Daciel Airlines

|Chapter 1|

The airport. It was Daciel's favorite location, after his plane, of course. He arrived early on a Tuesday morning looking forward to flying a hundred people to Venise, Italie. His flight would leave at exactly 8:57 am which was in approximately... AN HOUR! He was late.

Daciel rushed to the staff section of the customs with his carry-on luggage rolling behind him. A woman stood there, straight as a ruler, with her hair pulled back in a tight bun and her eyeliner not smudged at all. Daciel envied her. How could she get her eyeliner so perfectly? He wished she would enlighten him.

"Hello, sir, yes, sir! Can I see your passport?"

"Sure," he said with a gracious smile. He then got his pilot's permit and held it in front of the woman's face.

"Oh, sir Daciel!" She reached a hand over the desk and took his. Her hand was warm and a little bit sweaty; Daciel felt the sudden urge of pulling his own back.

"Oh sir! I'm so, so honoured to finally meet you!" She held his hand in hers and smiled brightly. Daciel couldn't help feeling that she was maybe a little strange. "Daciel Airvens, owner of Daciel Airlines! Oh, my God, am I happy! I waited so long for this day!"

When Daciel looked a bit closer, he saw tears in her blinking eyes, but her eyeliner wasn't smudged! How did she do it?!

He set the pilot's permit that he still held in his hand down to lean a bit closer over the desk, just to see if it really wasn't smudged.

"Sir, isn't your flight due to go in a few minutes?"

"Um... yes..."

"Wouldn't you prefer to stay here...? With me...?"

Was she trying to flirt with him? Good Lord! He was pledged to his piano, after all!

"Lady...um, Miss, um..."

"Skyler," she said and batted her eyelashes. "Didn't you notice we have something in common, sir...?"

"What...?!"

"We both have the word 'sky' in our names... except yours is in French. Oh! French! What a romantic language!"

"Miss Skyler! I...um, I am afraid I am seeing someone at the moment."

"Oh! What a lucky one!"

"Yes, you understand! I cannot betray my piano, my dear wife Pianella!"

Her face froze and the corners of her mouth dropped. "Sir, your flight leaves in a few minutes. You should leave."

"Yes, I should! Thank you!"

Daciel walked past  the customs and went towards the plane's departure gate. He presented himself to security standing before the entrance of the long tunnel.

"Sir, your permit."

"Of course!" He reached down his pocket to get it but seemed to have forgotten it at the customs. His plane was leaving in 30 minutes and setting up his piano, dear, loving Pianella, would take a while! He couldn't go without his permit and going back to where he had forgotten it was not an option.

Daciel muttered something about having to do something important, distanced himself, and sat down to think. And it hit him. He was going to draw one! Yes! The most beautiful pilot's permit one could ever imagine. It was going to be the best one of the whole wide world!

He opened his carry-on and took out a sheet of paper and a bag of pencils and pens. Blue, pink, yellow, and black were needed. He folded the sheet of paper so that the surface was smaller and started writing all information he remembered down. Date of birth, date of expiration, name, plane number and name, everything! Then it was the picture's turn, which Daciel found a little harder. After all, he wasn't a born artist and hadn't had time to practice a lot these past few days; he had preferred his piano.

Finally, he was finished! Daciel didn't think he'd done too bad. His hair was perfect, 'on fleek', his lips were pink as they should be, and his shirt was black. All informations were right. There was no way they wouldn't believe him!

With a glance on his watch, Daciel realized that there were only twenty minutes left before departure! Quick, quick! He raced to the security point and waved his permit in the air.

"Um, sir, do you take us for stupid?"

"No...! Why?"

"Your permit looks like a kid's drawing!"

"Oh. Uh. Um. Sorry. Um." Daciel hid the permit behind his back. "Um. I'll find my permit... right now!" He ran away to the waiting area and sat down with his head in his hands. What was he going to do?

After a while, he remembered that he could persuade them of letting him through by giving them the information that was on his permit. Daciel went back to the security people and asked them:

"Why are you not letting me through?"

"Because we don't know for sure if you are Pilot Daciel Airvens. For all we know, you could be a wanted terrorist!"

"If I recite you my plane number, will you let me through?"

"You can try." The man narrowed his eyes at him.

"Okay. My plane number is #346893476110."

They started laughing at his face. How dare they! He was the Pilot! The most important person in the airport! And they disrespected him! "Good for you, but we still can't let you pass."

"Oh..." he said. He had to try and manipulate them! Maybe if he distracted them enough, they'd let him past the gates... "You, uh, you have a beautiful shirt!"

"Thank you. It's my uniform."

"Oh, uh, okay. You have very well cut hair," Daciel complimented the other one.

"Thank you. I had it cut at Maurice & Co. You have, uh, nice hair too!"

"Thanks." Daciel bowed. Maybe they were finally starting to believe him? "Your eyes are nice too, are they contacts?"

"No sir, blue is my natural eye colour. I guess that's a compliment though."

"You're very welcome sir!"

After a while, Daciel thought that they were probably starting to be manipulated and he said:

"Well then, I guess it's time for me to take my leave. I'll go to the plane now. Thanks for the friendly chat, gentlemen!" And he attempted to pass through the space that was in the middle of the two, but they easily held him back.

"Not so fast, friend. Did you really think we'd fall for it that fast?"

"No," Daciel spat. He stomped away back to his seat and let his eyes roam the room. Maybe he'd see something that would help him...

And indeed he did. The tunnel through which the luggage flowed through at a regular pace still was there, out of view of the security guards but not too far away. He would easily slide through there and come out right next to the plane, where the luggage was transported into its belly! What a great idea! What an amazing idea! Daciel was proud of himself. He was going to be on time and he'd still have a few minutes to install Pianella. Really, he was smarter than those guys thought.

He squished himself inside the tight hole (where, luckily, the people had gone for a coffee break) and held his arms in front of his face to shield his glasses from the suitcases that were certain to soon appear. Surprisingly, the ride was rather fun! It was a little like a waterslide, but without getting wet. Daciel enjoyed the ride so much that once he saw the daylight again he was disappointed.