On My Way to New York - Narrative

On my way to New York

Life teaches you lessons in mysterious ways, I realized the meaning of how we as people should live our lives when I boarded my Southwest Airline flight number 369 to New York. I was looking for my seat. Among the noise of the passengers settling down I could hear the irritating cry of a little baby and I hoped that I would not have to end up sitting next to the mother of that crying baby. As I walked down the aisle, I pulled my carry-on suitcase alongside me with one hand and hugging an urn containing my mother’s ashes in the other, I caught sight of some of the different faces on the flight that were already seated. There was a fat guy with a bad comb-over already fast asleep, a little girl holding a doll very tightly with a nervous look on her face, and then there was my seat, number D23, right next to the mother with the crying baby.

I placed my mother’s urn on the seat and quickly stuffed my carry-on into the overhead compartment, so that the other passengers waiting in their single file line behind me wouldn’t get annoyed. The man holding the briefcase was already starting to look a little distressed. I took my seat and placed the urn on my lap. The mother sitting beside me settled down her restless infant and luckily it stopped crying. I looked down and stared at the urn. I remembered what a selfless and understanding woman my mother was. She grew up in New York and that was also where she had adopted me. I kept on thinking about how I would release my mother’s ashes. I could feel the tears gathering up in my eyes so I diverted my attention. I looked to the lady in the seat across the aisle from me. She was giving a man, with a long black beard and white drape-like clothing, the bug eye. As she caught sight of a stewardess, she asked with her Southern accent, “I reckon everybody on this flight has gone through airport security, right?”. The stewardess was taken aback by the question at first, most likely excepting the lady to ask for some peanuts or an extra blanket. So, she looked around nervously and gave a fake smile, then answered, “Yes ma’am, all passengers are required to go through security before entering the plane.”. She continued to walk down the aisle into first class and quickly shut the curtains in an arrogant manner. “Waa’an!”,