I turned, caught my brother Ahmed looking at me with a less than subtle fear in his eyes. He nodded and I nodded back, meaning it was time to go. I made one last call to my wife to tell her I love her; telling her that everything was going to be ok - knowing that wasn't truth. .
As we were making our way down the boarding tunnel I took note of the fellow passengers, keeping mental notes of targets that might be of some trouble: A young man no older than 24 in good physical conditions. An older man in his late 40's who I overheard talking about being in the army and some female passengers also. Half way down the boarding tunnel I heard a sudden rise in chatter, I feared the worst, but then my nostrils flared and I knew what the talk was about, some airplane fuel must have leaked out of a pipe outside, sending the gut wrenching fumes into the boarding tunnel. .
The smell was strong and in no way pleasant but, after what I had been through.It had no impact. "Are all the systems ready to go captain?" The captain swung around in his chair his blond hair shining in the sun and his deep brown eyes trained on the instruments behind me, scanning for something I have not yet been taught to identify. After a few minutes he gave me a satisfying nod with a friendly smile signalling that everything was good to go. .
At that there was a sharp knock on the door and one of the flight attends, a young no more than 27 year old women with straight black hair and oak eyes, popped her head out telling us that all the passengers were accounted for and that we were ready for takeoff, and finally asking us what we wanted for lunch. The selection was fairly surprising since we were on a plane, from Spaghetti to Chicken, me and the pilot both settled for chicken and potatoes as we always do. Almost instantly after the flight attended simply said ok and left closing the door sharply behind her and locking it.
