The Eye of a Hurricane

Isabel

"I'm sorry, but I need you to sit in your own seat, sweetheart," the stewardess told Luna. The plane was moving and my little sister was terrified. She wanted to be in my lap.

"Nooooo..." she moaned, but I carefully started to shift her over to the window seat.

"Come on, Luna," I prompted her. "Look out the window!"

I helped buckle her seatbelt and the stewardess seemed satisfied enough. I could tell she didn't like us. She'd had to remind Luna to stay in her seat twice already. Uncle Lin told me that take off was his favorite part of flying, so I was anxiously awaiting it. For now, we were just strolling along like we were in a car. Just really high up.

We turned and the plane straightened out. Then I heard a noise. The engines. The plane paused and then started moving. Faster, faster, and faster. I smiled and gripped Luna's hand as the plane hurtled down the runway. Buildings were going by really fast. Then a shift, and we were lifting off the ground.

"Woaaahhh!!!" Luna practically screamed as we started climbing higher and higher. I looked out the window and saw buildings, trees, cars, getting smaller and smaller. Is this what birds felt like?

"Wooky!!" Luna pointed out at the ocean.

"Cool!" I responded. We were both unable to take our eyes off the sights we were seeing out the window. It didn't feel like we were going very fast, but I knew we must be. We'd been going really fast down that runway. After ten minutes or so, the plane started to level and the pilot came on the intercom. He said we'd reached cruising altitude and could get up if we needed. Luna already had to go to the bathroom, so I walked her up to the lavatory. There wasn't enough room for two of us in there so I waited outside her door. Once she'd finished, she opened the door and looked at me with wonder.

"The toiwet doesn't have any water!" she reported. "And my pee just disappeared!"

"Neat!" I responded, stepping in. "Wait for me right here."

I used the restroom as quickly as I could and thought the toilet was kind of cool. I washed my hands then walked out, taking Luna's hand. We sat back down and I made her fasten her seatbelt again. The stewardess came by with drinks and snacks. I thought she didn't like us, but she gave us extra pretzels. Thank goodness they didn't serve peanuts.

Luna ended up falling asleep after the snack. When our plane started to descend on New York City, I woke her up so she could look at the buildings. We stared out in wonder. America looked a lot different.

"Wook at all the cars!" she explained as we saw what must be a highway below us. It looked like they were moving really slowly. The plane went lower and lower until everything looked like normal. The plane touched down with a jolt. I was scared for a few moments because the plane was still going really fast. Would we stop in time?

We were told to stay seated to wait for our escort. Once everyone was off the plane, a lady boarded and told us to follow her. I took Luna's hand and we followed her out, down the long corridor that connected the plane to the airport. As soon as we stepped out, I saw Uncle Lin and broke into a smile. So did he.

He looked the same. He had dark hair like us and kept a goatee. I thought he was pretty handsome, but he didn't have a girlfriend or a wife. Luna ran to him and he squatted down to meet her. She crashed into his arms and he picked her up and spun her around.

"Luna!!!" he smiled widely as he hugged her tight. Uncle Lin shifted her to his hip and opened his arm to hug me as well. "Hi Isabel. How was your first plane ride?"

"Great!" I told him. "You were right. Take off was the best part."

"I know, right?" he said excitedly. "Let's go find your suitcases."