Flying Low

Flying Low
Ignacio hated flying; hated it with a passion. He had only flown once before in his life, and it was terrible. But he knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and if he had to take a plane to get there, then so be it. He only had one shot at landing this job in New York. It’d been his dream to become a doctor, and that dream was practically waiting for him. He just he to get there. “No problem,” he thought, “no problem at all.”
The evening was cold and dreary; raining off and on. As Ignacio gazed out the terminal window across the glistening tarmac at Madrid Barajas Airport, his mind was in New York City. He was mentally preparing himself for the interview.
“You’ve got this,” he said quietly.
The loudspeaker crackled and a young woman’s voice said, “Flight number 3201 to New York will begin boarding in ten minutes.” “Número de vuelo 3201 de New York comenzará a subir en diez minutos.”
Ignacio decided to make one final call to his brother, Pablo, back home in Frigiliana, Spain. Before he knew it, he heard “Flight number 3201 to New York is now boarding.”
With a great amount of unease, Ignacio boarded the large, crowded passenger jet and found his seat. Of course, he got a middle seat in between a smelly guy and a snoring old señora. He continued reviewing his interview until his thoughts were interrupted by the plane’s PA system. The pilot said that the flight would be delayed due to bad weather. Ignacio heaved a long sigh.
“Oh,” he thought as he picked up a magazine from the seat pocket, “this is going to be a long trip.”
Minute after minute went by until finally the announcement was made that they were clear for takeoff.
Ignacio practically held his breath during the whole takeoff process, and once in the air, the ride was quite rough due to turbulence from the storm.
The man sitting beside him noticed his fear, and decided about halfway into the flight, much to Ignacio’s discontent, to start a conversation.
“Hello there,” the man said, “my name is Craig. How are you this evening?”
Ignacio replied in thickly accented English, “Fine, thank you. And yourself?”
“Good, thanks. So you’re going to New York. What are you going there for?” Craig asked as the plane bumped and shook about, causing the lights to flicker.
Ignacio knew English, but did not feel like speaking it. “¿Qué?”
Craig tried again, “Why go New York?”
Ignacio knew full well what he was getting at, however he continued to play dumb and said “¿Qué?”
Craig became puzzled and gave up quickly.
“Thank God,” Ignacio thought. He decided to listen to the Air Traffic Control radio to try and ease his mind. It was a failed attempt. The only thing he learned through the radio was that the flight was slightly off course, the storm showed no signs of stopping for miles, and worst of all: the plane was flying dangerously low below the clouds.
As the cabin continued to rock, Ignacio heard an unusual sound, almost like a… slither.
Ignacio shifted uneasily in his seat, and the sound got increasingly louder, and louder until…
“AH! Dios mio! Oh my God!”
Everyone in the section turned and stared.
“Serpiente!” Ignacio cried as he jumped out of the seat. “Snake! Snake!!”
A young female flight attendant dashed down the aisle to see what the matter was. A large, yellow snake was staring into Ignacio’s eyes as the cabin lights flickered on and off.
The flight attendant was yelling at Ignacio over the ruckus to keep calm and she would call for help.However, she soon realized that this required immediate attention. In an act of pure miracle, the poor woman grabbed the snake around the neck and pulled it into the aisle. By now, everyone was screaming and jumping about. The snake had contempt in it’s eyes, and looked as if it would strike as soon as it could get out of this chokehold.
The flight attendant wrestled with the serpent in the aisle as it hissed and thrashed about. After a great amount of struggle, the serpent made an awful choking noise and finally, went limp in the woman’s hands.
At nearly the same time, a middle-aged, bald-headed man came running at the woman, screaming profanities.
“That was my most beloved snake, woman! How dare you murder it?”
She shot back, “You, sir are a fool for bringing an animal on an airplane! It is strictly illegal!”
“So you kill it? Are you stupid?”
“It was trying to eat another passenger, you idiot! It could have killed that poor man!”
Their argument was cut short bys a loud bang. The cabin lost all power and it became pitch black. Chaos erupted as oxygen masks deployed from the ceiling.
Ignacio felt the plane falling, losing altitude quickly. He began to feel lightheaded.
“We’re going to die!” Craig shouted.
“What on Earth is going on?” the señora asked, awaking.
“This is it,” Ignacio thought as his eyes darted back and forth in the darkness. “My life is over.”
For a moment, the lights came back on dimly. The PA system crackled and screeched as the pilot frantically gave this message:
“Attention. We are going to make a water landing. Please remain calm. When the rafters on the side of the plane deploy, quickly and quietly walk down them to the lifeboats. Further instructions will be given after we land. Again, please remain calm.” And with that, the PA clicked off and the lights went out again.
The plane was descending rapidly now; Ignacio was gripping his armrests so tightly his knuckles were white. He began to reach for an oxygen mask, but before he could grab it, the plane smashed into the water, creating a deafening thud and proceeding with whiplash. Ignacio saw his life flash before his eyes, and for a moment he thought he was dead. After this initial shock, he noticed that the plane was sitting with it’s backside unusually low.
“Perhaps I’m just seeing things,” he thought.
The young female flight attendant/snake wrestler was now directing everyone to the lifeboats. People were very frightened, but probably no one more so than Ignacio. As he stepped down the slippery rafter to his boat, he tripped and slid down into the boat on his back. Under normal circumstances, he would probably laugh, but right now he was scared witless.
On Ignacio’s boat there was Craig, the old señora, as well as a mother and father with a young crying child, and some other people. The mother appeared pregnant with another child. She was breathing heavily and her face was very pale. Ignacio hoped she would be alright, and said a silent prayer for her and everyone else.
But just then, he saw that part of the back side of the plane was submerged in the water. He became sick to his stomach as he realized what that meant.
“My God,” he thought, “every single one of them... May they rest in peace.”
Ignacio turned as he heard the pilot speaking over a megaphone.
“Thank you everyone for your cooperation. I have sent a call for help with the emergency GPS. Helicopters should arrive within the hour. Please remain calm. You’re all doing wonderfully.”
“They had better arrive within the hour,” Ignacio thought to himself. “We’ve got pregnant women and elderly people here! And it’s the middle of October. The temperature will likely drop below freezing before long! And what about-”
Ignacio’s thoughts were interrupted by the a man yelling, “Oh my… did your water just break honey?”
Ignacio’s eyes darted over to the pregnant woman. Indeed, her water had broken on the boat. Ignacio, having four years of medical training, knew that she would now have to give birth right here, right now, on this raft.
The woman covered her mouth with her hand, and then leaned over the side of the boat and puked.
“Is anybody here a doctor?” the father asked openly.
Ignacio immediately jumped up. He knew that he had to take charge.
“I am,” he said.
“Can you help us?”
“I will do my best, sir,” Ignacio replied.
He cautiously stepped over to the frantic mother and said calmly, “Ma’am, what is your name?”
“Maria,” she heaved.
“Maria, I need you to stay calm.”
Within the next forty-five minutes to hour, a newborn baby girl had been born, and the whole boat had gathered around to see it. Ignacio carefully wiped away the blood from her face.
“Isabel,” Maria said quietly. “I’ll name her Isabel.”
“Sounds like a plan,” the father said.
Ignacio sat for a moment and enjoyed the peacefulness that surrounded him. But then reality struck back at him. He knew that this baby would need real medical attention, and soon. She was very vulnerable right now. He also realized, though, that he would need to keep Maria and the father calm until help arrived.
“She’s beautiful,” he said. “Here, take my jacket to keep her warm.”
“Thank you,” Maria replied gently.
“Well,” Ignacio said after a moment, “I think we all ought to get some rest. Especially you, Maria. You’ve had a long day.”
“Oh I will, after I feed Isabel. But how will you stay warm, Ignacio?”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Focus on Isabel and your son.”
“Thank you a million times over. How can I ever repay you?”
“Just promise me you’ll be the best mother on the planet, and that will be enough for me.”
“Okay,” she nodded as she drifted into sleep.
The sun was setting in the horizon; Ignacio and the father shared the same distant look of worry. There were no helicopters in sight, and it was getting colder by the minute.
Soon enough, night fell. The air was biting cold, and Maria and her baby slept restlessly. After a time, Ignacio, the father and the other passengers on their boat managed to fall asleep.
~~~
In the morning, as everyone was awaking, Ignacio was increasingly fearful that Isabel might become sick. Still no helicopters had arrived and the temperature was not going to get very warm. Forty-five degrees at the most.
Maria was looking quite ill; her face had almost a… green tint to it.
All around Ignacio, people were groaning and making distorted faces. He didn’t doubt that some of them probably caught a cold, flu or worse over the night. He glanced down at his watch.
“10:30 AM,” he thought. “If helicopters were on their way, one would think that they’d be here by now.”
The pilot, noticing the people’s discomfort, decided to speak.
“Attention everyone. I know you are all uncomfortable. This is quite an inconvenient predicament we are in. But rest assured that help will be here soon.”
“Oh please!” a man on the pilot’s boat shouted. “They’ll never find us out here! There’s no help coming, is there? No, no. And it’s all YOUR fault!” he pointed at the pilot. “You were a fool to take off in that kind of a storm!”
By now, the man was standing up in the boat and getting nearer to pilot with every word. He was cursing at him, calling him every name in the book. Eventually they got face to face, and out of the blue, he pushed the pilot backwards. A short struggle ensued with them, but the angry man was much larger than the pilot, and overpowered him. Before anyone could help it, the pilot was pushed over the edge of the raft and into the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Everyone started at the man, aghast. They could not believe their eyes. He himself looked as if he couldn’t comprehend what his fit of rage had just caused him to do.
In a sudden leap of faith, the angry man jumped into the water voluntarily. Everyone began chattering.
“Well that escalated quickly,” Isabel’s father said.
“You’re not kidding,” Ignacio replied.
“This isn’t good,” Maria added. “The pilot had the access to the GPS system, and now he’s floating to the bottom of the ocean! What will we do now?”
“Just have faith and be strong,” the father said. “Have faith and be strong.”
Later, Ignacio looked at his watch again.
“1:45 PM,” he thought. “Damn it. I wonder if that pilot really got through to the emergency services. Perhaps his GPS radio wasn’t working.”
At that moment, the young boy spoke for the first time during the whole ordeal.
“Mommy, are we going to die?”
“John, don’t say that. Everything will be alright. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Ignacio stared out across the horizon. He noticed a small, white object in the distance.
“Probably just a mirage,” he told himself.
But then, it kept getting bigger and bigger.
Then, somebody in another raft said, “Look! It’s another boat! Wave it down! Come on, you fools, starting waving!”
Ignacio and his boat was still doubtful, but they started waving nonetheless. Ignacio squinted to get a better look. It did indeed look like a boat, and a large one. Maybe even a cruise liner.
After a few moments, Ignacio and the father stood up and started waving even more when they realized it was a boat! They started shouting and hooting.
“Come on baby!” Ignacio yelled.
“Woo hoo!” the father shouted.
People were jumping up and down and splashing water. The boat was getting closer and closer every moment, and hope was lighting up in Ignacio’s eyes. Maria seemed to remain somewhat absent of the situation, just systematically waving her arm around.
The boat got very close, but then it seemed to go past them. People stopped waving. They stared at the boat. Had it not seem them?
“Oh no,” Maria said. “No! Come back!” she cried.
She covered her mouth and started weeping.
“Come back,” she whimpered.
The father hugged his family tightly and told them to calm down. They would make due. Another boat would probably come.
Ignacio knew their chances of survival were slim. He watched as the boat drifted away toward the horizon line.
“How could it not have seen us?” Ignacio pondered. He felt tears welling up in his eyes. He hated flying; hated it passion.
Most everyone was sobbing by now. They had a hope, and apparently it was a false one. The boat just blew past them like a tumbleweed passing a cactus in the desert.
Ignacio looked up as he wept quietly. He saw the white object again, much in the same way he had seen it earlier. He looked at it with contempt, a burning hatred now for the boat that had abandoned them. Only now, it looked almost like it was… backing up!
Ignacio squinted again, much the same way he had before.
“Is it possible?” he thought. “Is it coming back for us?” He now had regained a small flicker of hope.
The young boy was sobbing as well. He kept saying “We’re going to die! We’re all going to die!”
Ignacio ignored him though and continued to stare at the boat in the distance. Indeed it was coming back!
“Everyone!” he shouted. “Have a look! It’s backing up!”
“Don’t be an idiot,” someone fired back. “It’s long gone by… well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle…”
“I told you so!” Ignacio said.
As the boat pulled up alongside the stranded life-rafts, Ignacio looked up at it’s name:
The U.S.S. ISABEL. He couldn’t help but smile.