It didn’t take long for the frightened young Kaitlyn to settle in for the long flight. The little imp, who had been so petrified as she first stepped through the main cabin door, was now tirelessly bombarding the businessman next to her with questions.
Meg, the flight attendant, could see the man’s frustration level reaching its zenith, as he attempted to concentrate on his work.
“Whatcha writin’, Mr. Man?”
“I’m trying to work!” He snapped as he tried to turn away from the child. The tight confines of the seats in coach made it impossible for him to avoid her.
“I have some colors. You wanna use them? It’ll make your letter pretty. My mommy likes it when I make the stories pretty. Maybe your mommy’ll like pretty letters too. You wanna use dem, Mr. Man?” She jabbered on not waiting for an answer.
Meg watched the gentleman press his lips together and close his eyes tightly; his face turning a brighter shade of red each second that passed.
Quickly, Meg opened a storage drawer in the galley. Grabbing a small, sealed plastic baggy, she turned and headed toward the coach cabin.
Bending over the five-year-old, Meg showed her a pair of plastic wings before she began to pin the shiny prize on Kaitlyn. Poking her finger as she attached the wings on Kaitlyn’s soft fleece sweater, Meg sucked in a breath but refused to let the child know why.
“Do you know what this means?” she questioned the little girl.
Kaitlyn looked down at her sweater then back up at Meg as her head shook from side to side.
“This means you are a junior flight attendant and you have a superpower.”
“I do? Wow… what kinda superpower?”
“You can make people fall asleep.”
“I can? How?”
“Well, first you have to be very quiet; because people are quiet when they sleep.”
“Not Daddy,” Kaitlyn rebutted. “Daddy does this… Cccaaaa…Zzzzz… Cccaaaa…Zzzzzz.”
Turning her face away, Meg got herself back under control before looking back to Kaitlyn and finishing her instructions. “Some people do make noises after they fall asleep, but they have to be quiet to fall asleep first… right? The child’s head bobbed up and down before asking, “But how do I get them to sleep?”
“Well, that’s a little hard but, with these wings, you can do it. You have to stay very quiet yourself and look at them very hard.” Meg looked at the woman across the aisle and winked as she pointed to her. “Try it on that lady.”
Kaitlyn became very still and opening her eyes wide, she jutted her chin out, looking hard at the lady in the pink shirt. Slowly the woman sank down in her seat and closed her eyes.
“It worked!” Pride and excitement wiggling through the little girl’s whole body.
As if on cue, The woman’s eyes popped open and she sat up.
“Oh! You have to keep quiet or they wake up again.” Meg brought her finger to her lips.
“But that’s harrrrd.”
“Let me find something to help.” Meg walked back to the galley rescuing a few items from first class and returning to the child’s side. Pulling the tray down from the seatback, Meg set chocolates, fruit and a large warm cinnamon roll before Kaitlyn’s widening eyes, procuring jealous looks from other passengers.
“There, now you have everything you need for your secret mission.”
Kaitlyn’s head bobbed up and down again as her small finger pressed to her lips.
The woman in the pink shirt suppressed a giggle as her hand barely moved in a silent clap and ‘Mr. Man’ winked before continuing writing his paper.
Problem was solved… for the time being, anyway.
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