Author's note: Hello everyone! Thanks for reading. I have been watching a lot of Wings lately and have been itching to write a story. I was almost finished with this one when I realized that it's strikingly similar to the Cheers episode "Let Sleeping Drakes Lie." Well, *sigh* anyways, enjoy!
As another morning fully arrived, coffee was passed into average cups and Helen began to listen to the same conversations as usual, and the same orders. Muffins, toast, and bagels with extra cream cheese. Unfortunately, there were no donuts, and she was forced to apprise many a hungry person of this, including Brian.
"What, no donuts? What are we, in prison?" He questioned.
Helen rolled her eyes. "Sorry Brian, I don't have any today. Order something else."
"What else am I supposed to get?"
"I have a chocolate muffin. That's like a donut."
"It's not fried."
"Oh, suck it up and eat your muffin," Helen finished, slamming it down in front of him.
"Fine, fine." He began to pick it at like a little kid, eating it little by little.
Fay scurried up and sat down at the lunch counter. "Is it true? Are there no donuts?"
"Fay, you hardly ever get donuts in the morning, why does it matter now?" Asked Helen.
"Sometimes I'm just in a pastry mood, and today was one of those days."
"Sorry."
Roy marched up. "Chappel, gimme a donut."
Helen huffed. "Roy, there are none."
"Are you serious? I got a lot of work to do today, now how am I gonna pull through?"
"What sort of work?"
"None of your business, toots," Roy replied, and she rolled her eyes again.
Antonio, who had been sitting at the counter for the last forty-five minutes, told him, "Now Roy, be kind to Helen. Certainly it is not her fault that the donuts are gone, is it?"
She paused, her mouth slightly ajar. "Well, see, that's a funny story, because I..."
"Hi, Helen. Have you got any donuts yet?" Lowell asked as he walked by.
She closed her eyes. "No, Lowell, there are no FREAKING donuts. I have none, there are none."
"Hey," said Joe as he walked in. Helen had seen him arrive earlier that morning, but he had left not too long ago. "I went and got donuts for everyone." He set a white box on the counter, and everyone thanked him extensively, including Helen, relieved that everyone would stop wanting one but also slightly disappointed she wouldn't be making any money of these.
As the box opened, Roy reached over the counter and grabbed the whole thing in one horrible motion. "See ya," he quipped as he began to walk towards his office. The shouts, protests, and attempts to grab the box were temporarily silenced by him saying, "Hey, I got real work to do, and all the rest of you do is piddle around. I deserve these babies." He then slammed his office door and all was quiet again.
"Well, Joe, ready for another donut run?" Asked Brian.
"No, thank you," he replied.
"Well, it was a very sweet thing for you to do in the first place, Joe," said Helen.
"Hey, I happen to know that this place falls apart at the seams without donuts."
"Exactly, which is why we need to find some way to get that box back," said Brian.
"You mean steal it back from Roy's office?" Asked Fay. "God only knows what's in there. It may not be worth it."
"We need a daring individual, someone who laughs in the face of danger," Brian added. "I'd do it, but I'm a little too wide and muscular to be able to duck behind things."
Joe scoffed, but put in, "Well, that being said, I nominate Helen."
"Why me?" She asked.
"You're the smallest."
"What about Fay?"
"I'm afraid I'm not as limber as I used to be, dear," she said.
"How am I even supposed to get in there and take the box?" She asked.
At that moment, Roy walked back out of his office and made his way towards the terminal door, calling out to one of the pilots behind the Aeromass counter, "Dennis, take over. I'm going out to the El Camino for...something."
"Go, go now," Brian prodded.
Helen had had it. "Fine, fine, I'll go on one condition. Joe, tomorrow, I expect a big box of donuts on my counter at six AM just for me."
"All right, you've got it, just go," he replied.
As she walked out from behind the counter, Lowell whispered loudly, "GOOD LUCK, HELEN."
She smiled. "Thank you, Lowell."
There were exactly two people behind the Aeromass counter at that moment—Dennis the pilot and Roy's ticket agent. When both weren't looking, Helen ducked under the desk and pinned herself against the wall behind a file cabinet. The door was closed, so getting in and out would be a little more difficult.
A minute passed, and no opportunity opened. Finally, two sets of heels faced her, and Helen heard conversation. She took a better look, and once she had planned her route, she counted to three, sped up to the door opened it, and closed it just as quickly. There was no telling how much time she had, but once she had gotten in, Helen knew she might as well take in her surroundings to tell the others about the place. It didn't differ much from what she had been expecting. Roy's desk was covered with papers, pens, coasters, napkins, and a big, red telephone. There was a swimsuit calender in the corner and a very large desk chair. The floors looked as if they had never been cleaned.
The most interesting thing in the office was a big, metal storage cabinet against the back wall that almost looked like some sort of wardrobe. She didn't really want to know what was inside.
Knowing that she had already taken too much time, Helen grabbed the box of donuts off the desk, but as she began to make her way to the door, she heard Roy's voice just outside. In a panic, she realized that there was absolutely no choice other than to hide inside the storage cabinet. She crammed herself inside and shut the door just as the Roy entered his office once again.
Helen realized as she sat up in the big cabinet what was in there with her—suits. At least ten of Roy's gray, dingy suits were hanging up inside there with her, and she sank down to avoid having to touch them.
She wondered what the others thought was happening to her now. They'd better worry, she thought. I'm in here because of them and who knows if I'll ever get out.
Trying to relax, she speculated that she'd have a clear window to leave when Roy left his office again, which couldn't be too far away. He never stayed in here for that long. So she settled in and started waiting.
About five minutes later, she heard Roy mutter, "Wait a minute, what the—hey!" He got up out of his chair and yelled out the door, "All right, which one of you bozos took my donuts?"
She heard Brian say, "Us? Take your donuts? Now, Roy, why would we do that?"
"Ah, forget it. I've got too much work to do to worry about what you idiots are doing. Where's Chappel?"
"You mean you don't...know?" Joe asked.
"Why would I ask if I knew?"
"Uh...she's...she's in the back. Practicing for an audition," Joe made up.
"I don't hear her."
"She's trying a very quiet technique," said Brian.
"Whatever," said Roy, shutting himself in again.
For a few minutes, everything was dead silent, and Helen was afraid to move. After a few moments, Roy picked up the phone and began to talk to his mother, and she relaxed. While he was talking, she slipped open the donut box and shoved one in her face. It was an amazing chocolate covered cake donut, and as she swallowed it almost whole, she got ready with another one. She ended up eating one right after another until the entire box was gone. She even ate the ones she didn't like with the gross lemon filling and found that she wasn't all that regretful that she did it. The donuts she had gone in there to save were now gone, but that could count as the box she told Joe to buy her. She really didn't care anymore.
A half an hour passed, then forty-five minutes. As an hour approached, Roy had still not left his chair. Helen braided her hair, undid it, and then braided it again, recounting the buttons on her shirt after she had finished that. She guessed what might happen to her if Roy found her or if she were to be stuck in this cabinet forever, about dying alone and unmarried without ever become a concert cellist, and about how maybe she should have rationed her donuts. Being over dramatic gave her something to do.
In a last ditch effort to cure her boredom, she began to count the crumbs in the empty donut box.
After another thirty minutes, there was a knock at the door. "Roy, it's Brian and Joe. We have something of utmost importance to talk to you about," Brian said loudly.
"Can't it wait? I told you two, I'm busy."
"It's...really important."
"Yeah, really important."
"Fine, come in," Roy said.
"Wow, Roy," Joe said. "What a...nice office."
"Thanks, now whaddaya want?"
"Uh...uh...Roy? Do you remember that day last month when the plane needed a part and Joe, Lowell and I took one of your flights to Boston to go and get it?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well," Brian continued. "Did we...did we tell you that the part wasn't in stock so we had to go to uh, to uh...Georgia to get it?"
"No."
"Yeah, well, we did, and uh, on the flight to Atlanta, they had some problems with the plane, and you know, there was this really cute stewardess who had an accent like HELEN did. Just like HELEN's accent. So the lady who had an accent like HELEN told us, 'I'M GOING TO GET YOU OUT OF HERE.' Just like that, 'WE'RE GOING TO GET YOU OUT.' And it was really nice, you know, she made us feel good."
Helen could hear Joe shuffling around Roy's office, probably looking for where she was hiding. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, and Brian was sitting on the other side of the plane, and as we hit the water and everyone was running around, I yelled, 'WHERE ARE YOU?' to Brian because I couldn't find him. And then, the lady with an accent like HELEN helped me look for him and we both yelled, 'WHERE ARE YOU?' until we found him. It was really great."
"What's your point?" Roy questioned.
"Our point is...why don't we hire flight attendants in this airport, just as a nice service to our guests?" Joe asked. Helen heard one of the brothers lean up against the cabinet, and she softly tapped the area she assumed he was leaning on.
"Joe, why don't we leave Roy alone, he's obviously very busy," said Brian, and Helen could now tell he was the one who had been leaning on the cabinet.
"Just think about it Roy—the nice lady like HELEN who said, 'WE'RE GOING TO GET YOU OUT OF HERE,'" Joe finished, and then she heard the door close.
"What a bunch of morons," Roy muttered.
Helen almost agreed. They had gone about it in a very idiotic way, but they had gotten their point across to her, and they had found out where she was.
After about another ten minutes, there came another knock. "Roy, it's me. Lowell." Helen put her head in her hands. Lowell sounded like he was reading from a script, and very poorly at that.
"Whaddaya want, Lowell?"
"There is a problem with one of your planes. You must come. It's important."
"I don't have time right now."
"You must come. It's important."
"Lowell, I told you, I don't have time."
"You must come. It's important."
Roy opened the door. "Do you have a screw loose or something? What am I saying, of course you do. What's the problem?"
"There is a problem with the engine."
"Why do I have to come?"
"You must come. It's important."
"Oh, for Pete's sake. No, Lowell." He slammed the door.
Another ten minutes passed, and there came another knock.
"Can't you people just leave me alone?" Roy yelled.
"Roy, it's me, Antonio. I really think you will want to see this."
Roy opened the door. "What? What is it?"
"There is a woman waiting in my cab that I think would be perfect for you."
"Lemme see," said Roy, and Helen finally heard him leave.
She heard the door open again, and Brian flew in, opened up the cabinet doors, helped her get up, and rushed her out the office door and into her pantry. "Thanks Brian," she said.
"Thank you," he said. "Now, when Roy comes back inside, come out and tell him you were practicing your cello."
"Yes. And using a quiet technique."
"Exactly." Brian hurried out and sat down at the counter.
Helen was still holding the empty donut box. She sighed and put it on one of her shelves. All that for her to eat the entire thing by herself. She soon heard Roy storming through the terminal and she casually walked out of the pantry.
"Why do I ever listen to you people?" He exclaimed.
"I am sorry, Roy," said Antonio. "How was I to know she'd leave my cab and go somewhere else?"
"There you are, Chappel," Roy said.
"Yes Roy, I was practicing."
"Yeah, well, good. I was afraid you wouldn't be here for lunch," and he then shut his office door yet again.
All at once, everyone was hugging her and asking if she was okay. "I'm fine, and thank you all for your work to get me out of that horrific place. I am happy to report that I am unharmed but I am not so thrilled to tell you...that I ate the donuts."
"Helen, for your trouble, you deserve three boxes. In fact, tomorrow, that's what I'm bringing, just for you," said Joe.
"You'd better," she said. "And, for everyone else, there will be plenty of donuts tomorrow, in their usual spot, for their usual price, and no one will be forced to sit in the gateway to hell like I was."
A cheer of freedom rang out among the people and Helen smiled, longing deep down to go home and get as far away from Roy and his office as possible but overall, happy to be back.
The End