man on a plane

Departing from Nashville, Tennessee I sat on the plane next to a man who appeared to be in his mid forties. He had a good ol' boy look to himself and his country twang matched the part. We were both headed for Detroit, Michigan that morning; I was on my way to catch a connecting flight to Narita, Japan and he was on his way to meet a woman whom he had met on an online dating site.

By the time I had found my seat he was already in place and tightly belted down. It was only his only his 2nd time to fly in a plane and he quickly informed me of this. Before having time to even stow my bags he turned to me saying, “Son, flying in airplanes scares the hell out of me.” He continued with, “I’m not scared much anything else. I just don’t like flying.”

He turned out to be very talkative and it wasn’t too long before he began telling me his story. He told me about how he had been once divorced and how he had a good feeling about the lady he would be meeting later that afternoon. Together they planned on crossing into Canada so that they could get better acquainted with one another. He then told me about his Harley and how he contemplated taking his bike to Michigan so he didn’t have to fly.

Married friends of his have matching Harleys, he explained. They bought them at the same time and they never take one out without the other. The only thing different between the two bikes is the one digit difference between the serial numbers. He referred to the bikes as the twins. He told me that when one bike needs to be serviced his friends just go ahead and take them both in for maintenance. I got the impression that he too longed for his own pair of twin bikes. At that moment I hoped that things between him and his Internet girlfriend would work out for the best.

I dozed off at one point during a silent spell in our conversation, but by that time he had softened his grip on the handle of his seat. At times I even noticed him glancing out the window. I awoke when the pilot’s voice came over the intercom to say, “flight attendants please prepare the cabin for landing.”

As our plane began its descent the man continued on as if we had been talking the entire time. He remarked, “I just don’t get how it is that we are moving so fast even though everything looks like it’s passing by so slow.” He continued with, “I think that’s Einstein’s Theory of Relativity or something like that.” I didn’t respond, but instead I slowly bobbed my head up and down several times pushing my lower lip out just slightly as if to relay that I was thinking deep and hard about what he had just said. Once the plane landed he introduced himself to me. I can’t remember his name, but I think it was John or Jim or James or something.