The Virgin Airline

"Protection?"

    I've imagined traveling across the world for years now. Oui, France, si, Mexico, and da, Rome. But flights are much more expensive than I've thought, and I can't even afford to make a trip across the state. This is why I considered several suggested careers to live out my dream of seeing the world.

    Being a pilot of a ship or a plane takes much more skill, despite all my research about it. Even being enlisted in the military is more frightening than hard. I've never really wanted to go to school for more than four years to receive a good career and education. Wanting to be a doctor never flopped so hard for me, especially the fact that I would be in student loan debt for the rest of my life.

    So, I went to school to do the next best thing. A job where I can travel, get income from that job, and meet dozens of interesting people. And that is being a flight attendant. The lap of luxury if you don't think about the several instances in where you might die from a crash—but it's pretty amazing.

    Currently, I'm traveling for the first time as a flight attendant. Nowhere special for my first time. It's a continuous trip from Colorado to New York.

    I quietly stood near the door of the airplane, awaiting oncoming passengers so I could greet them. The first passenger, a big, burly man, stepped on board, coughing into his meaty fist before he nodded his head towards me. I smiled at him and privately dispensed a squirt of hand sanitizer into my palm.

The rest of the passengers quickly boarded, some smiling at me and others ignoring me completely. The line of people stopped and the doorway to the plane was scarce, so that was my cue to close the door and airlock it. But no one said it was easy.

I gathered another attendant on the plane, an older Venezuelan woman named Aileen, to help me push the door close. For a small woman, she was particularly strong, including her heavy perfume.

I heaved a sigh and turned towards her. "Thanks, Aileen."

She shook her head. "That happened to be the first time I came onto the job."

"Wow, how long were you a flight attendant?"

Aileen turned to walk into the small space in the back of the plane that housed the food for the passengers. "Two months."

My eyebrows raised and I followed her to the back. "Well, what did you do before this job?"

As I conversed, she loaded bags of peanuts onto a rolling tray. "Eh, I was a wife."

"Oh. So like a housewife?"

Aileen took out canned sodas and bottles of water from a small refrigerator. "Something like that. Those are details I wouldn't share with a young woman. Especially since I just met you."

I nodded, intrigued, but I kept my mouth shut about the situation. Then, a loud moan came from inside the airplane bathroom. Passengers sitting in the back of the airplane turned to look back at us, eyes curious. I gave them a shaky smile and closed the curtain to give me and Aileen privacy.

I looked towards Aileen and whispered, "Who's in there?"

Aileen was still loading up on drinks as if she doesn't care about what's going on in the bathroom.