Page 79 of Mountain Grump
Why would Uncle Jack book me a private plane?
Why wouldn’t he just get me a normal ticket out of a normal airport?
I don’t know much about planes. Hardly anything. But I’m pretty sure flying to Vegas in a windup toy is going to take longer than flying in a commercial jet.
I narrow my eyes at the sky.
Is that why I had to be here so ungodly early?
Then I think about how much longer it would take me to get to the Denver airport and to go through security… Maybe the travel time evens out?
Except this has to be way more expensive.
And scarier.
Don’t these small planes crash all the time?
I wipe my palms down my skirt again.
I can do hard things.
I repeat the words to myself as I follow the sidewalk around the corner of the building.
Would that count as doing a hard thing though? Dying in a plane crash? Because it’s not really me that’s doing it. It would be more of a thing that’s happening to me.
When I reach the side door halfway down the side of the building, I wipe my palms down my skirt for the final time, then I push open the door and step into the brightly lit airplane hangar.
And it’s exactly like the movies.
The building is wide with metal walls, a concrete floor, and an orange airplane sits beneath an open overhead door.
Voices come from the other side of the aircraft, but the people they come from don’t seem to notice my arrival.
I take a few steps farther into the hangar, but my black combat boots don’t make any noise, so I clear my throat.
The voices cut off, then a man in his sixties steps around the back of the plane.
He swings a towel onto his shoulder and grins at me. “Morning, Miss. You the passenger?”
I nod.
Okay, he looks seasoned.
I bet he’s flown this route a hundred times.
Maybe this won’t be so bad.
“Good.” He claps his hands together. “We just wrapped up, so perfect timing. Do you need to use the restroom before the flight?” He shrugs as he asks it, like he knows it’s an awkward question. “There’s no bathroom on the plane.”
I can’t stop myself from biting my lip as I look over at the plane.
I hadn’t even thought about the bathroom situation. But it doesn’t look like you could even stand up in the plane.
I nod. “In that case, yes, please.”
“I’ll show you?—”
“I’ll take her.” A familiar deep voice cuts through the air.
