Handling the Baggage

CHALLENGE: Write a flash fiction with 300 words or fewer
MUST CONTAIN: airplane, mouse, sneeze

Handling the Baggage

WORD COUNT: 300

She hated the next part.  Hated it with a passion.

Every time she transferred from her own wheelchair to the aisle chair at the gate, her stomach sank.  Watching them take away her mobility -- her very independence -- rendered her queasy to say the least.

In her head, she tossed around the word stewardess just to be contrary.  They took her legs; she took their title.

The air in the cabin was stale as ever.  It made her head pound and her sinuses fill as the airplane climbed higher and higher.  When the stewardess offered her a packet of pretzels, she accepted it with a sneeze and wiped her bleary eyes.

They landed in Chicago seemingly without incident, but dropping out of the sky was only one of her fears.

This time, her trepidation was justified; it happened.  She knew it the moment the stewardess approached with wringing hands and overly sympathetic eyes.  “I’m so sorry, Ms. Carlton,” she bleated, “but it seems some items shifted in the cargo hold…”

“You mean the baggage handlers broke my chair?”  Her pulse quickened at the thought.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” the stewardess replied indignantly, “but, yes, there was an accident involving your chair.”

“They broke my freakin’ legs!” she spat back, panic and frustration transforming her from quiet mouse to roaring lioness.

Outside, she surveyed the damage: bent wheel, bent axle.  A total loss.

She would never make it to the disabilities convention on time, so she called her friends to apologize and ranted loudly, making everyone in earshot uncomfortable.

Good, she thought, now we’re almost even.  To the cooing flight attendant, she barked, “Get me to the legal department!  I have some shopping to do!”

If it had to happen, at least she was going to the right place.