Round Trip Ticket

Jack let out a sigh as the plane gained altitude. It had been an incredible trip. The hiking, skiing on a glacier, beach combing, and, good heavens. the sex, had all been magnificent. It might well have been the perfect trip, and Ellen might be as close to the perfect woman as any he could imagine.Yet, with every foot of altitude and mile west of Portland the wide-body gained, Jack drifted back to his normal life in New York. Work crossed his mind. He drove it out. He wasn?t ready to end his vacation, yet. He thought of Ellen, and in particular, how they had made love in front of the fireplace in her apartment, and how she has sucked him on the curvy drive to the beach, and how they had fucked at sunset in view of the majestic Haystack Rock.Somehow that last thought triggered Jack to think of Paula back in New York. They, too, had fucked at the beach, at her place on Long Island. I wonder if her husband will be out of town this week? He asked himself. He made a mental list of things to do upon arrival. He should send Ellen flowers, he should check to see if Paula was free next weekend, and he should make plans for a weekend in Boston to see Natalie, the hot little marketing intern. Need to keep that cutie in the fold.Jack?s friends, when they had enough drinks in them to level with him, told Jack he had commitment issues. And if he had enough drinks in him, he would admit that they might be right.In college he opted for exchange students and seniors ? relationships that had an inevitable sunset. Easy to get into; even easier to get out of. In grad school, exchange students were still a delightful alternative, but he added adjunct professors to the mix. An especially rich vein of time-limited sexual opportunity proved to be anthropology Phd. candidates about to leave for their field work. It turns out that there is little hornier in the world than İstanbul Escort a woman about to head to the jungle for the next nine months.Now that he was out in the real world, Jack?s safety-hatch relationship patterns hadn?t evolved all that much. He went for married women, former interns who were back in college, and women he met on vacation. Long distance was safe distance. Easy to get into; easy to get out of.Ellen fit the mold. She had worked at his firm, briefly, and then moved out to Portland. They reconnected on social media and things had heated up from there. An overlapping business trip to Chicago proved electric. So electric, in fact, that they planned their next get-together in O?Hare Terminal D as they waited for their respective planes going in opposite directions. She was so his type: outdoorsy, fit, funny, well read, and delightfully orgasmic. And, she was three thousand miles away.Jack closed his eyes as the plane approached cruising altitude. He thought of Natalie. Mmm, that little gymnast body. But, his mind quickly wandered back to Ellen. He thought of her sweet, sexy smile, and her sparkling green eyes. He thought of the feel of her in his arms as she came. He chuckled as he recalled her witty critique of a film they had seen. He salivated as he remembered her standing in the kitchen, making the most delicious coq au vin he had ever had. The feel of her kiss goodbye lingered on his lips, and the warmth of her voice saying, ?I can?t wait until next time,? echoed pleasantly in his ears. He began to doze with the hint of a smile on his face.PING! PING! PING!Jack shot awake from his brief and shallow slumber to see an oxygen mask hanging in front of his face. He looked around. Everyone was in disbelief. There was an almost comic hesitation, before all moved in slow motion unison to reach for İstanbul Escort Bayan the little yellow cups. Once the alarm stopped, it was remarkably quiet. There were one or two dings from people hitting their assistance button. A child cried, but only for a moment. A flight attendant suddenly appeared to help an old woman with her mask, and then quickly moved back to his jump seat.Jack was calm. Or, he thought he was, until he noticed the walls of the yellow cup flexing with his deep breaths. At the same time he realized the woman next to him was digging her nails into his forearm. He made eye contact and saw the woman?s fear. Jack smiled with his eyes and patted the woman?s hand until she relaxed her death grip.?Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen. This is the co-pilot,? a nervous and breathless voice said over the PA. ?We are safe. We are safe. Remain calm and breathe normally. We will communicate again, shortly.?At that point. calm was fraying and no one was breathing normally. The plane took a sudden, hard bank to the right, and shuddered. There were no screams, but there were groans and some muffled conversations among seat mates.Jack felt like there was a good chance they would all die. He wasn?t sure he bought the nervous attempt at reassurance made by the co-pilot. To Jack, it seemed like he was watching a movie. Ah, so this is what it?s like to die in a plane crash. He was remarkably at peace. He had an odd feeling of elation. He wouldn?t fully understand why, until much later.The plane banked back to the left and the strained aluminum shivered. The groans of the passengers were louder this time. The woman?s nails returned to digging into his arm. They took another hard bank to the right. This can?t be good. Why don?t they tell us anything?! And, then, suddenly, it was over. The plane leveled Escort İstanbul out.?Ladies and gentlemen,? a deep, Texas-accented voice came over the PA. ?At times like this it?s good to hear the reassuring voice of the pilot. Well, that?s me. I?m awful sorry for what ya?ll just had to go through. And I?m doubly sorry that we left you in the dark, but we had our hands full of airplane.?He went on to explain, with astronaut cool, that a sensor had gone off, indicating that they were losing cabin pressure. ?We needed to get under ten thousand feet lickity-split.? All the hard turns had been to accomplish that as safely and quickly as possible. ?When we drop a wing like we did, we fall fast, but not so fast that we have to scrape ya?ll off the luggage bins,? the pilot explained in his deadpan way.?Ya?ll can take your masks off, now. We are going to limp back to Portland at nine thousand feet. I?ll miss Mt. Hood, I promise. We?ll have you back on the ground in thirty minutes.?Somehow the relaxed and flippant attitude of the pilot reassured the passengers. If this guy can be so confidently humorous, maybe we won?t die, after all. There was some laughter and conversation, but most rode in silence. The woman apologized to Jack for her treatment of his arm, which he dismissed with a smile. Thereafter they joined the rest in quiet. Jack could only think of one thing: Ellen. He called her as soon as he got off the plane.?I?ll be right there,? she said, before he even finished explaining.Jack and Ellen treated the day like what it was, a gift of fate. Jack had a profound sense of happiness. Having stared straight at the possibility of death, every sense was heightened, and every moment mattered. They went on a trail run in Portland?s vast Forest Park. Inhaling forest air, surrounded by fertile, growing life was the perfect anecdote to being inside a malfunctioning metal tube. When they came across a tiny meadow, they rested on a log, and watched dragonflies dance through the high grass. Some were joined together in flight.?Those are some horny bugs,? Jack joked.?Yeah,? Ellen laughed. ?They only live a short time.. I guess they have to get busy.?