Nose Dive

Eh, Eh, Eh. Sounds of the emergency alarm. Over 100 thousand feet amist the air. "Fasten your seat belts. Prepare for emergency landing," the little stewardess shouted through the overhead.

Panic everywhere. One child already tumbling forward like a bowling ball down the aisle. Cans, magazines, purses, cell phones moving through the air cabinet. Shouting. Crying. Cussing. What was happening? Was the plane going down. "My baby," one lady shouted. "We're all going to die," the man next to me blurted out.

The plane jolted every which way. Numbed from waist down. Ears popping from constant pressure. Emergency ligths flashing. Cell phones pleading for service, but towers showed no mercy. My head pounded against the plane ceiling. Passenger's coins escaping pockets, colliding with the ceiling surface. Total chaos. Now shifting sideways, like a rollercoster. The pilot must have readjusted his position. The plane straightened up and I was upright in my seat at normal position. Speaking too soon, I now hung in the air foward. Had it not been for my safety belt, I'd be in the cock pit.

Warm urine raced down my dress pants. I was scared. In the window seat, my eyes danced toward the outside. Nothing there, just clouds. Air. Shocked. I could not say anything. Choked by mere air. My words were stuck. Hands sweaty and tears crawled down my face like a stream flows toward a nearby river. I was going to die? Clasping my wet hands together for one last prayer to my Father. "Hallow be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done . . ." Perplexity and fear obstruct my memory. I want to say so much more, but I'd only remembered that routine prayer.Fear of death gripped my words. I was terrified.

Loudly, I began to weep. Others did the same, echoed in unison. Now clutching my rosary, like never before. I'd almost broke the chain, sure that there was a chain imprint around my neck.

I saw the sea below. We were fast approaching. Plumeting toward an irrational death. Taking a nose dive straight into the Atlantic Sea. "Plane down, plane down".

God couldn't have heard my prayer, even when I thought I was close in proximity. We were still diving into the deep big blue. What was far away was now so close. One mile away. Half mile away. Meters away. The water. The Air. The Salt.

Death on Impact.

Call of the Wild

Charlotte rest in her quarters amist her window bay, already predicting the nightly visitor she had become familiar with. That night the rain drips loud - heavy against the windowpane. So heavy, Charlotte is reminded of her father's hallow guitarre he used to play sounding her and her little brother off to bed. Trying to fall asleep, she secures herself beneath the dingy quilt that her mother had given her. However, she is unable to relax for too long because Uncle Pete would show up soon for his usual "night cap" - at least that's what he'd call it.

With each raindrop, a memory surfaces. She sees the Sheriff arrive to her Ant Francis' front door where she stood in the corner holding her little brother's hand. Another raindrop made her think of the smell of her mother's pancakes early Saturday mornings. Charlotte's mouth watered as she envisioned the sweet syrup. An even harder raindrop against the midnight air, caused her to giggle to herself when her Pa sang his guitarre song. "Up and away the wind blows . . . ", Charlotte sang to herself . . . is the way the mosquito must go".

Charlotte loved when it rained. Made her think pleasant thoughts. Mama and her would sometimes sit and just listen to the rain. Mama said when it rained God's heart was beating louder and the faster it beat, the more lives he was saving. Since Mama and Pa died, Charlotte pleaded for rain. Rain was like home for her. It was rainy nights like tonight that made Charlotte surrender to the meek and unfamilar house that she and her brother now resided. Not too often did sleep defeat her except when the rain came.

Then the undesired sound came, the sound of the doorknob jiggling. That sound, came to be called the The Call of the Wild. Every time Charlotte heard the doorknob jiggle, she knew it was Uncle Pete. Upon his sneaky entrance, she grit her teeth and clutched hold of her quilt as he towered over her. His coarse hands wrestled through the covers trying to find her budding body. One paw blanketed Charlotte's mouth and the other paw gripped her frail body, positioning her in a fair angle before Uncle Pete abruptly entered her. Charolotte used to scream, but her child-like body had become numb to his "night caps". Instead, she pleaded that God would save more lives and end the The Call of the Wild tonight.