“Please put your seatbelt on, sir.”
Toxicon looked up at the flight attendant on the private plane. “I’m going to eat through it.”
“Sir?”
“I have a disease. My sweat will eat through the seatbelt.”
“You can take it off when the captain decides it’s safe to. We should have a clear and easy flight. There are no storms in our flight path.”
Toxicon cast his head back on the seat with a sigh and buckled his belt. He glanced across the aisle to Kelvin.
At the memorial party at the base, Alex felt very out of place. He wanted to be on a plane, heading back home, not having to hear people like Swoop say, “Look, man, I’m real sorry. You gonna be okay?”
Then he started to get together to leave, and Scott walked him to the door. “Take someone with you,” he said. “You don’t want to do this alone. Trust me.”
Alex glanced back at the party, and the only person looking in his direction was Kelvin. Alex liked Kelvin, found him to be a good leader and a gentle soul, even if a bit on the naive side.
This was why Kelvin was across the aisle. Alex asked him to go, and he jumped at the chance. It would be the first time he ever rode on a private plane, that he ever went to Florida.
At 30,000 feet, they had a quiet, candle-light dinner. Alex was quiet, and Kelvin looked out the window at the night sky. “It’s beautiful, you know.”
Alex put down his fork. He looked out the same window as Kelvin. He didn’t see anything except the light from the wings blinking off to the side, and it was irritating. The flight attendant cleared the plates and offered dessert. Alex refused, but Kelvin took the chocolate lava cake and seemed very happy with it.
Alex put his head back and tried to sleep. However he could hear Kelvin and the flight attendant talking quietly. He shifted around in his seat, trying to get comfortable. The flight attendant came by with a pillow and a blanket for him, and showed him how to recline the seat.
Figuring that Scott would have to replace the seat when he was done, he reclined and did get comfortable. Kelvin went to the rear of the plane where there was a computer.
They touched down at 10:38, ten minutes ahead of schedule. They taxied to a small hangar, and there was a hearse waiting for them. They took out the plain wooden coffin from the cargo bay and loaded it into the hearse. A limo was next to the hearse. The driver said he would take them to a hotel for the night, and they could conclude their business the next morning.
Alex didn’t realize how exhausted he was until he went into the hotel room and collapsed on the bed, his disease be damned as it rotted out the comforter.