Title: An Eppes Christmas Carol
Author: 1st endeavor
Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter 1
A/N: " I hope to have Chapter 4 up tomorrow and I believe that you will find it very "enlightening". I appreciate your reviews."
Chapter 3:
Charles Eppes handed his boarding pass to the stewardess and presented his driver's license to confirm his identity. She compared the information and returned his documents to him as she waved him on through the line. He pulled his bag up over his shoulder and boarded the plane.
He made his way to the first class section and located his seat. The jet wasn't overly crowded and as the remaining passengers boarded it appeared that the seat next to him would remain vacant and that would make it a more enjoyable trip; he really wasn't that comfortable when anyone was sitting too close to him. A large number of people had left the airport, opting to take a flight out tomorrow rather than wait around any longer for this one to take off.
Ordinarily, Charlie would have considered the risks further but he really wanted to get back to Los Angeles tonight. There was an unsettling feeling in his stomach and although he couldn't explain it, he knew it was important for him to be back home this evening.
As the plane started to taxi for the runway he looked out of the window at the falling snow. It certainly looked like the Christmas that was portrayed on all of the cards and in the TV shows and movies. But he was from LA and a sixty to seventy degree sunny Christmas was the kind that he had grown up with and longed for at this moment.
"Christmas" he thought, "somehow things were different this year."
It was as if the three of them had developed a new sense of awareness of one another and he was eager to strengthen the bonds between them. He knew this was one of the reasons that they had decided to put up a Christmas tree this year.
In the years following their mother's death they hadn't had the heart to put one up. Margaret Eppes had always insisted on having a Christmas tree and putting up a tree was just a reminder that she was no longer with them.
But this year they were all eager to put one up and so they had made the time to go together and pick one out. He smiled at the memory, in retrospect, that may have not been the best of ideas. For instance, Charlie himself, had researched the proper dimensions, weight, height, and number of branches , not to mention the angle that said branches should be growing at in order to select the perfect Christmas tree.
Don had rolled his eyes at his father and proceeded to look for the 'perfect' tree refusing to use his brother's calculations. After two hours of discussions or arguments, however, you wanted to look a it, they had settled on a seven foot Fraser Fur. If the truth were told, it was actually settled when Alan realized that neither son was going to give in on the tree that each had selected and took it upon himself to purchase a tree that he thought was perfect while his sons were still discussing the merits of the trees that each of them had chosen. It had taken them another half an hour to realize that Alan was leaning against the SUV with a tree firmly roped to the top of the roof. They meekly got back into the car and drove home.
Once home, they had decorated the tree with equal enthusiasm and it was with a sigh of relief that Alan placed Margaret's angel on the top of the tree. The brother's had shared a look, both with twinkle's in their eyes, and knew that although Alan pretended to be frustrated with their help, they knew that he had truly enjoyed the afternoon as much as they had. The lights were plugged in and it became the perfect Christmas tree for them. The only disappointment had been when the angel itself had failed to light up. Alan had determined that the bulbs needed to be replaced and he would see that it was done before Christmas Eve.
The plane picked up speed and finally took off leaving the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport behind them. It was with a sigh of relief that Charlie watched it fade into the distance. He glanced at his watch, in four hours and thirty-six minutes he would be landing in LA and would be able to enjoy a relaxing evening with his family.
The stewardess came around offering drinks and snacks and he settled back with a ginger-ale and some salted peanuts. He pulled a magazine from his bag and glanced around to see if anyone was close enough to view what he was reading. "Vanity Fair" wasn't the kind of magazine that he usually bought, as a matter of fact, he considered it to be a "fluff" magazine. Normally, if the magazines weren't about mathematical equations or science he wouldn't give them a second glance.
This one however, had published an article about him but that wasn't the true reason that he had bought it. The article contained a quote from his brother and that meant more to him than anything else that was written in the story. Don had said that not only were they brothers, they were friends. All of his life, the younger man had wanted his brother to be proud of him but Don had kept a distance between them and now finally it looked as if they had broken that barrier.
Charlie's genius at such a young age had pushed them apart and somehow by working together they had breached the chasm that had been forged in their childhood and had gotten to know one another for who they were and accept their differences.
He read the article once more and put the magazine away and closing his eyes he fell asleep to the humming of the jet engine.
………………………………...
The plane gave a violent shudder and the young man jerked awake just as his empty glass fell to the floor. He woke up amid loud voices and screams coming from the other passengers. Quickly glancing at his watch he noted that the time was 6:20 p.m. and that they should be preparing to land at LAX.
From the side window he could clearly see the airport beneath them and the fasten seat-belt sign had started to flash. Confused he looked around the cabin and could clearly see the fear etched into the faces of the other passengers.
"What was going on?" he craned his neck to search for a stewardess when the scraping sound of metal against metal caused his heart to catch in his throat.
"Were going to crash, oh, my God, were going down!" he thought as another violent shudder shook the plane.
The frantic voice of the captain echoed over the loudspeaker.
"This is the captain speaking, we are having difficulty with the landing gear. Please follow the instructions of your stewardess and I will do my best to get us down safely!"
The stewardess appeared at that moment and had him lean forward and put his arms over his head and after making certain that his seatbelt was firmly locked she quickly moved on to the next passenger.
Charlie's mind was whirling. He had compiled many reports for the FAA on plane crashes and the statistics kept tumbling around in his head:
"The survival rate of passengers on aircraft ditching during controlled flights were sixty per cent. "
His breathing quickened as he realized that the angle of descent was increasing, they were going down. This was it, soon they would be on the ground, just not the way he had intended.
He felt the front wheels hit the tarmac with a jolt and then the rear of the plane collapsed onto the runway pulled along by the front of the plane. Charlie knew what was going to happen next. The sparks from the metal dragging on the runway would ignite the engine fuel and the jet would explode, then everything would all go up in flames.
As he felt the heat coming up through the floor of the plane his thoughts turned to his brother and his father. He should have told Don how much his words had meant to him and how much he loved them both. Behind his closed eyes he envisioned the faces of his brother and father and as the heat grew stronger and the horrific sounds of metal against metal sounded in his ears, he whispered.," I wish I had told you how much you both mean to me."