A Captain’s Story

“Ladies and gentlemen… I have a story.”

The voice comes over the speaker from the cockpit.

“Ma'am, we only have one Red Rock Deli left,” the air hostess tells me.

“You’ll have to share,” I tell the kids. Sarah and Deng groan.

After paying for the chips, I leave them to debate which cup has more chips and return to my word search.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have undoubtedly made it through a dreadful storm, but can we all take a moment to sit in utter silence? I have a story to tell”, the captain announces.

The whole plane, possibly around 100 people, falls completely silent. My kids are still arguing, unaware of the announcement.

“This is the story of how I became a pilot.”

I catch a fellow mom’s gaze a couple of seats forward. We acknowledge the announcement with a shrug and an eye roll. A plane ride can’t just be a plane ride; everyone has to have their moment nowadays.

The captain continues, “When I was younger, I dreamed of flying planes. I wanted to be the first from my nation, but I wasn’t the kind of pilot they wanted. My parents begged me to find another profession—one that would make my old man proud, you see—”

As the captain continues, the so-called silence he requested fades away. Passengers are back to their headphones, conversations, and Netflix. My kids are now content. “Hey, pop your chair back and go to sleep. That’s enough time on the iPads,” I tell them.

“No!” protests Deng. “I can’t sleep without listening to music.”

“How about a brilliant story by a pilot?” I suggest, pointing to the speaker where the captain is still telling the story.

“So first, I needed to outshine all the pupils, especially the master’s son, who always teased and mocked me, in order to gain entrance to Skygalactic University.”

“Look, his story has gone all sci-fi.” Deng puts his head back on the pillow and sighs. Sarah is already fast asleep beside him.

The captain continues, “Two years later, I became the first officer of an aircraft through Skygalactic University.”

“Yeah!” I quietly say and give myself a little clap. I look around and realize I’m the only person listening to this story.

“My last assignment that certified me as a captain was one that paired me with the master’s son.”

I gasp. “Shit, not the master’s son!”

“The master’s son made a request I couldn’t refuse—a childish but dangerous dare, if you will. But I wanted to be a captain and gain the accolades that came with it”.

Hmm, this story is taking a dark turn, I think to myself—I love it.

“The dare was to pack myself into a sky galactic plane headed to the planet Earth and then pilot a regular human plane back to our planet… and to make sure to stream it.”

“What the!”

The captain continues, “So not long now, Homo sapiens. We will be landing soon.” It’s finally silent, but really, I’m the only one who was ever making any noise. I reach over, pass my sleeping kids, and look outside the window.

Our plane isn’t in the sky... it’s in space!