The phone rang. It was two in the morning. Moria was already shivering and crying in her sleep next to me. I shook her awake as I answered the phone. Her nightmares had started again. I wondered if this was part of her pregnancy or if she’d forgotten to mention it 8 months ago. Forgetting was another curse that came along with her self-proclaimed gift. But I believed her, how couldn’t I? I snuck into the living room, in a trance under by boss’ desperate voice. “I’m sorry for calling so early. It was an emergency. While you were gone the board decided to do a big assignment” I said that’s fine and pushed him to go on. An uneasy tone was in his raspy voice. “I know your wife is almost due, but we need you. You missed an entire week of work. The committee wanted to fire you. I know, we have to devote our whole souls basically, for how much they’ve been paying us.” I implored him “Yeah, so what are you getting to, Vern?” He slowly replied “Well,” he hesitated “ I sort of… volunteered you. Really, it saved you. But there are some drawbacks.” Drawbacks? “Yes, hmm… you’ll be gone for two weeks.” Well isn’t there anyone else who can go? “That’s the thing. Since I offered you, they won’t have anyone else. They are testing you. See? I know you’ll need money once your child is born. I wasn’t even planning on telling you until tomorrow. I really am sorry.” Well, I’m glad you told me tonight. This is my job. I need to do what I can to support my family. When am I leaving? “Sunday afternoon.” What is this assignment anyway?
I ran cold water over a washcloth. Quietly I closed the door behind me and watched her. Her face was concerned and intimate. Her closed eyelids looked like full moons. I wondered what the world looked like through them. I listened to her whispering softly. Begging me not to go. She knew these things in her dreams. She told me our daughter told her these secrets. I startled her when I sat next to her on the bed. I laid the washcloth on her forehead and she opened her eyes to me and smiled. Everything could be dark around her but she could light the room with her smile. I held her hand and tried to explain to her what was going to happen but she stole the breath from my lungs. She always interrupted me. She beseeched me to stay. “Please don’t leave me again.” I told her I had to. I had to sacrifice. She told me she had a bad dream. About a plane caught in a tree. Vines were strangling armrests, growing over windows, winding around the wings, vein like. Baby insects were living inside ribcages. Animals burrowed in overhead storage. Suitcases full of clothes were sporadically thrown around the cabin. I knew what this meant. But I couldn’t let it happen again. She demanded me, and I wanted to stay. But I had to go, for the committee. I had already missed enough work. We only went on vacation a week ago. I couldn’t blame them for this. She told me to quit. It’s just not that easy. I told her we had until Sunday afternoon. She cried and I held her. I told her that it was probably just her hormones kicking in. I’d be back before she knew it. “How long?” Two weeks. She sniffed once more, and sighed. “I’ll miss you.” She fell asleep in my arms. To much commotion wore her out. Her dreams were her home. She knew them and read them like a book.
The next morning she was gone, but my arms still held her shape. I looked around and stretched my arms in the air. I heard her slippers drag in the kitchen and the coffee machine hummed. She glowed in her pale skin and said with a gleaming smile “The doctor called. It’s official,” I looked up and held my breath. “It’s going to be a girl!” She hugged me and gave me a kiss. She never stopped smiling. I told her today was her day. We would do what ever she wanted to do. We shopped for tiny dresses and shiny black Mary-Jane shoes. Our hands swung when we walked, I read her mind like she reads mine and I could tell she was imagining a little girl between us, and I blushed.
We picked out sandals, onesies, sick-on earrings, and tiny socks. She’d anticipated this since our first year together. I remembered lying in my old room daydreaming with her. And now it was finally happening. We drove home in a hurry when she said he felt sick. I laid her down and kissed her neck. We were asleep within minutes.
When I awoke it was already 9:30. I had to be at the airport in two and a half hours. I made her breakfast in bed, took a shower and packed. Time went by so fast at home, and before I knew it I had to buckle my seat belt and prepare for lift off. I closed my eyes and remembered Moria’s face as I went into the cubical hallway, her look of warning. She has been wrong before, and I took the risk for her. She understood.I was reading pamphlets with mythological characters stirring around the cabin. “In the event of a Crash” I sarcastically read. The man next to me sat up and said something in Spanish. I moved so he could pass me. He came back a few minutes later looking pale and he smelled like vomit. I pointed to his $3000 jacket to tell him he had toothpaste on it. Then I heard a loud explosion and things started to slow down.(The following is from Moria’s point of view)
I had just gotten home from the airport. My head throbbed. My stomach was cramped and uncomfortable. I started washing the dishes when I looked down to find blood steadily flowing below me. I started feeling faint and called Sarah, my step mom. I waited for her to arrive from east L.A. I tried to clean up but I must have collapsed on the floor. For when I awoke my mom was holding my hand tightly. She was running and colors and lights passed by us. She told me about how my water broke, but something was wrong. She told me I was loosing blood. We arrived in a room with peach walls and sea green curtains. Even these dull colors seemed vibrant to me. I tried to touch my legs but the were numb. All I wanted was him to be there. To be holding my other hand that was clutching my phantom leg. He wouldn’t see out nameless child’s eyes open to the world for the first time. He wouldn’t hear her first cry. Neither of us would.
(Back to the narrator’s point of view)
Someone the screamed fire and I looked around. Smoke poured out of the bathroom. Children cried, women panicked, men asked questions. The captain talked low and I could sense in his voice that he was trying to hide fear. The only two people who were thinking clearly and were showing no emotion were the man next to me, and I. He continued reading Teen People magazine, and smiled. I spotted a knife in his pocket. He grasped it and motioned that he wanted to pass, in a threatening way. I move and saw him head for the captain’s cabin. I looked around for anything I could use as a weapon. Bright red caught my eye. The fire extinguisher was heavy, I could knock him out with it. I followed him once he passed the curtain between first and second class, so that he wouldn’t suspect me. I ran to get the extinguisher and swung open the captain’s door. My heart pumped faster and faster. My chest burned. I strung back my arm and he turned to see me pulling toward him. His arm flung up and tried to block him face. His hands were covered in blood. The instant I struck him with the cold, hard metal against his jaw, I felt the plane spiral down. I felt so light, my stomach fluttered. I imagined cockroaches slivering up my spine. Winding through my ribs. I imagined my child’s crystal blue eyes, Moria’s tears streaming down her soft face. I looked down at the captain, slaughtered. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. I tried to grab the wheel and pushed down as hard as I could. We were already too far down. I pulled as hard as I could. I pulled for Moria. And the wheel ripped off. Screams from second class leaked into my ears. Time was catching up, and moving fast. Colors swarmed around me, and all I wanted was to have her hand in mine, so I wouldn’t be afraid. But I was too late.
I awoke. Moria was in the kitchen again. Her slippers dragged on the floor. The coffee machine hummed. “The doctor called.” This time I didn’t hold my breath. “It’s going to be a girl!” I stood up and held her. I wouldn’t let go until she told me she couldn’t breathe in her fake choking voice. It was just a bad dream. I told her I wouldn’t go. That she was right and I was sorry for not believing her. We shopped all day, and slept like babies again. The next day we lounged around. We ate Top Ramen and watched T.V. The news talked about a plane crashing into some Political Building. We thought of names for our new addition. I told Moria about my dream and we decided to name her Aisling, which mean’s “A vision”.
(Alternate ending)
I awoke. Moria and I were walking along the sand. This was where we met. Shells crushed beneath us., but we couldn’t feel them. The waves crashed into our legs like the legs of a great pier. Everything was bright. I floated along and nothing was wrong. We waited there for years so that one day out little girl would come to live with us once again.
by mckenzie baldock
