Still Valley At 20,000 Feet - Mike Burns (good ebook reader .TXT) 📗

STEWARDESS
Perhaps later, sir. How about some hot coffee?

BOB
ANOTHER VODKA MARTINI, IF YOU...(his wife insistently grabs his arm at this point, and looks directly into his face, shaking her head firmly)...

Bob, sullen but relenting, lets it go.

JULIA
Aren’t you glad you have me around when your people skills lapse like that?

BOB
My people skills are fine (slightly slurred) They just need a bit of lubrication once in awhile. Vodka’s one of the best lubricants.

JULIA (glad the tense moment is past) Well, I think they’re plenty lubricated now. (encircles his left arm with hers and leans her cheek against his shoulder) Thanks for being understanding, Bob.

BOB
Okay, okay. I’m a good boy. Don’t pat me on the head too much. It’s likely to give me a conk--a concussion. (slightly slurred again)

Julia returns to reading a paperback book of hers, smiling. Bob idly looks past her, out the window.

CUT TO:

The PLANE flying through dust clouds, from which the sun glints with overpowering brightness, almost flame-like in its intensity, cutting visibility through the side windows to almost zero.

CUT TO:

PLANE CABIN, where Julia lies back in her seat now, asleep, the paperback fallen into her lap now.

Bob gets up and steps past her to sit in window seat, on other side of Julia. Squinting through the unnatural glare, he spots something. The glare off the dust particles dissipates slightly, and he sees even brighter glare from another source--a cross, flaming, sitting squarely on the chest of a white robe of the KKK variety, worn by a man-like figure, also wearing a white hood with small eye-holes. He is standing on the plane wing, just above the outboard engine. The wind velocity at this speed should have blown him away instantly. Yet he stands upright easily, casually, as if there is no wind, no dust, no airspeed. He turns his head and looks at Bob with flaming eyes. Something about his body language suggests he is smiling underneath the hood, a crazy, deranged grin, invisible though his mouth is. He is scrutinizing Bob with a seemingly sadistic intent.

Alarmed, Bob looks around for one of the stewardesses. He remembers the button above his seat, next to the light switch. He presses it frantically, and twists his head around to keep the creature in his field of view as he does so. The Klansman From Hell is still watching him with a predatory manner. A stewardess finally enters the cabin, and Bob beckons frantically to her.

BOB
Ma’am, look out there, through my window. Look! See that? (pointing out window, punching the air in that direction with his index finger)

Stewardess leans over Julia, looks out window.
(CONTINUED)
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

STEWARDESS
What did you see, sir?

BOB
There’s a man out there, a man in a white robe with a cross. He’s walking around on the wing...He looks like he’s on fire!

Bob looks out window again as he says this, sees the Klansman gone.

BOB
Sorry, I could’ve sworn I saw...

JULIA(awakening, confused momentarily at seeing Bob to her left, in window seat) Bob? What is it? What’s wrong?

STEWARDESS
It’s nothing, Mrs. Wilson. Don’t worry...sir, can I get you something?

Bob thinks a moment.

BOB
Yes, just a glass of water.

STEWARDESS
Certainly, sir. (departs)

JULIA
I heard you say something about...something on the wing?

BOB: (rubbing eyes)
Uhhh...

JULIA
Is something wrong, Bob? What was it?

She is plainly unused to seeing him at a loss for words, and this is unsettling.

BOB
No, I just...thought I saw something out there

JULIA
What, Bob? What did you THINK you saw?

BOB
Oh...I think I’m overtired. I think I’ve put too much time and mental effort into this presentation tomorrow. I thought I saw a man out there on the wing. (snickers with his characteristic bravado) Imagine that!

Bob quietly snorts with laughter at his own behavior. He closes the window’s curtain, not wanting to see the wing.

BOB
I’m gonna get some sleep.
(CONTINUED)
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


JULIA
Bob, are you sure you’re all right? Maybe you need to cancel your presentation tomorrow...

BOB: No! Are you crazy? (voice rising in pitch, then suddenly feeling self-conscious) No, honey, it’s all right. I’m fine. There’s no reason to do that. It’ll be fine. Really. It’s all right.

The stewardess arrives with a clear plastic cup of water.

BOB
Thank you, ma’am. (gulps it, returns it to her) Thanks.

Bob turns off his overhead light

STEWARDESS
You’re welcome. (departs)

CUT TO:

The PLANE continues to fly through the dust cloud with its incandescent particles, which are glowing more mutedly now. The cloud seems to move with the plane.

CUT TO:

The plane's CABIN, a little later, where Julia is ready to go back to sleep.