"The first explosion seemed to come from somewhere under Tory’s seat. Her eyes flew open as the plane dipped to the left." 

                                              

     Donny dropped his Buggy Bear halfway down the jet way. Trying to keep the boy interested in a book while waiting for the plane had been a battle and Tory was tired. Traveling with a three year old and sixteen year old was difficult at best. Her daughter stopped and picked up the bear just as Donny’s scream tore through Tory’s ear. She knew he was tired, but so was she. Kelly waved the bear at Donny, who was draped over Tory’s shoulder, and his giggle made her smile. Catastrophe avoided, for the moment. The trip had been exhausting. Her mother had been in a car accident and Tory and the kids had flown to town to get her settled at home with round the clock care. The outlook wasn’t good. Brain damage, vegetable, never be the same, needs care around the clock. The words floated through Tory’s mind as the decision of what to do had loomed over her. She wanted her mother at home, surrounded by the things she loved, despite the cost. Her mother could afford it, so Tory had seen to the arrangements and her mother was settled at home with a nurse. Now she needed to get back home and get back to work. Kelly had finals the following week and Donny had a doctor appointment in two days. Her husband was out of the country dealing with work in Germany. He was due home in four days, and then they would soon be headed to the Bahamas for a week of nothing but the ocean waves, building sand castles and sitting in the sun. Or that had been the plan. She was going to talk with Greg about him taking the kids on the vacation with the nanny, she would return to stay with her mother. The trip had been one they had all been looking forward to, but she would feel better at her mother’s side, not sunbathing while her mother was in such a condition.

         “He’s going to be a pain in the ass the whole flight,” Kelly said. The comment drew Tory from her thoughts.

         “Kelly! Enough with the mouth already, he’ll go to sleep when we take off.”

         “You fed him sugared cereal for breakfast, mistake if you ask me.”

         Kelly huffed past Tory and stepped up to the plane. Tory watched as Kelly patted the side of the plane, as she always did, for luck. Tory didn’t see any point in pushing her luck and gave the bright blue side of the plane a pat as she went inside. The flight attendant smiled and said, “Welcome aboard.” Tory tried to smile back, but instead just nodded.  Donny was squirming in her arms and she just wanted to take her seat. Donny was a good kid most of the time, but the time in the hospital and at her mother’s house was a constant battle of keeping him from getting into things he shouldn’t. She wanted to run to her seat and just close her eyes. She hefted Donny higher on her shoulder and walked down the aisle to the back of the plane. She preferred sitting up front where she didn’t have to push past people, but being close to the bathroom with a newly potty-trained little man was a must. Kelly sealed the deal by saying, “We have to sit in the back, mom. Ever see a plane back into a mountain?”

         Tory booked the back row. It made a sick sense to her, she knew flying was safer than driving, but they were in the back row in any case. Being allowed to board before the other passengers was wonderful, the few people already on board from previous destinations were scattered throughout the cabin and she made it to the back easily. Kelly sat by the window, Donny would be in the middle with Tory in the aisle seat. They settled in while the other passengers boarded.

         “Kelly?”

         The girl looked up from her magazine.

         “I just want to thank you for going with me. I really appreciated all your help. You’re so grown up now and I just wanted to say thanks. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

         Kelly had been a huge help, chasing after Donny while Tory talked with the doctors and sat by her mother’s bedside. Tory owed her big.

         “Thanks mom that means a lot. I wasn’t sure you’d noticed. I understand and all, it was a hell of a trip. I miss grandma. The way she used to be I mean.” Kelly wiped her eyes.

         “I do too, babe.” Tory found a Kleenex in her purse and handed it over.

         “Remember when she used to make homemade bubbles from the dishwashing soap? I always made such a mess but she didn’t care. I wish Donny could know her like that.”

         Tory’s thoughts hadn’t gone that far and the thought of Donny never knowing her mother like Kelly had made her eyes burn. The woman had been so full of life. Once Tory had moved half way across the country because of Greg’s job, the women had phoned daily and visited frequently.

         “I hadn’t thought of that. I wish he could know her like that, too. There’s always hope, Kell, never give up.”

         Kelly nodded and went back to her magazine while Tory fished in her carry-on for the cheese crackers Donny liked. The crackers would keep him busy while the plane finished boarding and they took off. Donny took the crackers and Tory settled in her seat. The plane boarded and they began to taxi.  The flight would be just over two hours. Donny would sleep for more than half that and Kelly had plenty of magazines from the book store at the airport. A nap was in her near future and Tory smiled as they took to the sky.

         Donny closed his eyes about twenty minutes after the plane left the ground. Kelly rolled up her jacket, placed it under his head and tucked Buggy Bear in beside him.

         “Told you he’d sleep once we took off,” Tory said.

         Kelly stuck her tongue out at her mother. “I was hoping he would instead of going into a meltdown. I have his crayons and color book in my bag. If he wakes up I’ll keep him busy, go ahead and take a nap. I know you’re tired.”

         “You’re going to make a hell of a mother someday, Chicky-Poo. Thanks.”

         Kelly laughed.

         Tory shut her eyes and slept.

         The first explosion seemed to come from somewhere under Tory’s seat. Her eyes flew open as the plane dipped to the left.

         “Mom!” The fear in Kelly’s voice forced her fully awake. “Mom! What was that?”

         Tory sat up straight and looked around. The plane continued to dip to the left. They were descending rapidly. Kelly was braced against the window. Tory held on to Donny as the plane continued to list to the left. Donny woke and began to cry. She heard a few yells from in front of her. The woman in the seat directly in front of her began to cry.

         “I don’t know, babe. I don’t know.” She took Donny’s hand in hers and squeezed.

         The plane’s left wing raised back and they were flying level.

         Tory looked up the row. The flight attendant was on the phone, her back to the cabin. Tory had flown numerous times and every time there was a storm or bad turbulence she knew she could read the flight attendant’s face and know if they were in serious trouble. She couldn’t see the one at the front; the other attendant was nowhere to be seen. The intercom buzzed on and the Captain addressed the cabin.

         “Ladies and gentlemen,” the Captain said.

         Another explosion, a ripping, came from under Tory and she screamed. The plane began to drop. She could hear a whooshing noise from under her. There was a hole in the plane!

         “Mom! What’s going on?” Kelly began to cry.

         Tory felt sweat pop out on her forehead. Many of the passengers were screaming. Tory felt like she was on an out of control rollercoaster. Just as she was sure they would plunge to the earth, the plane began to level off once again.

         Tory grasped for Kelly’s hand with her free hand and the coldness of her daughters hand chilled her.

         “I don’t know what’s going on, babe. It’s going to be okay. We’ll be okay.”

         Tory looked up the aisle. The flight attendant at the front of the plane had been tossed out of sight when the second explosion hit. Tory watched her crawl to her seat and buckle herself in, holding one hand over her forehead. The second attendant came into view and sat beside the first. Being so far at the back of the plane Tory couldn’t see their faces.

         “Mom, I don’t want to die!”

         Tory leaned over Donny.

         “Baby, it’s going to be okay. We’ll probably have to land somewhere close, so they can figure out what went wrong.”

         Donny let go of her hand and held Buggy Bear over his face. Tory reached over him and rubbed Kelly’s back with her free hand. The fear on the girls face broke her heart.  Were they going to die? After all they had been through, were they going to die on this plane? It couldn’t be. It wasn’t fair!

         The intercom buzzed and Tory looked up. The other passengers quieted to listen, the woman in front of Tory kept saying, “No,no,no,no…”

         “Ladies and gentlemen, we seem to have some mechanical problems and have asked to land immediately. Kansas City is out destination and we’re about twelve minutes away. Please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened. We’ll keep you updated.” The intercom clicked off and Tory looked at Kelly. The voice on the intercom had been different than the first. The Captain was most likely too busy to talk. A shiver went down Tory’s spine.

         “See, we’re just going to land in Kansas City and they’ll put us on another plane and we’ll be home soon.”

         “I don’t think so. Something is wrong, really wrong. I don’t think we’re going to make it to Kansas City.”

         The plane began to shake; it wasn’t any kind of normal turbulence Tory had ever felt. The shaking was side to side not up and down like she had felt in the past. The whooshing turned into a high pitched whining.

         Donny leaned over in his seat and was sick on the floor. Kelly held her hands over her ears as the whining increased in intensity. Tory wiped Donny’s face with the sleeve of her shirt and pulled him as best she could over to her. Twelve minutes, even less now, and they would be on the ground. They would get off the plane and drive to St. Louis. She could rent a car and they would drive. She wasn’t going to be getting on another plane in the near future if she could help it and she sure as hell wasn’t going to put her children on one either. They would take a loss on the trip to the Bahamas. She didn’t care. The whining increased in intensity and there was another ripping from under her seat. Kelly began to scream.

         “Kelly! Kelly, calm down!” Tory had to scream over the whining.

         Kelly covered her face with her hands and sobbed. It was better than the screaming.

         The plane began to jerk more violently. Donny leaned over and was sick again. His seat caught most of it. Instead of trying to clean the mess, she pulled Donny closer towards her side as much as possible and whispered in his ear how much she loved him. The little boy with the bright blue eyes and golden curls looked up at her and the look of fear on his face tore her heart.

         The high pitched screaming coming from beneath her seat diminished to a low thrumming whooshing noise. It sounded like monsters bowling with boulders beneath her, but the plane remained slightly pitched down but level. The ache in her head eased and she dimly wondered why the oxygen masks didn’t come down. She took a deep breath of air and tried to calm her racing heart.

         “Kelly? Kell?” The girl still had her face covered. Kelly’s shoulders were shaking but she uncovered her face and looked at Tory.

         “The day you were born there were tornados. Do you know what Grandma said to me? She said you’d be a whirlwind throughout your life. I looked into your little angle face and was filled with so much love I thought I would pop. Your dad’s chest stuck out so far, I swear his chest came around the corner before he did. When we took you home we couldn’t stand the thought of you next door in the nursery so your dad took apart your crib and drug it all into our bedroom and then put it back together.”

         “I wish I could talk to dad. I want to tell him so many things.”

         “I know baby, I wish we could talk to him, too.” James was so far away from her. God, how she wished she could hold him, have him here with the three of them. It wouldn’t be so bad if they were all together. It would be fitting somehow. “He loves us all very much, Kelly. So very much.” The tears came and she couldn’t stop them. She didn’t want to lose it in front of the kids but she couldn’t help it.

         “I love you so much, Kelly,” Tory said “You have made me and your dad so proud with everything you have done.”

         “Are we saying goodbye, mom? It feels like we are.”

         “I know it does, baby.” She couldn’t control the tears. All she could do was hold on to her children and hope. Never give up hope.

         Donny pulled on her shirt and she looked into the little boys face.

         “Bafoom,” he said.

         “Baby, we have to wait. We’re going to land soon, so we can’t get up right now.” Tears rolled down his face. She comforted him and tickled his face with Buggy Bear. Donny smiled through the tears and she drank it in, just in case.

         They had to be getting close to Kansas City. It seemed like it had hours since the sounds had come from under her. She glanced out the window and was surprised to see how close the ground looked.

         The intercom buzzed. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is First Officer Berger, we are on final approach into Kansas City. We should be there in less than five minutes. Please listen to the flight attendants and prepare for landing.” The intercom clicked off and then on. The flight attendants voice filled the cabin and she explained the crash position. Tory listened closely.

         “Did you understand that, Kell? Lean over and put your hands over your head, okay?”

         “I love you, mom. You’re the best mom ever and all my friends are jealous of how close we were. I just wanted you to know.”

         Were. Kelly had lost hope; there was no longer emotion in her voice. Tory could read the girl like a book.

         “Are, Kelly, you meant how close we are. I’m going to be there when you get married and when you have your first child. I’ll watch as your husband takes apart the crib and moves it to your bedroom, okay? I will.”

         Two minutes. The final explosion lifted Tory’s seat. The seatbelt dug into her stomach as her head crashed into the seatback in front of hers. Her scream mixed with those of the other passengers. Her seat settled back. The floor under her feet felt spongy. She undid her seatbelt and leaned her body over her children as best she could. Kelly’s ear was by her mouth.

         “Are. We are and always will be. Hope Kelly, hope. I love you both so much. I love you, I love you.” She could feel Buggy Bear against her arm as well as the frantic breathing of her son.

         One minute…