Westbound Boeing 747
Somewhere over North America
Saturday
11:30am
Jennifer Reeves leaned back in her seat and closed
her eyes, glad to be
on her way home. It wasn’t that she hadn’t enjoyed their vacation,
she thought,
but her mother did tend to go a little overboard sometimes. Jen was
quite certain
she didn’t have a single living relative left on the East Coast that
she and Meg
hadn’t visited in the last week. And that “Aunt Patti” with the broken
hip her
mother had insisted they stop by and see in the hospital this morning
on the way
to the airport? Well, Jen was ninety percent certain she didn’t even
have an Aunt
Patti. She couldn’t really fault her mother though. Her desire to reconnect
with
distant family members had everything to do with wanting to show off
her
granddaughter, Jen was sure.
She sighed softly. Flying made her sleepy. Too bad
it didn’t have the same
effect on the little munchkin in the window seat beside her.
Jen opened her eyes and regarded her daughter. “You’re
too quiet. What
are you up to, Trouble?” she asked with a smile.
“Nothin’ Mommy, just playing with my bracelet,”
replied the seven-year-old.
Jen lifted the child’s wrist to inspect the unfamiliar
jewelry. “Did Granny give
you that, honey?”
“No Mommy, I found it. At that hospital where we
saw the lady with the blue
hair. Can I keep it?”
Jen sighed. “Not much point in asking now,
is there?”
“Are you mad, Mommy?”
“No honey, I’m not mad. But next time you find something,
let me know right
away, ok? You should always try and find out who it belongs to before
you just
decide to keep it. Somebody back in Washington could be missing that
bracelet
very much.”
“Why?”
Ah, how to explain the concept of “sentimental value”
to a seven-year-old. Jen
decided it wasn’t worth the effort. If she played the lesson up too
much, Meg would
soon be demanding that they turn the plane around and return the bracelet
to it’s rightful
owner. Truthfully, it didn’t seem like an overly expensive piece, and,
well, it was
owls…how broken up could they be over it?
“You know what I think?” Jen asked with a yawn.
“What Mommy?”
“I think we should try and take a nap. It will make
the time pass quicker.”
“I’ll try. Do you think Daddy will like my new bracelet?”
“I’m sure he’ll love it, sweetie. Now close your
eyes.”
As the gentle dips and sways of the airplane nudged
her gently towards sleep, Jen
found herself reflecting once again on how glad she was to be heading
home. There
was nothing like the craziness of a vacation to remind you just how
nice the normal,
everyday routine could be…
THE END....for now...
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