a boy and a bit

Posted by Kabby on Tuesday, July 11 2000 at 06:26:16pm

naww its not a boymoment. A moment is just a freckle on the face of time. This was a boyindulgence, a boyswallowingupoftime, a boyluxury, a boyblessing...

I had missed the early flight. So I was a little disgruntled when I queued for a standby seat on the next flight. Once on the plane I settled down grumpily into the only available unallocated seat. The plane was packed. I was tired. So I was glad that the seat next to me was empty. I wasn't in the mood for company. The stewardess came officiously down the aisle and in her train I saw a small person, quite indistinguishable. Then he pushed past her, grinned at me massively and installed himself into the empty seat next to me clambering over my knees. We prepared for takeoff. They played relaxing music over the intercom and he sang along noisily and to no-one but himself and his reflection in the window-glass.


It was to be a two-hour flight. I leaned over and asked him lamely if he liked flying. He turned a pair of huge blue eyes up at me and looked carefully before replying, he was a veteran flier, had been all round the world...I introduced myself and he smiled and gave me his rather small hand very politely. His name was Jethro but I could call him Jay.

I wish I could tell you Jay's story, why he was there on the plane sitting next to me 14 km higher than the mountains... I could tell you plenty but none of it, I suspect would have revealed more about Jay than a little reading between the lines offers.


A very normal lively nine year old. Built quite powerfully but with an almost girly face, pretty and light. A shock of dark hair falling in a long fringe, a powerful neck suporting a head that bobbed as he talked. A pair of shoulders to match but little legs that didn't quite reach the floor of the cabin and that wouldn't stay still for a second.

Jethro (aka Jay) was a boy and a bit. He not only flew around the world (he stabbed at the map showing me all the places that he had no idea the name of) but he wrestled sharks killing them with his diving knife after they chewed of his flipper and his friend's arm... His dad was going to be a millionaire soon but when I told him I had called on my dad in the city we just left he asked me quickly, "are your parents divorced?" Well hell, I am five times his age but I know why he asked me that question.

We went the flight leaning across heads touching at times. Talking earnestly mostly about Jay and his dreams, his pesky baby sister and the way planes fly. I tended him anxiously. Fiddled with the air control for him. The stewardess got quite fed up with the constant calls to the seat as I figured out which snacks and drinks he wasn't allergic to and could eat. But Jay charmed her with his ready smile and a flash of light from behind his blue eyes. His dad didn't need to become a millionaire he was rich beyond words already.

I missed Jay as he went to spend the last 20 minutes with the captain on the flightdeck. I asked him to be careful if he was allowed to land the plane and not to crash us. He set my watch alarm to go off at the time we were due to land and skipped off to charm the men flying the plane.

In the airport car park I cursed as a woman driver nearly knocked me over before I saw Jethro (aka Jay) waving frantically from the seat beside her a huge grin on his face. Going home but already safely in my heart.