When the flight was called, I led Kyle immediately to the gate since I had bought and paid for two first-class tickets and first class got to board first—or last, whatever we wanted. The main reason to board first was to find a place to store your suitcase, but in first class that was less of an issue since there were fewer people and more overhead storage compartments. Still, I wanted to get Kyle on the plane so he could look around, check everything out, and see what it all looked like.
With our bags stashed away and the overhead compartment closed, I put Kyle in the window seat so he could watch out the window during the flight. Even though I had warned Kyle that flights were frequently delayed by any number of factors, including weather, delayed incoming flights, delayed flight crews, ramp slowdowns, you name it, none of those factors appeared to be issues that day.
Five minutes before departure, the cabin door was closed.
“What’s that?” Kyle asked.
“They just closed the door so the plane can push back from the gate.”
Kyle paid absolutely rapt attention to the flight attendant as she gave the flight safety demo, to the point that she became a bit worried about the man in seat 1A. When she finished, I told her, “First flight.” She gave a knowing smile and told Kyle not to worry.
Since it was midday, there was a little less ramp traffic, so the plane pushed back on time and taxied fairly directly out to the runway.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are number one for takeoff. Flight attendants, take your seats.”
One minute later the jet’s engines got noticeably louder and the huge plane started moving down the runway. Kyle was still somewhat dubious about something so big getting off the ground, but he took comfort in the fact that I did not seem at all concerned.
Faster and faster the plane moved along the runway, the scene outside the window racing past. The front wheel of the plane lifted from the runway, and seconds later the entire machine was in the air.
Kyle watched as the ground rapidly dropped away. “Holy shit! I’m flying!”
“You bet your sweet ass you are, my awesome man!”
Our flight climbed easily, and in seemingly no time, the pilot was announcing that we had reached our cruising altitude and that it was now safe to move around the cabin.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Kyle said.
“What, babe?” I asked, confused.
“They let us out of our seats? You don’t have to stay seated the whole flight?”
“Not unless it gets bumpy. But I’ll tell you a secret: there’s not very far you can go. There’s the bathroom and that’s about it.”
“You can pee on airplanes?”
I know I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yep. People pee on airplanes every day, and you will pee on an airplane today too.”
The flight attendant took good care of Kyle during the flight, serving him his drink first as well as his snack. She made sure to clear away his tray first and kept his drink constantly filled. Kyle’s first flight wasn’t all that long, since there were no direct flights to Key West.
We changed planes in Atlanta to a much smaller jet. Kyle was no less thrilled by the takeoff or the landing and was even more thrilled during the flight, since our flight path took us out over the open water of the Gulf for the final part of the flight.
As our plane descended and lined up with the runway for landing, Kyle tried to take in everything. After a picture-perfect landing, the plane rapidly slowed since the runway in Key West wasn’t that long.
“That was so freaking amazing!” Kyle practically shouted in excitement. “Did you see all that water?”
“Yeah, babe, I have, but I’m seeing it all again for the first time through your eyes. All week I want you to tell me about everything!”
“No problem!” In his excitement, though, he bumped his head on the ceiling since the plane was so small.
“Sorry, big guy,” I said, but he barely seemed fazed.
Since we were in the front of the plane, we were the first ones off. We descended the stairs and walked into the “terminal”—it was Key West, so it wasn’t very big. Nothing in Key West was very big.
We didn’t have to wait for luggage, so we simply grabbed a cab and headed over to our hotel. Everything was close to everything else in Key West, so we were at our hotel in less than ten minutes. I knew exactly where I wanted to take Kyle, but I also knew that it would be too much too fast, so instead I had opted for a slightly more sedate and smaller hotel. From the street where the cab dropped us off, the place looked tiny. It looked like just the front of a very small two-story house. But once we were buzzed through the door and had walked down a long dark hallway, we entered another world entirely. The phrase “walk toward the light” took on an entirely new meaning for both of us.
At the end of the long hallway, we found ourselves in a spacious courtyard with a hot tub, a pool, lounge chairs, tables under palm trees, a bar, and men—oh, yeah, let’s not forget the men. Did I tell you there were men? Oh, there were men. Lots and lots of men. There were old ones, there were young ones, there were trim ones, there were overweight ones. There were butch ones and there were nelly ones. There were basic ones, there were men of all shapes, sizes, and sorts. Oh, yeah, there were men, some from every part of the rainbow that was masculinity.
Some of them were downright drop-dead, stunningly gorgeous. Of course that may just have been the wagging weenies that were so attractive. In the course of sixty seconds, Kyle moved from embarrassed to a kid in a candy
