Note: This story is taken from an incident that happened to me about
30 years ago while on a flight from
I realize that radios, communications and computers are significantly
more advanced today than they were in the early 1970’s. Indulge
me.
The phrase ‘See Agent’ is the real deal. It usually means
a crash.
==============================================================================
It was December twenty-forth and, despite the fact that he didn’t do Christmas, Brian had decided on a surprise for the holidays.
Justin had asked him to travel with him to join his family, but had been snidely, rudely and sarcastically told in no uncertain terms that Brian would rather eat glass than face that sort of Hell. He would be perfectly happy spending the holiday, as he had for almost twenty years, with Deb and Michael and now Vic and Ben over at Novotny’s, thank you very much. In fact, he was looking forward to it. The munchers had been invited and he wanted to see Gus open his presents. He’d be fine, he’d call and don’t worry. They would get together again in a few days. In fact, they could probably use the break.
Somehow, Justin expected something like that.
The three Taylor’s, Justin, Molly and Jennifer were spending the
week with her parents in
He had always been close to his grandparents. They in turn adored him.
Dumpling could do no wrong for them, he was perfect in their eyes and they delighted in spoiling him.
Justin had been down, though, from Brian’s completely expected refusal to share the holiday and so Jen had called him, talked to him and with amazingly little effort he had agreed to fly in on the afternoon flight to JFK. The plan was that Jen would make an excuse about needing to pick up another present or groceries or something, swing by the airport and then the two of them would arrive back in time for dinner with the in-laws.
In the call he had admitted that he had actually been planning on coming in all along, so things were working out perfectly.
After a couple of days with Justin’s family, the two men would pick
up a rental car and head up to
The whole thing had been planned for weeks, all the tickets and reservations ordered. Justin was the only one in the dark.
The plane was due in at four and they had agreed to meet outside the arrivals
terminal used by USAir. Brian, used to traveling, would only have a carry
on with him. He would be standing on the sidewalk by
That day at lunch, Jen had caught the travel forecast on the
Damn. She had been hoping that it would hold off for a few hours.
Making an excuse, she went upstairs to call Brian.
“I just got off the phone with the airlines, Jen. They say that all flights are on time.”
“Well, I’ll call before I leave, but how bad is it there?”
“The snow stared about three hours ago and it’s getting heavy. I’m leaving for the airport in a few minutes. Tell you what. I’ll call you just before the plane leaves. It’s only a forty-five minute flight, that should give you time to get to JFK.”
So, three hours later she was on her way to the airport in heavy traffic, worried that she would be late.
She managed to make her way up the ramp to the part of the terminal they had agreed on, but not seeing him and with traffic police making cars move on, she had no choice but to circle the airport and try again. Ten minutes later she made another pass, still not seeing him. On the third pass, she was beginning to think that the snow had been heavier than he had let on and by the fourth she decided that there was really nothing to do but pull into the parking lot and see for herself what the wait would be.
She maneuvered the car into what might have been the last spot and made
her way over to the arrivals area. There seemed to be a larger crowd than
usual, even accounting for the holidays and the weather. She was finally
standing in front of the TV screens with the flight information and she had
to squeeze her way in to see the status on the flight from
There it was, near the bottom of the fifth screen on the bank of monitors.
FLT#254
FLT # 920
FLT# 759
See agent? What did that mean? Had they been delayed? Was the flight cancelled? Well, the screen would have said if something like that had happened.
See agent. Where did you find an agent?
“Excuse me. I’m supposed to meet someone here and I don’t understand what the note on the arrival screen means, could you help me?”
“If I can, M’am, which flight are you here for?”
“920, from
The man’s face assumed a sort of mask, like he didn’t want to upset her. “M’am, could you please come with me?” He gestured with his hand toward a door a few feet away.
Immediately suspicious, Jen was about to answer that she wouldn’t consider it when another agent, a pretty blonde woman, came up to them.
She spoke gently, as though afraid that Jen might have already figured out what was going on and might start screaming or crying. “M’am? Are you meeting Flight 920? If you would come with me we’ll explain to you what we know at this point.”
Oh no.
She noticed, in a detached way, that she had actually gone cold.
She let them lead her into a room, some sort of a lounge that was crowded with stunned and crying people. They led her to a chair, sat her down. She noticed that there was a priest talking to some of the people across the room.
The blonde woman spoke to her. “Right now what we know is that the
plane left
“You mean they’ve crashed?”
“We don’t know that. What we know now is that 920 is about forty
minutes overdue and is off radar.
Off radar? That meant they’d gone down. Any idiot knew that.
They were forty minutes late on a forty-five minute flight.
“Could you please check the passenger list for me? Maybe he missed the flight. Brian Kinney.”
The blonde lady looked at a clipboard, reading a list. “Yes. Mr. Kinney checked into business class and was assigned seat 7-C. Excuse me, M’am? Could I ask if you’re a family member?”
“I’m his mother-in-law. He’s flying in for the holidays with our side of the family. He is going to meet my parents tonight for the first time.”
The blonde lady nodded and gave her a half smile, patting her hand.
God, how would she tell anyone?
“Is there a phone I could use, one with some privacy?” They showed her to a small cubicle with a phone on a desk. Dialing her parent’s number, she hoped that Justin wouldn’t pick up.
Thank God. “Mom? It’s Jen. I’m at the airport and it looks like there’s going to be a delay…No, he’s not here yet, but they told me that he made the flight…Well, I’m sure that he’s anxious to get here, too…No, don’t tell Justin where I am and don’t bother holding dinner if I’m not back in time…I know my voice sounds funny…Mom? There’s a problem here. They think that the plane might have gone down in the storm and they’ve started a search by Air Sea Rescue in the Appalachian mountains…They say that as soon as they know something they’ll tell us…No, don’t tell Justin where I am and don’t let him watch the news in case there’s a report about this, he might put two and two together…Good, thank you…Yes, I’ll call you.”
She replaced the receiver in the cradle and looked out the window across
the field. It was dark already, almost
A half hour later some more people came into the room with urns of coffee and sandwiches. No one ate, but the coffee was popular. Jen broke her own rule by having two cups of the terrible stuff.
There was no news.
The people waiting seemed to stay mostly together with their families and friends in small groups. There was little talking. The priest came over to her and she smiled at him, which seemed to encourage him to sit next to her.
“I’m Father Adams. Is there anything that I can do for you? Perhaps I could call someone?” She shook her head. “Mrs. Bryant”, he looked at the blonde agent, “Told me that you’re here to meet your son-in-law. Have he and your daughter been married long?”
She wasn’t in the mood for niceties. “Brian is married to my son, Justin. Well, they’re not actually married, but they will be soon. He’s become part of our family.” The priest was silent for a long few seconds. “I’m sorry, Father, are you offended?”
“Me?” He gave a slight shrug. “No. I’m a practical man and a realist. If people love one another and find happiness together, I believe that’s what the Lord wants for us.” He looked over at the table where the food had been placed. “If I get some of that for you, would you eat it?” She just shook her head a bit. “It could be a long night and your son may need you.”
She agreed to a sandwich and immediately wished that she hadn’t. She was having trouble swallowing. The door to the room opened and a news reporter who she recognized from one of the local stations came in alone. The agents intercepted her and asked her to leave. She did.
Jen looked at Mrs. Bryant who came over to her. “The local stations and newspapers monitor the airport frequencies so that they know when they have a reason to come out here.” God this woman was tactful. Anyone else would have said ‘when there’s a crash’.
“What have they heard?”
“Just what we’ve told you, that the plane is overdue and that we’ve started a search. I promise, as soon as we hear anything, we’ll tell you.” She looked genuinely sorry. “I wish there was more I could tell you.” She sat down on the chair the priest had left as he moved on to someone else. “Do you have any grandchildren?”
The woman hadn’t heard what she had told the Father, evidently. Oh well. “Brian has a son from another relationship, he’s about three now. Gus lives with his mother, but they see each other often.” The woman smiled slightly. There wasn’t really anything to say. It was all clear enough. Mrs. Bryant moved off to comfort a man who was crying a few feet away.
Looking out the window, Jen noticed that it was snowing harder.
Another hour and a half crawled by. Jennifer thought that if she watched the wall clock hard enough, she could see the hour hand moving slightly. She stared at it for a long time.
Six came and went.
At seven they brought in more chairs and some pillows and blankets for children who were curled up on the floor. A TV set with some Disney videos was set up in a corner for them, the volume turned low.
At nine they brought in fresh food. Jen asked if she could use the phone again. Her mother picked up.
“Mom? I’m still at the airport…no, there’s nothing new. Has Justin asked any questions?…Well, where does he think that I am?…Fine, yes, just tell him that because of the snow and the holiday traffic I’m stuck on the LIE. You could tell him there’s been an accident or something…I’ll call the minute that I know something…Yes, bye.”
She sat back down on what she had come to think of as ‘her’ chair and continued to stare out the windows onto the field. The snow was coming down hard now and the wind was blowing with erratic gusts, it was difficult to see far. How in the name of God would they be able to find the plane in the mountains at night in this?
Maybe in the morning they would be able to…
She began to picture what the authorities would see when it got light. There would be the usual twisted metal, the usual wreckage and personal belongings scattered, the usual skid and burn marks where it had finally crashed down, maybe some broken trees. There might be a few recognizable parts left, maybe a wing or the tail, a few suitcases, a child’s doll or teddy bear.
She could picture the news reports and the photos in the news magazines. They would be the same as these things always were.
Brian was flying business class. She couldn’t imagine him in coach with his long legs. He would be cramped and uncomfortable and he would never put up with that if he didn’t have to. He wouldn’t have been wearing one of his designer suits, he had called from the loft, so he’d been at home. He would likely have just worn something comfortable, maybe a pair of jeans and one of his cashmere sweaters against the cold, and his leather jacket. He liked the new one and it looked so wonderful on him.
She knew Justin lit up whenever Brian walked into the room, just to look at him made her son happy.
She hadn’t liked him at first.
In fact, for more than a year she barely tolerated him and there were times when she couldn’t even manage that much. He was older, snide and sarcastic, more sophisticated, a rude, cold man who would use her son and throw him away when he was done with him.
Justin kept insisting that he loved Brian and wouldn’t be budged for almost two years. Then something happened, or maybe it was a series of things and he seemed to pull back, like the affair had run it’s course and they had fallen out of love.
Yes, she had grudgingly admitted that Brian seemed to love Justin, as much as he could and in his way.
When Justin had moved in with Ethan she had breathed sigh of relief—until Ethan showed himself as a liar and an opportunist and had hurt Justin in the process.
Within weeks he and Brian were back together. That was over a year ago and they were now solid. Well, as solid as any couple could be. She thought back to when she had believed that she and Craig would celebrate their fiftieth anniversary surrounded by grandchildren and friends.
During the past year she had made an effort to get to know Brian, at least as well as he would allow. She had already known the obvious, that he was handsome, intelligent and educated. She knew from Debbie that his childhood had been unhappy and abusive, that he had earned scholarships to get away and had supported himself since he was seventeen. He was estranged from his family and it was probably permanent. She knew that he was successful in his work and that he was well paid.
She could see that he loved Justin.
She learned that he was scrupulously honest, if not often tactful, that he had a personal code of honor and integrity that was uncompromising. He was tremendously loyal to his few close friends and adored his young son.
He was, from all she had heard, an expert at sex. She had overheard Justin say as much to Daphne. Well, actually he had said that Brian was “Fanfuckingtastic at fucking”. It wasn’t a mental image she really wanted, but there it was.
He was arrogant and rude; he could infuriate her with a raised eyebrow. He made her feel like a blushing schoolgirl when he chose to.
He would never lose an argument if he set his mind to it.
She had come to like him and was now genuinely fond of him.
And he loved her son.
She knew that the trip to Vermont was surprise for Justin so that they could be married over the holidays. Brian had delayed his trip east because the rings weren’t ready. He had picked them up this morning, making Justin think that he just didn’t want to join their family for Christmas. Jennifer had played along, knowing how excited Justin would be when he found out what they had done. The arrangements had been made weeks ago. Jennifer would host a party for their friends in two weeks when they got back home.
She was happy for them.
Nine thirty.
God, poor Justin. She would have to be the one to tell him. She looked out the window again.
He would be devastated. It would be years before he recovered from this. He probably never would, not completely.
At quarter to ten an airline official walked into the room. He was smiling.
“Ladies and gentlemen? We have news about flight 920. It’s safe. Because of the weather and the extreme cold, they were forced back to Pittsburgh about twenty minutes after take off. They landed safely and underwent deicing. They were about to take off again when it was discovered that the deicers had failed and were replaced. That took a couple of hours. After that they were delayed because of the storm. We have just been told that they are enroute and are expected in fifteen minutes. They’ve been given priority clearance and should be deplaning within twenty minutes at gate 17.”
There was a stunned silence before the room erupted into questions, crying and anger. Jennifer ignored everyone else in an effort to hear.
The airline man tried again, raising his hands for quiet.
“Please, I know what you’ve been going through here. Believe me, if we had known we would have told you. We didn’t know, either. We gave you all the information we had. The computers went down and the phones in western Pennsylvania are out. The radios failed in the storm. We didn’t know they’d turned back. Please, they’re safe. No one is hurt. Everyone is fine and they’ll be here in a few minutes. USAir will arrange transportation to anyone who needs it home or a hotel. If anyone needs a room, we’ll take care of that for you, just let us know. Now, we’ll escort you all down to gate 17. Just come with us, we’ll take you a way to avoid the press so you won’t have to deal with them if you don’t want to.”
A few minutes later the passengers were walking out the gate door into the waiting area. Jennifer spotted Brian easily with his height and when he was close enough, she had her arms around his waist in a death grip. The stress of the past hours caught up with her and she didn’t care that she was crying, unable to speak. Instead of the snide comment she expected, he simply hugged her back, rubbing her shoulders until she could control herself.
“I didn’t know what I’d tell Justin. He still doesn’t know that you’re coming.”
“Then let’s go.” He gave her a half smile. “It’s been a long flight.”
She saw the priest looking at them as they walked to the car. He seemed pleased.
They didn’t talk much in the car. There didn’t seem to be much to say beyond small talk. She told him that the tree was up and the meal tomorrow would be wonderful, some of Justin’s cousins would be there. They would open presents early, a holdover from when the kids were young. There was a family tradition that everyone opened one present Christmas Eve. He didn’t say much, just occasionally nodded. He did tell her that they had mostly just sat on the ground and that the passengers had no idea they had been reported missing. If he had known that she thought his plane had crashed he would have done—something. She assured him that Justin hadn’t been told and so wasn’t upset by what had happened. He thanked her for that. She didn’t tell him that she had thought him dead and that she wondered what his last minutes were like and what his final thoughts had been or if it had hurt.
She reassured him that her parents had no problem with the two men—she had trouble thinking of Justin as a man, but indeed he was one—sharing a room.
The snow delayed their drive and forty-five minutes later they pulled into the driveway, the snow still falling heavily and the roads almost impassible. It was well after eleven when they opened the front door.
“Mom? We were worried, you said that you were just going to do some shopping and you’ve been—Brian? What the fuck are you doing here?”
They moved to each other. Watching them embrace then kiss, Justin’s grandfather whispering to Jen, “You’re right, they do fit together.”
Actually blushing, Justin had the ingrained manners to stop. “Grandma, Grandpa, this is Brian Kinney. Brian, these are my grandparents, Bill and Claudia Taylor.”
The men shook hands and Brian kissed Claudia on the cheek while Justin questioned his mother.
“Brian asked me to help him surprise you, sweetie. I’ve been at the airport.”
Justin looked over at her, his arms still lightly around Brian. “You’ve been gone for hours.”
“There was a delay.” Brian took off his leather jacket, a black cashmere sweater underneath. Jen smiled to herself. The jeans were in place, too.
“I didn’t even think to ask. Brian, did they feed you?” He shook his head. “You poor thing, you must be starved.”
The group moved to the kitchen so that a quick sandwich could be made up and a bottle of beer opened. Molly drifted off after a quick kiss for Brian. She still had that crush on him.
“Molly has been anxious to open her present since dinner. You bring that in the living room and we’ll get started so that you can all get some sleep tonight. Brian, you’ve had a long day.” Claudia ushered everyone back to the living room.
The single present everyone was allowed to choose was picked from under the tree, the presents Brian had brought with him laid out by Molly as soon as she was handed the bag they were in.
Each of the women had been given diamond stud earring of varying sizes; the men each had a pair of handsome gold cufflinks.
That out of the way, Brian took his plate out to the kitchen before going upstairs. Bill followed him.
“Thank you for letting me intrude on a family holiday. I wanted to surprise Justin and I couldn’t think of another way to…”
“From what my daughter tells me, you’re a member of the family as far as she and Justin are concerned. She told me that you’re taking Justin up to Vermont in a few days. It true that you two are getting married when you go?”
“I’m going to ask him. If he agrees, the arrangements have been made.”
“Well, that’s fine with us, just so long as you two know what you’re doing.”
“I think we do.” The two men understood one another.
“Well, then good. You’ll be alright.”
Justin appeared in the doorway. “Hey Brian? Mom had the news on. The plane after yours? The next shuttle from Pittsburgh to JFK? It crashed trying to land. God, you could have been on it.”
Brian could tell by his heightened color that Justin was close to tears from the thought. He moved over to him, put his arms around him and told him, softly but firmly so that there would be no mistake, “I’m here. I’m fine and I love you.”
Justin nodded. “I know.”
Return to Christmas Chronicles