Notes & Stuff (That Probably Won't Amount to Anything)

Total Eclipse

[Author's Note: This is my second opening scene for the same class.]

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Total Eclipse

            The family was almost halfway to the airport when Justus leaned over the center seat, his breath warm on his sister's neck. "Juniper," he said, "Did you know that airplanes go 500 knots? That's almost 575 miles an hour."

Juniper shifted so he couldn't see her cell phone. She didn't reply.

"We are going on a Boeing 747," Justus continued, undeterred by Juniper's silence. "That means when we take off we have to do airspeed of 180 miles an hour. Do you know what airspeed is, Juniper?"

Juniper glared at her phone, tucking her knees up to her chest. She was angry she was missing a pool party at her best friend's house.

"A plane doesn't even have to be moving on the ground and can have an airspeed of 20 miles an hour, depending on the wind," Justus was babbling excitedly, "If it's going over the front of the plane - that's called a headwind, and it means how much lift a plane can get. So if it has a 20 mile an hour headwind, it has to go 160 miles an hour groundspeed to be doing 180 miles airspeed to lift off. But if it's a wind coming up the tail side then –"

"Mom!" Juniper whined loudly.

"Justus," their mother leaned around her seat to look back at the two kids. "Let's give Juniper some space, sweetie."

"Okay." Justus sounded disappointed, but he sat back.

Juniper sighed in relief and let her legs hang down again.

Justus bent forward and pulled a tablet from his carry-on bag at his feet, checking his countdown app. "Twenty-eight hours, eighteen minutes, and six-five-four-three-two... seconds until the eclipse," he announced.

Juniper rolled her eyes.