Window Seat

          Lane sat at the window, admiring the moon that was shining against the metallic silver of the plane's wing. Dim light scattered like ash against her freckled face and her eyes danced around her head, making sure to catch sight of the lightning that popped the surface of distant clouds. The woman sitting to her right shifted in her seat and Lane couldn't help but be pulled away from intense sky gazing.

          "Jeez, it's already midnight and I have to work tomorrow morning. Damn airline..." Her tone was nothing short of disgruntled, but Lane couldn't help but find it humorous. The woman dressed in jeans and a maroon T-shirt mumbled a few curse words underneath the deafening hum of the jet's engine before she shrank in her seat, pulled her earphones up around the gold hoops that dangled just above her shoulder blades and closed her eyes. Lane felt invisible to her neighbor, a comforting thought at the least.

           Lane's eyes were in route back to the dark window on her left when she stopped them on the waving wrist above the seat ahead of her. A Rolex glistened in the glare from his reading light, and a stewardess walked wobbly towards his row. "Yes sir?" She smiled a fake smile and clasped her hands together above her breasts. Her name tag caught a beam of moonlight, flashing 'Maria' in Lane's direction. Rolex grunted, "This water tastes like sewage."

            Maria gave a sympathetic look towards him, although Lane knew she was only putting into practice her customer service training. "I'm sorry sir, can I offer you something else?" Rolex scoffed and shoved the water towards her, "A Coke. caffeine free, obviously." Rolex thrust his cup of crystal clear sewage towards Maria. 

           "All we have is pepsi, sir. Is that ok?" 

            "Damnit. No. Just forget it. I'll just have to stay thirsty." 

            Maria took his cup and apologized before walking in her unstable heels towards the front. Lane watched as Rolex reached to turn off his light and slumped back in his seat. Darkness filtered through the cabin once again. A cough and a baby squeal ran up the aisle and bounced off the beverage cart nestled between rows 2 and 3. Two business men behind her started talking about the frustration of children, and a young girl looking like a fresh college graduate tapped her long fingernails against the seat ahead of her. She sighed and dropped her chin in her hands.

            Lane eventually returned her gaze out the window where the stars were hanging like mobiles, stationary yet slipping across the velvet black curtain of sky. Strings of starch white pearls ran across the base of the moon. A graveyard of tragic beauty, only moving from the gentle kiss of the atmospheric breeze. Lane blinked and spread her lips to touch the base of each cheek. "If only they had a window seat" she thought, as the flash of a shooting star stretched across the blue of her eyes.