Read Online Unaccompanied Minor by Hollis Gillespie - Free Book Online

hard time with that one (I wonder why)—and spent the night in one of the comfortable La-Z-Boys clustered in a dark corner for flight attendants to use when they need to catch some snores between trips. I would have slept better if not for a coworker (I consider them coworkers), who noisily masticated a big bag of microwave popcorn all night. Seriously, I wanted to swat it out of her hands like how they showed us to do to weapon-wielding assailants in the flight attendant self-defense training video.
    Swat it to the ground!
I kept thinking. It was such a satisfying mental image, all the popcorn flying in the air.
Swat it to the ground!
I grinned and attached my earphones to my charging portable DVD player. I was on episode sixty-five of
MacGyver
, “The Secret of Parker House,” in which MacGyver accompanies his friend Penny Parker (played by Teri Hatcher) to an old house she inherited from her aunt, but suspects foul play when the house appears to be haunted. I fell asleep just as he was improvising a torpedo using a pipe and an old boilerplate.
    The next morning I booked myself on the first flight to Atlanta as a nonrevenue employee using my mother’s badge, because the standby list was a mile long due to all the cancellations from the night before. By listing myself as a jump-seating flight attendant instead of an unaccompanied minor, I could at least grab a jumpseat if no passenger seats were left.
    It was just my luck that Officer Ned was standing by for the same flight. I tried to avoid him, but he must have been on the lookout for me. When he caught sight of me he looked furious, but also, I could have sworn, a little relieved as well.
    “Officer Ned!” I exclaimed, figuring I might as well play up our encounter. I rushed over and threw my arms around him. He stiffened with surprise, but after a second he patted my shoulder awkwardly. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” I cried. The people around us began to gaze fondly upon our reunion.
    Officer Ned detangled himself and held me at arm’s length. “All right, April.” He nodded skeptically. “One more time, where’s your mother?”
    “She’s already on board,” I lied.
    “Really? They haven’t even begun the boarding process!” He was angry now.
    I hesitated for exactly one second before answering him. “Ah, she’s working the flight. All the cancellations from yesterday really screwed up flight attendant scheduling.”
    “Right.” He rolled his eyes.
    “Seriously, she volunteered to work the flight so the plane could meet minimum staffing requirements. I’ll introduce you when you get on board, I swear.”
    “Is that so? Well, we’ll just wait here until they call our names and board the plane together, then.”
    “Great, okay! Ah, did you hear that announcement earlier?”
    “What announcement?”
    “They announced my name. I must have been cleared to board. Haven’t they called your name?”
    “I did not hear any announcement.”
    There had been no announcement, but as a jumpseat passenger I didn’t need one. I was expected to board before everyone else in order to identify myself to the cabin and cockpit crews.
    Officer Ned walked me over to the flustered gate agent. “Excuse me!” he called loudly. I winced. Gate agents hate that. “I said, excuse me!”
    The agent smacked her pen on the counter and turned to him sharply. “Yes?”
    “Is this young lady cleared to board?”
    I’d shown her my badge earlier when I’d filled out the jumpseat slip, so she simply waved her hand dismissively and said, “Yes, of course.”
    “Fine,” Officer Ned said to me. “Get on the plane. At least I’ll know where you are.”
    I gave him another unexpected hug goodbye. It was mostly out of appreciation for having someone give a crap about me for once, but also because I wanted to add his badge to the handcuffs I’d pickpocketed off him earlier. It would be a while before he noticed them missing, I thought, and I had a feeling