The strong jarring motion jolted him awake. Disoriented, Frasier looked around, momentarily forgetting where he was. "Dear God, what was that?"
"Crash landing."
Frasier turned to the man with whom he'd been chatting before falling asleep. "Crash landing? You mean we're-." With a trembling hand he worked furiously to unfasten his seat belt and rose to his feet. Almost immediately a flight attendant appeared. "Sir, you need to sit down! The Captain hasn't turned off the fasten seat belt sign."
"The plane has crashed and you're worried about seat belts?" Frasier yelled.
"Sir, if you'll just sit down-."
"I am not a sir, I am a doctor and I'll thank you to treat me with respect! Now if you'll just tell me-."
"Sir-I mean doctor, we didn't crash. It was just a hard landing."
Frasier swallowed hard. "Oh… well…"
"Now just calm down and we'll get everyone off the plane in a timely manner."
He looked around, suddenly embarrassed by his antics. "I-I am sorry, everyone. I hope I didn't startle you. I-I guess I'm a little more nervous than I thought." Reluctantly he sat back down.
"Well, sir… I mean doctor, there's really nothing to be nervous about. We have the best pilots in the industry."
"Of course you do. This airline is excellent and so is the service. In fact-." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, smiling in satisfaction when he handed the flight attendant a crisp twenty dollar bill.
"Doctor, this is much too generous. Besides, we're not able to take tips."
"What kind of rule is that? Please, take it. With my compliments!"
The flight attendant looked at the money in her hand and then looked nervously around the cabin. "Well…"
Frasier smiled. "It will be our secret."
"All right. Thank you sir. And thank you for flying with us."
It was then that he noticed that there were very few people left on the plane, and the man who sat beside him was gone. Imagine, leaving without saying goodbye. He supposed it was just as well. After all, he'd made quite a spectacle of himself.
"I'm sorry for my outburst. You would think that as much as I've flown, I'd be used to this sort of thing."
"It's quite all right. You're not the first and I have to admit that I was a little frightened myself. But we're trained to remain as calm as humanly possible, no matter how frazzled we are on the inside."
"Well, it was a pleasure and I hope to see you again."
"So do I, sir."
There was that word again; sir. But he wasn't a sir. He was a doctor! In any case, it was nice to be recognized, for what it was worth.
With a smile on his face he exited the plane and made his way through the tunnel and into the terminal. He felt strangely giddy when he saw the crowd of people who were anxiously waiting for the plane to be ready to take them to their destination and a brand new adventure.
And soon, he would have an adventure of his own; one that he knew he'd never forget.