“What?” Gabe laughed. “My foot is nowhere near you.”
“Your foot is in my space,” she said. “What if I get up and trip?”
“Gabe, move your foot back,” Tom told him.
Gabe ignored him. “Well, you have strands of hair that are flying in my space. What if I inhale and choke?”
“Gabe,” Tom warned.
“Fine.” Gabe moved his foot back.
The flight attendant returned with the drink for Gabe and the credit card reader.
Gabe handed her his card and took the beverage.
When the flight attendant walked away, the woman mumbled. “Have another drink, why don’t you.”
“I will,” Gabe sipped his beverage.
Very calmly, Tom said, “Now, was that necessary?”
“What?” Gabe asked.
“Not you, her. Ma’am,” Tom called her softly. “Ma’am.”
Gabe waved out his hand. “Ignore her dad, she’s being ridiculous.”
The woman spun around. “Excuse me?”
Gabe just smiled.
Tom turned to Owen when he heard him laugh. “You think it’s funny?”
“I do. You never let people bother you.”
“She was being mean,” Tom said,
“People get that way on planes. Ignore her, like Gabe said. He can handle her. He’ll be obnoxiously polite and annoying enough to drive her nuts. Fortunately, we don’t have that much longer.”
“You’re right.” Tom glanced at Gabe. “Maybe we should have him move to this seat.” He tapped the empty middle seat.
“Dad, no. I like my space. Leave him. He’s good. You’re just waiting for trouble with him.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Old worry, habits die hard,” Tom said.
It wasn’t just a habit for Tom, it had become a way of life. Always, ‘what sort of trouble will Gabe get into next?’, was part of his daily routine. Eventually, if Gabe stayed the course, Tom would stop his obsessiveness. He was concerned about how long his ‘drug free and trouble free’ stage would last, after all, Gabe was still drinking. He never really hit that rock bottom most people hit in order to change.
What caused the change was the loss of something he loved to do.
Fly.
It wasn’t much, it wasn’t often, but he obtained his license to fly as a private pilot and was working on his commercial license when it all went south.
Their neighbor owned a small plane and started teaching Gabe when he was sixteen. What Gabe didn’t know was when he was pulled over for a DUI, it also had to be reported to the FAA. It wasn’t the DUI that cost him his pilot’s license, it was driving a car under a suspended driver’s license.
It was his second suspension in three years, and even though it was a driver’s license, under federal law it resulted in a six month suspension of his privilege to pilot an aircraft.
It pissed Gabe off to the point he was tired of being the bad boy and started focusing on doing things better.
He still dated Shawna the stripper though.
Not that he saw her dance, Tom didn’t. She just didn’t strike him as a good one or, in Tom’s opinion, a ‘desirable’ one. Shawna looked exactly like what she was. Someone that stripped for drugs.
They were horrible for each other, they fed off each other’s addictions, and neither was ever going to walk the straight and narrow until they ended their relationship.
About the only bright spot was when Tom’s ex-wife Julie and her fiancé thought they’d be supportive, and totally in denial that Gabe had a problem, invited Gabe and Shawn to his fancy country club.
Not only did the duo show up dressed less than ‘country club’ acceptable, they were both jacked up on cocaine.
Julie was humiliated and her fiancé lost his membership. After that, she distanced herself from it all. Instead of helping Tom try to get Gabe help, she was counterproductive. Like the time Gabe was in some sort of drug rage and Tom was able to get him admitted for psychiatric help … Julie signed him out.
She refused to believe, or show she believed, Gabe had a problem. She likened it to a phase he would get through, like when Gabe wanted to play the violin.
Four months.
It had been four months since there was trouble. That was a start.
Ding.
Tom lifted his eyes to the lights above his head.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the pilot spoke calmly in a tone that screamed he was about to say something he had said a million times. “At this time the seatbelt sign is on. We are making our approach to McLaren International and we will be touching down in Las Vegas in fifteen minutes. Please make sure all seats and trays are back in their upright position and all devices put away at this time. Thank you for Flying Blue Horizon Air.”
“Thank God,” Tom said with an exhale.
Owen laughed, “Dad, it wasn’t that long of a flight.”
“Oh, I know. I felt compelled to play with this thing …” he lifted the tablet. “Even signed up for Wi-Fi, but … I can’t figure it out.”
“I’ll help you so you have it on the flight home.”
“Sounds good.” Tom pulled the small case from the pocket in the seat in front of him, placed the tablet in the case and returned it to the pouch where he also kept his cell phone.
“Never got to eat those snacks,” Owen said. “Regret spending thirty bucks?”
“Nah, cause we’ll eat them in the hotel room.” Tom fastened his seat belt tighter, when he felt the plane lower in altitude.
He felt like a T-Rex the way his arms were squished tightly to his body as he gripped the arm rest of the chairs.
He knew the stats.
Crashes were more likely to occur during take-off and landing.
Tom was ready.
He relaxed some, wishing he would have thought ahead and gotten a drink like Gabe, his mouth was dry.
