Call Out

Harrison Leblanc

"May I please have your ticket sir?"

   The attendant seemed confused by my lack of knowledge but made sure to remind me of what I was doing, taking me through the steps one by one, "Sir? Your ticket should be in one of your pockets, everyone here has one."

   "Oh?" I awkwardly ruffled my shorts and retrieved the slip of paper with a small crowd of individuals waiting behind me to just hurry up. She quickly ripped the slip and sent me to the back to find my seat on row 30, that's what I simply thought was going to happen or so I had thought. It didn't occur to me that I was clueless.

   "Wait, it seems as if there's been a mistake."

   "C-can you repeat that again please?"

   "I apologise, there has been a mistake in our system and so your ticket has been upgraded from economy class to first in compensation, I wholly apologise for our company's lack of attention," announced the flight attendant, stretching her phrase in caution, affirming that every single word pronounced would make its way and enter into my cranium and therefore process the English lexicon. I glanced at her chest for a name tag and on it was a blank, she neither had any defining traits other than her black hair being tied up in a bun.

   "P-pardon? I don't know why I am even here..."

"May I please have your ticket sir?"

   The attendant seemed confused by my lack of knowledge but made sure to remind me of what I was doing, taking me through the steps one-by-one, "Sir? Your ticket should be in one of your pockets, everyone here has one."

   "Oh?" I awkwardly ruffled my shorts and retrieved the slip of paper with a small crowd of individuals waiting behind me to just hurry up. She quickly ripped the slip and sent me to the back to find my seat on row 30, that's what I simply thought was going to happen or so I had thought. It didn't occur to me that I was clueless.

   "Wait, it seems as if there's been a mistake."

   "C-can you repeat that again please?"

   "I apologise, there has been a mistake in our system and so your ticket had been upgraded from the economy class to first in compensation, I wholly apologise for our company's lack of attention," announced the flight attendant, stretching her phrase in caution, affirming that every single word pronounced would make its way and enter into my cranium and therefore process the English lexicon. I glanced at her chest for a name tag and on it was a blank, she neither had any defining traits other than her black hair being tied up in a bun.

  In a moment of casualty, she broke away from her disposition, "That seems to be on point, I'm terribly sorry for your loss," She smiled warmly, a tonal shift altering her behaviour and in character to her profession, requested that I move towards the front row and towards my right side on row 2 as I was preventing the line of people from entering the aircraft vehicle.

   The hallway transforms, my toe squeezes against the interior of my running shoes between every step taken yet so, I tread along the aisle. The seating had been arranged in a formally structured manner, three groups of threes, with a walkway inserted between which had always been far too cramped for any human movement. As I pursue forward, I set foot into a new domain the same way I intrude past the doorway checkpoint of isolated sheer white curtains, dividing the separation of classes. With seats becoming scarce, it moulds into an impressive display of high-class leather, I was really going to be here for the flight.

   Seat 9, row 2, I have found it.

   At odds with the situation, I temporarily remained oblivious and amused myself with the reclinable seating, and I was able to figure out a way to extend it to a bed. It might annoy the flight attendants but I'll cross that bridge of consequences when I come to it. I was also fortunate enough to be positioned next to the window, a refreshing view of the outside — if this had been a mistake, it would have been an interesting one to be a part of. Inside seats may lock the user in for the full flight trip with no exit, but the view is usually worth the trade-off. When I had attempted to stare outside, instead of the clouds or an asphalt airport runway greeting me, I was instead met with tinted darkness, swirling in crystallisation.