The Wrong Plane

by Emily N. Daniel

Once again running late, the Hanson family found themselves with just minutes to spare before their plane to New York City was to take off. "Hurry, this way to the gate," Mr. Hanson cried to his wife and children as they ran swiftly to their destination. However, three of these children just so happened to be the members of the very popular band, Hanson, and were soon swept up in a teenybopper frenzy as dozens of screaming teenagers swooped down upon them, quickly separating them from the rest of their family. Unfortunately, due to the fact they were so hurried, the rest of the family had failed to notice.

"Yo, get off!" Zac cried as several girls took hold of him by the arms and tugged him in all directions. Taylor gasped as one of them grasped tightly onto his hair, nearly pulling out a big chunk of it. Isaac, trying so hard to help his brothers, soon found himself wedged between his many admirers as well. He had no choice but to push them away and grab onto his brothers, dragging them out of the crowd along with him. The sound of ripping fabric filled the air and, luckily, the girls were distracted enough by the frantic fight over the torn clothe for the brothers to slip away.

"My new shirt is ruined!" Taylor moaned, looking down at the electric blue shirt that he had purchased just the day before.

"That doesn't matter," Isaac, replied hastily, "If we don't make the plane, that shirt will be the least of your worries. Now, what gate was it again?"

"I'm not sure," Zac answered, "Taylor, do you know?" Still fretting over his shirt, Taylor didn't answer him even after several moments. "Well?!" Zac exclaimed.

"Er, gate 13?" Taylor guessed, pretty sure that there was a three and a one in the number somewhere.

"Okay then, let's go!" Isaac said and they soon reached Gate 13. Isaac reached into his coat pocket and groaned. "Oh, no! Dad has the tickets and he's probably on the plane already!"

"Miss, could you please let us on the plane?" Zac asked the attendant sweetly, "We're the band Hanson and we need to board this plane, but our dad has the tickets. We can get them from him on the plane. Please?" The attendant, who had recognized them even without Zac's explanation, was more than happy to let them come aboard.

Once on the plane, the brothers looked around for any sign of their family. Being that theirs was such a large one, they were surprised when they couldn't spot even one of their loved ones. Before the three could conduct a thorough search, however, a voice rang from the speakers, announcing that all passengers were to fasten their safety belts for take-off. Sighing, the boys were forced to take some of the spare seats that were available. They would have to continue the search once they were up in the air.

Unfortunately, even after the plane was up in the air and the search was continued, there was still no sight of the other Hanson family members. A sick feeling settling deep in the pit of his stomach, Isaac tapped the shoulder of one of the passengers nearby. "Excuse me, sir, but where is this plane headed exactly?"

The man, looking as though he was on a business trip, huffed as if he was being interrupted from important work rather than from drinking a martini as he was actually doing. "We are headed to St. Louis, but surely you knew that! Aren't you a bit young for being served drinks, young man? Perhaps you have been served too many. Now leave me alone, you nasty drunken lad!" The man downed his martini and looked back up at Isaac, his cheeks tinted red and his lips curled up in a nasty sneer. "Goodness, boy, are you deaf and drunk?! I told you to leave my sight!" Isaac, who had been shocked to learn of their actual destination, had become rather weak in the knees and had even swayed on the spot a bit, resulting in him having to grab the back of the man's chair. However, he soon managed to come back to his senses and apologized to the incredibly rude man before heading back to his own seat. Seeing Isaac do this, his brothers quickly followed suit.

"What is going on? Why did you stop looking?" Zac asked him, a tone of concern in his voice. Taylor looked just as worried as Zac sounded.

"I stopped because we are searching in vain," Isaac replied, "We are on the wrong plane."

"What?!," Zac exclaimed, "How is that possible?" Then it dawned on him. "Taylor, what number was that gate we were suppose to go to again?"

"Well, I THOUGHT it was gate 13," Taylor answered nervously, "Though it could have been 31..."

"Oh, that's GREAT, Taylor! We went to the wrong gate! Oh, gawd!" Zac paniced, his eyes bugging out and his hands flying out at Taylor in a rage. "How could you be so stupid?! Do you realize what you've done?!"

"I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!" Taylor begged for mercy. By that time, several of the passengers were staring at them, wondering what in the world all the fuss was about.

"Taylor! Zac! Please stop fighting!" Isaac scolded the two, "It's not going to help the situation."

"Where are we headed anyway?" Zac asked, still huffing with rage and opening and closing his fists like he was ready to strangle Taylor at the first possible chance.

"St. Louis," Isaac told them solemnly. Both Taylor and Zac groaned at the same time and, looking as if they had finally given up all hope, simply laid back in their seats. After several moments of complete and utter silence, which many of the passengers were grateful for, Isaac sighed and muttered, "I guess there's nothing we can do except wait until the plane lands." Little did they know that is when the REAL adventure was going to begin and that their own lives would soon be in mortal danger...

Hours later, the Hanson brothers found themselves in the St. Louis airport. "Okay, there must be an information desk here somewhere," Isaac said, looking around. They had yet to spot one when suddenly the sound of gunshots rang through the air. All around, people started screaming and running. One of them managed to run right into Zac, knocking him straight to the ground. Taylor bent over to help him, but no sooner had he started to stand back up when he felt the cold metal of a gunpoint upon his back.

"Don't make a noise and no one gets hurt," A gruff voice said menacingly, driving the gunpoint harder into Taylor's back. Taylor winced and looked up to see that the same was happening to Isaac while a third man was dragging Zac back on his feet, the barrel of the gun not on his back but pointed instead at Zac's skull. Trembling from head to toe, Taylor looked around helplessly at his brothers. 'This is it,' he thought to himself, 'We are going to die here in St. Louis, hundreds of miles away from our family, and it's all my fault.'

That's when a horribly fierce noise, like the screeching of a thousand demons, exploded through the building, forcing the three Hanson boys to cover their ears for fear their eardrums would burst. Then walls and floor began to shake tremendously and what sounded like a stampede of buffalo thundered throughout the corridor. The three burly men holding them at gunpoint turned around to see what was going on, just in time to be swallowed up by what turned out to be a massive crowd of HANSON FANS. That's right. It turns out that a fan that was traveling to St. Louis to visit her family had seen the brothers on the plane and had called up her friends to tell them. Those friends told their friends and their friends told other friends and so on and so forth. Now the huge gathering was overpowering the three gunmen. Nobody was going to mess with their precious Hanson boys!

In the midst of all this, Isaac managed to snatch up his younger brothers and together they made their way out of the insane attack. The fans were concentrating too hard on punishing their attackers to notice this, so the boys quickly ran to get the police, who instantly dispatched officers to the scene and soon the three men were arrested. One of the officers escorted the boys away from the scene and, after giving the police all the necessary information, the boys were sent on their way.

Strangely, as they walked through the airport, the brothers couldn't help but notice how empty it was now. It turns out that once Hanson had been taken away for questioning, the girls had been forced to leave, though they were thanked for their help. While this made the boys feel bad that they had not been able to thank the girls themselves, they knew that they had to hurry up and catch the next plane to New York. "Come on," Isaac said, "We have to go buy some plane tickets."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," Zac grinned. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out three tickets, all for New York City.

"How did you manage that?!" Taylor exclaimed, surprised.

"Well, when the guy was dragging me up off the ground, I noticed an envelope sticking out of his coat pocket," Zac explained, "So when the girls came and diverted their attention away from us, I grabbed it, right before Ike grabbed you and me and dragged us out of there!"

"Brilliant!" Isaac laughed and high-fived him, "Good job! Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go!"

And that is how the adventure ends, or is it? The three Hanson brothers were soon reunited with their family, who had been so worried about them, especially upon hearing what happened at the airport. The concert in New York went off without a hitch, but the brothers did not forget the St. Louis girls who had saved their lives. Within the period of a week, they set up a very special all-day event, a concert in St. Louis where they ended up giving the performance of their lives. They greeted every audience member, signed autographs until their wrists and hands were stiff and sore, and each person left with a free t-shirt and a hug from each of the guys. Afterwards, the brothers were more exhausted than they had ever been in their lives, but it was all worth it and neither they nor the people of St. Louis ever forgot the events that took place during that week, from its tragic beginning to its most magical end.