Doctor appointments.
School pickups.
Broken appliances.
Late-night phone calls.
At the time, I thought retirement had happened to come when we needed him most.
I began to wonder whether that had been backward.
Maybe he retired because we needed him.
When the seat belt sign finally went off, the captain returned.
This time, I wasn’t willing to let him leave with half an explanation.
I held up the toy.
“What did you mean when you said this airplane meant something?”
He looked at the empty aisle beside us.
Then he crouched.
“Daniel trained me when I was a first officer.”
“He never mentioned you.”
“I’m not surprised.”
That answer hurt more than I expected.
The captain continued.
“Early in my career, I was on a flight that went through severe weather. Nobody was badly hurt, but it shook me. Afterward, every time the airplane started bouncing, my mind went somewhere it shouldn’t.”
