Wanting Silence
I was returning to the States from a wonderful vacation in San Juan. After 30 minutes of the flight I heard a loud boom! The plane loses altitude immediately, and the flight attendant begins to cry and run down the aisle. At the time, I was traveling with my girlfriend and was trying to maintain a macho persona of “It’s good.” The guy on my right was screaming and scratching the window.
I can’t imagine what he is thinking. The engine on fire is the cherry on top. I probably should have started with that. After what seemed like an eternity the plane leveled off, , and then we were left with silence.
The captain finally came over the loudspeaker to announce that we were returning to San Juan. This 30 minute trip back was the longest I’ve ever taken. I’ve read about 10 chapters of my book, but don’t recall a single word. I remember trying to find someone who was calm and collected to help me relax. I saw a man two rows above across the aisle.
After a while, I realized that he had been reading the same page in his newspaper and hadn’t moved a muscle for 30 minutes. Finally, we arrived at the landing. There were a lot of fire trucks and ambulances awaiting us. The obligatory clapping was heard when we stopped, but it was a different experience this time because strangers who had been standing next to each other an hour ago were now hugging and sobbing together.
We get off the airplane, and I know you’ll hate me…but…I can’t recall if we went down the bouncy-house slide. It has been 15 years since that night and there was a lot of information to process. As we entered the concourse from the walkway, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but instead, a gate employee working for the airline said “Yeah the same thing happened last Thursday” to another flier.
I also found the flight attendant that went flying down aisle, and I told them I had always been taught that everything was normal and okay, and to be worried about anything, just watch how the flight attendants behave. When he started crying and ran away, I knew that we were in serious trouble. Then he proceeded tell me that he didn’t do it and stormed away…but he did. The airline covered the cost of one sleepless hotel night in downtown San Juan.
We went to a restaurant that served tapas and I didn’t taste anything. The next morning, we woke up early and boarded our same airline. It was still frightening.
