket in the economy class because there was no way he could miss going to his hometown.

Thinking

Sofia was amazed by his decision and was curious about what might have changed his mind in such a short span of time and asked about his mother if she was alright. He assured her that everything was fine and when she left the cabin he sat with his eyes closed thinking about last night.

The Previous Day

When he reached home from the office and his thoughts were going back to his childhood days. It had been years since he had gone to his home and now he didn’t even desire to visit it anymore. So as he lay on his bed after changing his clothes he dozed off for a while and he dreamt about his childhood days.

The Dream

He dreamt about how his dad would take him and his younger sister to watch the fireworks in the evening. And would buy them candies and play games with them. This was one the holidays other than Christmas that he used to come home for. He always wanted to be like his father and was determined to join the army until one incident that spun his life through 360 degrees.

The Incident

It was one of the 4th of July and his father had reserved his return tickets too, an evening prior to the holiday they were all preparing for it and as the dawn broke they started to wait for his father. And when he didn’t arrive till evening they were all worried and called all the lines they could find any clue about them. At last, the next they heard about him was his sudden demise.

Shattered

David was shattered by this news, his heart was broken into countless pieces that he could never put together and still was suffering from the ache of the sudden death of his father. After that incident, he never enjoyed the holiday and confined himself to work. But this time when his mother called him to spend some time with her and he said yes without even thinking twice. Was it a chance to live his life again?

Packing Bags

Though he never liked traveling this time he was doing it for his mother. So when he reached home, he started to pack without wasting any more time. He was feeling nostalgic as he packed his bag and grabbed some food for his journey. Would he be able to overcome his pain?

Next Morning

He woke up early and booked his taxi to the airport. He was always on time, no matter where he had to go. As he entered the airport he was happy that his flight was on time. He thought of making some important calls in the meantime but something from his within stopped him from doing so. And for the first time in so many years, he left the baggage of his work behind as he boarded the flight.

Inside The Flight

He had taken his seat inside the flight and it was still on time, he was happy that he would be easily able to catch his connecting flight in time. Though he had started to get annoyed by a little kid as he was so noisy, still he tried to control himself and stayed calm. Whenever his mind roamed around and thoughts of his work started to occupy his mind, he would look out of the window to distract himself.

Getting Out Of Control

David was a short-tempered person and when the plan was getting late without any prior warning he was irked. For that moment he regretted his decision of going back to Charlotte on a holiday leaving his important business deals and clients in Phoenix. .He rechecked the details of the flight but couldn’t trace any delay. What would he do now?

Annoyed

Annoyed as he was, he could not think of any way to get himself out of this. For a mini second, he thought of dropping the idea and going back to the office but he dismissed the idea as soon as it stroked in his mind and sat on his seat silently waiting for the plane to take off. What was the issue with the flight? Why wasn’t it taking off when there was no information about the delay when he checked the status of the flight.

What Now?

Already David’s anger was at the peak but as the gate closed he was kind of relieved and was going to sleep. But it seemed like the plane wasn’t going to take off any sooner. The pilot came out of the cockpit and went to the P.A system. Furious David couldn’t handle it anymore as the pilot said he had a special request for the passengers. What was his special request?

Delayed?

David didn’t even care to listen to the pilot what he had to say. He got frustrated assuming whatever the reason it might be and as a result of that his flight would be delayed and that would mean that there was a great possibility to miss the connection flight. Why was the plane getting delayed?

Irritation

Slow things used to irritate him a lot and here the whole flight was being delayed for a reason he didn’t bother to hear. He was in such a bad mood and on top of it, his head was aching now. He just wanted to run away but obviously he couldn’t. Even after getting a seat on a holiday on the plane, it wasn’t taking off.

Something’s Fishy

Though he didn’t care to listen to the announcement, he could sense that something was fishy. He had never liked traveling not even in the business class but nothing like this had happened before. The pilot was waiting for something or someone, which was really unusual. Would he able to know what was delaying the process?

Bewilderment 

When David was bewildered by the delay, another surprise came his way and that was when the engines of the plane were shut off. That clearly meant that the plane was not going to take off any sooner. He couldn’t believe his eyes and looked outside in frustration. And he noticed something weird. What did he see?

Strange Vehicle

He tried to focus on what he just saw to make sense in his mind but all he could see was a strange vehicle coming in the direction of the plane. At the same point, he heard the pilot’s voice from a distance. It seemed as if he was going to announce something really important. What was he going to announce and what was that strange vehicle and why was it coming in the plane’s direction?

Request

“I thought ‘Now what? And I got even angrier because I was going to miss my connection,’” David said. “And then this happened.”. The pilot then politely asked the passengers to pause for a moment of silence. This intrigued David. What was happening at the airport?

Lossing The Connection

He was furious more than intrigued because of the delay. Now he was pretty sure he was going to lose the connection flight in North Carolina which really upset him. So he thought of the way to know what was going on. He tried to see a flight attendant and luckily she was coming near his seat so he asked her what was going on and why was the flight late and the answer he got confused him even more.

Answer

The attendant just pointed towards the window without even uttering a word and he was surprised when he looked out. He finally realized the reason for the delay and it seemed like his past came in front of his eyes. Everything seemed to come back to him, every memory, happiness, and pain.

Handle It With Care

David saw a long box coming out of the vehicle and that wasn’t just an ordinary box. It was wrapped in an American flag and there was a warning too written “handle it with care” on the side of the box. The box was actually a casket. Everything was making perfect sense to David.

Addressing The Delay

Soon the pilot addressed the delay from the P.A system and everyone present on the plane who were complaining about the delay in the flight became ashamed and emotional. It was a very rare moment in the life of David after his father had died. He had become emotional too and was feeling guilty of what he had said or thought.

The Casket

The casket was of an American soldier who had fallen while serving in Afganistan and was being flown to North Carolina to his home. And that was the reason the plane was delayed that day. It was after so many years David had felt some emotions and tears ran down his cheeks.

Emotional Time

When the casket was boarded in the flight everyone started crying. It was indeed an emotional moment as people were going home to celebrate independence day and there was one who was going to be buried that day so that people could celebrate. They would be enjoying the freedom that had come as a compromise of one’s life.

Admitting The Feeling

Later David wrote a post on twitter about the incident. He was moved by it and started to analyze the situation and felt guilty for acting inconsiderately for years with his family and mother when they needed him the most. He thought that his pain and loss were uncomparable without giving heed about his mother’s emotions. But now his own problems seemed to be really trivial in front of the incident.

Statements

David wrote on his twitter handle “I felt guilty and so sad. My problems seemed trivial,” David said. “Here I was flying home to be with my family for the 4th. Here he was going to with his family to be buried on the 4th.” Would the whole incident help heal his wounds from the past?

That Day

David continued his post and said: “You see this is what the 4th of July is about. This is why we are free to argue over an athlete and a pair of tennis shoes. It about a sacrifice of men and women who since 1776 have laid down there lives so I can eat hotdogs and drink beer and watch fireworks.”

Respect

David and the other passengers later came to know how the American airlines handled the incident and felt proud and happy to fly with them. He wrote: “I wanted to share this because it is the 4th of July I will never forget. My problems melted away and I was so proud of America and American Airlines for showing so much respect,”.

David’s Urge

David finally ended the post by saying: “Please keep his family in your thoughts today,” David, concluded. “Because somewhere in North Carolina a family is burying there son, dad, brother, sisters and his mother are saying goodbye today.” And this time when he reached home he hugged his mother really tight and she was surprised by his behavior.

Journey Begins

When the crew members along with the pilot had boarded the casket, the flight gradually approached the runway. It was the most emotional flight that he had taken in his life and thought about the days he had spent with his father when he was alive and how lucky he was to have a father like him.

Silence Prevails

The passengers were quiet during the whole journey. As if they were still in the surprise of what had happened. There was no loud music, no chitchats and no voices in general. Even the kids too remained silent as if they knew what had happened. They too like the adults, wanted to extend this moment of silence and pay their respect to the martyred soldier.

Safe Landing

The plane landed safely on the grounds of North Carolina although there was a slight delay in the landing, people didn’t utter a word when they unloaded the casket. David was desperate to reach home and was feeling a little nostalgic. It seemed like life had given him another chance to relive the moments and correct his mistake and attitude towards life and people.

Home

When he reached home, there was a silence when he hugged his mother it seemed like he was reliving all the moments he had lost years back. His mother was concerned when he started crying and asked if everything was fine, he assured her about the same and also told her about the incident that just had happened.

Getting A Closure

The whole incident allowed him to get closure over his past and when he shared the incident on twitter he wrote: “You see this is what the 4th July is about. This is why we are free to argue over a stupid athlete and a stupid pair of tennis shoes. It about a sacrifice of men and women who since 1776 have laid down there lives so I can eat hotdogs and drink beer and watch fireworks.”

Getting Back At Work

When he returned back from home there was a drastic change in his behavior. Everyone was shocked but Sofia was relieved when she saw positive changes in David. The negativity that used to prevail around him had suddenly evaporated and Sofia was extremely happy about the same. She thought these changes were surely the consequence of the recent experience he might have had which had changed him a lot. His changed behavior confirmed it too.