"Why are we here two hours before we need to be?" Martin asked as he leant back in his chair.
"Perhaps Carolyn is getting a little too old for this job now." Douglas replied.
"I heard that!" Carolyn said sharply as walked into the room. "Now, where's Arthur?"
"Coming, Mum!" Arthur called as he rushed in.
"Are you going to explain why we're here at this un-godly hour?" Douglas asked.
"Its 8:30" Carolyn replied.
"Which meant that I had to leave the house by 7:00." Douglas moaned.
"Oh, I am terribly sorry to have inconvenienced you; I just presumed that you'd want to meet our new stewardess." Carolyn said sarcastically.
"New stewardess?" Martin asked.
"Yes, I thought you wanted to save money Carolyn," Douglas said.
"I do, she's willing to work for a reduced rate, and I'm confident that she will provide excellent service to our customers." Carolyn looked rather please with herself.
"Right." Martin said whilst wondering why someone would want to work on a reduced rate to be an air stewardess for MJN air.
"You haven't explained why a new addition to this delightful crew requires a two hour early start." Douglas said.
"Because I want everything to look good, she is newly qualified and I wouldn't want to scare her away on the first day. Breaking her in gently seemed the nicest option." Carolyn replied.
"You mean you didn't want her to find out immediately that our jet barely passes the safety checks and our crew is entirely dysfunctional." Douglas said.
"Exactly." Carolyn added, "So get to work and make this place look presentable. Douglas, be on your best behaviour, Martin, don't speak unless you have to and Arthur, don't speak at all."
A series of 'Alright's' and 'Yes Carolyn's followed her instructions.
Carolyn walked out to go and clean the plane thoroughly.
"Isn't it exciting!" Arthur exclaimed, "It's been ages since we had a new person on board."
"We had a new person on board last week, Arthur." Douglas said.
"Yeah but he was a passenger." Arthur paused, "I wonder what she's like, the new stewardess."
"Hmm. I wouldn't get too excited. Carolyn did choose her, she's probably very old and very boring." Martin said.
"I don't know Martin, she's likely to be young and impressionable, after all she is working for a reduced rate." Douglas replied.
"You're just saying that to disagree with me." Martin said sourly.
"No, no. In fact I'll bet you £10 she's a young, beautiful woman." Douglas said.
"No, I'm not betting." Martin replied.
"Because you know I'm right." Douglas said.
"No, because I don't have…" Martin quickly changed the direction of his sentence, "It's not right to bet on the new stewardess, don't you have any morals?"
Arthur cut in, "It doesn't matter though, whether she's young or old or pretty or not, I just hope she likes a good game of charades."
"If she does, she's sure to quickly change her mind." Douglas said.
"Right, is everyone ready, and presentable?" Carolyn asked.
"Why are we making such an effort again?" Douglas asked.
"Because I don't want her to leg it when she finds out what the rest of the crew is like." Carolyn said calmly.
They all straightened up as Carolyn walked out and the came back in with the new recruit.
The new stewardess was a young beautiful woman, with long silky black hair, pale yet glowing skin and warm blue eyes. Even Douglas was shocked.
"Right, everyone, this is Miss Grace Mill. She is our new stewardess and I do hope that you will all be very welcoming to her." Carolyn introduced her to them and then pointed to Arthur. "This is my son Arthur."
"Hiya." Arthur said cheerily.
"Hello." Grace replied with a nervous smile.
"This is the first Officer Douglas Richardson."
Douglas smiled, which was an unusual sight. "A pleasure Miss Mill."
"Please call me Grace," She said as she shook Douglas' hand.
"And this is our Pilot Martin Crieff." Carolyn said.
"It's, I mean I am very…" Martin gulped. "Lovely to meet you."
"And you." Grace smiled warmly and shook his hand.
"Right, now we're all acquainted. Arthur, make some tea. Martin, Douglas go and do your pre-flight checks and Grace, dear, would you help me prepare for the passengers?" Carolyn asked.
"Of course." Grace replied.
"So, not very old and stern looking is she?" Douglas teased.
"Okay, you were right." Martin said.
"And you came off very well, calm and confident."
"Really?"
"No."
"Oh…" Martin looked disappointed.
"So you like her then?" Douglas asked.
"Yes. Don't you?"
"Of course, she's beautiful, young, well spoken, and quite entrancing." Douglas said.
"Yes, she is rather." Martin replied dreamily.
"But I'm a happily married man."
"Well, it doesn't matter, she won't be interested in me." Martin sighed.
"You haven't given it a try. You're a pilot and she's a stewardess, you've got a good chance, besides you don't have anything to lose." Douglas said.
Martin eyed him suspiciously. "What are you planning?"
"Nothing. Is it too much to believe I'm helping you find true love." Douglas replied.
Martin was still a little unsure of Douglas' motives, nevertheless maybe he was right. Maybe he did stand a chance.