La Belle D'Air
Goodness Grief, Captain Creif
The woman shifted arching her back and stretching her neck as she looked out of the window onto the tarmac on the ground. A light spattering of rain continued to hit the gigantic metal wings, dripping slowly into a growing puddle on the floor below. She sighed her eyes flickering to the man who was checking his wristwatch in the aisle besides hers, giving her full view of the time. 12.24-5.
"And... another hour late" she muttered, in a mildly annoyed but mainly bored tone. Reaching once more for her book, she placed her reading glasses back onto her face, pushing them further up her nose and opening her book to its marked placed. She crossed her skirted legs, aware that the man's attention had been captured, the man's gaze travelling upwards as he watched transfixed as they cross over themselves, pushing the tight pencil skirt upwards and revealing more of the elegant tanned limb. His eyes travelled upwards, freezing as she caught him with an inquisitive but stony glare. Her hazel eyes dared him to remain staring at her. He lost his bottle within seconds, returning his attention to his slightly overweight wife who was complaining loudly in the seat beside him, unaware of the woman who had commandeered her husband's attention in the last few minutes.
There was movement at the front of the plane. The woman peered over the seat, straightening her back and flicking her hair over her shoulder. There appeared to be an argument occurring in the section between the cockpit and the plane cabin.
"You need to learn how to do the safety drill properly... I'm retiring in the next year and I don't think the passengers will take too lightly to the chief steward calling his mum and asking her for instructions... Now get the hell out there and wait for Douglas!" a female voice hissed from behind the curtain, flinging them open and pushing a slightly pale man forward into the cabin. In a moment every single pair of eyes in the cabin was locked on him.
He gaped gazing up at the intercom, visibly regaining colour in relief as it bonged, and crackling into life. He raised his arms, fixing a reassuring smile on his face; his relief however was short lived.
"Ladies *crackle* man. Welcome *crackle* N air. This is Captai *crackle* Richar- *crackle* say *crackle* fixed? Bloody *crackle* ane. *Always going wrong it's a damned miracle it hasn't dropped from the sky- DOUGLAS! Intercom!" a high and angry voice interjected as the crash of the cockpits door echoed through the intercom into the cabin. There was an awkward silence in the room, everyone paled and panicked looking around the plane for the nearest escape. The intercom bonged again, the only other noise from it a slightly whisper of 'oh nuts'.
The bamboozled young man at the front of the aisle, paled visibly once more. The passengers began to gossip amongst themselves, the high pitch of their chatter revealing the nervousness. His eyes shifted from each aisle, each passenger, and their eyes turning upwards and locking at him for comfort and finding a man frozen, his arms still raised in a comical manner, the only part of him moving his terrified eyes.
He shifted from foot to foot, his arms slowly lowering as he realised that they were indeed attached to his body. Every single pair of eyes in the room bar the hazel ones in the corner followed the limb's path downwards, stopping when it did, staring at the clenched fist that the man had made at his side.
Blue eyes continued to flash around the cabin, settling on the woman who had placed her book on the unoccupied seat beside her. He watched as she slowly released the clip holding her hair into a neat pony tail. She shook her hair out, allowing it to tumble haphazardly around her shoulders, before placing her reading glasses lightly on her glossy, mane of long shiny hair.
A soft smile appeared on her lips as she locked eyes on the man who was standing watching her. It turned into a heart rendering smile that reached directly into those stunning eyes, making the golden flecks in them dance and glimmer and in turn making the man's stomach harden.
His fist began to unclench, and he raised one hand to his mouth clearing his throat and simultaneously gaining the proper attention of the cabin. He fixed them with a professional stare, standing a little straighter, linking his hands behind his back to make sure that they didn't see them shaking. They returned the stare, their accusing eyes never leaving the man's face.
"Ladies... *ahem* Ladies and Gentleman, we appear to be having technical issues with our pilots intercom. I will go and check on the matter and will return with news as soon as I can. May I also apologize on the matter of the small delay..." "3 bloody hours! I want to get to Italy for Valentine's Day" a man's rough cockney accent interjected. The young man stared him down.
"As I was saying sir, there have been unforeseen circumstances that no one at MJN air could have avoided." he continued, mentally reminding himself that the reason was that his mum had been unsure that Gertie could have taken the pounding she would have in that heavy rain. It would have been a slight disaster if the only plane, captain, first officer and steward in the airline went down in the same accident, because of rain.
"I will get back to you on this matter as soon as is possible thank you" he said quickly before the cockney man had a chance to start up again. He made a slight incline of his head to the passengers, his eyes seeking out the hazel eyed woman momentarily as he turned to walk into the cockpit.
Arthur slammed the door of the cockpit to ensure that none of the loud argument that was raging inside reached the already panicked passengers on the other side. He leant against the door breathing heavily; sweat pouring down his face, his eyes closed in relief. The three people in the room continued to bicker, their voices becoming louder and high as tempers rose.
"You said you were captain- scared the passengers half to death- you are not captain- they could use a bit of authority- she won't fall out of the sky- who is the captain in this cockpit- may I remind you who people think is captain- you insulted Gertie! She's old but a good one- makes no difference, I am captain on this plane- why did you let him say he is captain Martin?- yes why did you let me Martin?- don't you turn this onto me Carolyn, I was in the toilet before the flight and he grabbed the intercom! Why did you feel the need to address the cabin, Douglas? Insecure about being outranked by a man so much younger that you?" the youngest man span red faced and got right in the face of the older man. The elder man reddened and made a noise like a jested cat with something in its throat.
"Martin... you are a captain yes, on an airline with one plane, and you work for no wage... Am I the insecure one?" he said sarcastically, an eyebrow twitching on his face daring to arch. The younger man faltered, a low growl echoing at the back of his throat.
"Even... so... Douglas. I am the captain on this plane, you do not make the announcements without my permission, may I remind you that you just terrified a whole plane full of passengers mere minutes before takeoff?" he said softly, his voice and tone appearing to be caring but his face thunderous.
"Not the whole plane actually" Arthur piped up from the corner, his breathing now returning to a regular rate and the colour returning to his face.
"Shut up Arthur!" his mother snapped. He did so.
"Martin... I apologize. I should not have made the announcement, I'll admit. But you have to admit it would have gone fine if Carolyn would have shelled out to fix the damn intercom!" he said rounding on the woman in the room, only a step away from pointing a finger accusingly at her. She spluttered.
"Douglas! I would have fixed the intercom if you had told me..." she said her face fixed into fake shock but her eyes looking guilty. Martin took a step forward.
"Carolyn, we did tell you. Three times, but because we were only doing cargo flights all week you said it didn't matter. But you said it would be fixed by today." He said crossing his arms over his chest in a steely manner. Douglas copied the action behind the captains back, for once offering moral support to the young man and not taking the mickey out of him. Carolyn faltered and started.
"Well... you.. see... Oh Douglas! It was a ridiculous amount for a new intercom... I've ordered a pre-used one but it wasn't ready on account that it needed to be put back together... It'll be here tomorrow and you said it didn't always happen... And I thought you wouldn't notice!" she muttered, her face peering sourly out of short light blonde hair.
"Well evidently we did... and now I've scared the living daylights out of the whole plane... This is going to be a fun trip." Douglas growled sarcastically, turning his back on his embarrassed and flustered boss.
"I keep telling you it wasn't the whole plane!" Arthur groaned. Three sets of eyes turned and looked at him inquisitively and confused.
"What are you on about Arthur?" Carolyn said, in a tone that she reserved for her beloved but admittedly dim-witted son. Douglas sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I believe he means that I didn't scare ourselves with visions of the plane propelling madly to a fiery end... although now it seems I have scared you Carolyn" he smiled a cold smile before frowning as his eyes rested on Arthur who was shaking his head furiously in the corner.
"No... no, Douglas! There was a woman in 22D, she didn't seem scared at all." He beamed thinking about the woman's lips stretching into that warm smile that had given him the confidence to stand up and speak to the cabin.
Martin sighed looking at the bemused expression on Arthur's young face.
"Arthur... she was probably just as scared as the rest of them, she was just better at hiding it-"No skip! She was honestly fine; I've never seen such a calm looking passing-... The passengers are still out there aren't they?" he muttered looking aghast. They all looked at the suddenly not so silent cabin encased behind the metal door. Carolyn fixed them all with a stony look and gave a not so subtly gesture to fix this as she scuttled out of the cabin and into the cabin.
"BING BONG *crrrrrck* Ladies and Gentleman... This is Captain Crieff speaking."
The woman looked up from her book once more, tilting the single ear bud from her ear. A new voice as soft and smooth as velvet was filtering through the crackly, faint but defiantly working intercom. But the airline and their problems with minor systems on the airplane no-longer fascinated her; it was to find a face to go with that pleasant clipped voice.
"I would like to apologise for my First Officers outburst earlier, as acting Captain he felt it necessary to make the announcement and ummm... let's just say that you ever heard things that were said in anger at the planes intercom system, which thankfully has now been momentarily fixed. We will continue with our flight to Rome in 10 minutes after Arthur has run you through the safety measures, we apologize once more for the inconvenience and the misjudgement from earlier. Thank you.*crrrk*BONG"
The young man from before had appeared at the front of the airplane frowned up at the intercom above his head.
"Huh... no bing" he muttered to himself before turning and doing the safety instructions.
