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  © Copyright 2014 Gil McCue.

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  isbn: 978-1-4907-3915-1 (e)

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  Trafford rev. 06/09/2014

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  IT WAS DIFFICULT for me to walk down the narrow isle of that small airplane in my physically fragile condition. If it weren’t for the aide of my cane to support me, it would have been strenuous to get in to the first available isle seat without assistance. Thank God the first available isle seat was unoccupied.

  I could hardly lift my luggage bag and force it into the upper bin over my seat. At age forty, I had suffered a significant back injury as the result of a serious accident. The harsh pain from that injury had recently returned to torment me. “May I help you, sir?” inquired the flight attendant with a friendly smile.

  I turned my head and politely said, “Thank you, I do need some assistance.” My arms and legs were so weak, I’m afraid this will be the last time I will travel on a plane again. Flying alone is too difficult for someone in my poor health.

  Slowly I eased my sore body into the seat, buckled the seatbelt and relaxed. It was a gratifying relief. I never liked flying even when I was young and in good health.

  Sitting adjacent to me at the window seat was a strange looking gentleman dressed in the most unusual attire. His clothing appeared to be from an earlier period of time. How unusual it was to see someone dressed in that fashion in this day and age. I also detected a peculiar odor about him. Perhaps it was his clothing.

  The flight attendant made a last minute check of each passenger’s seat belt as she magically glided down the isle of the plane.

  “I’ll be serving complimentary soft drinks and snacks soon after the plane levels off,” she reported. She smiled once again as she passed my seat on her way toward the rear of the plane.

  In short order, I struck up a casual conversation with the oddly dressed man seated adjacent to me. I talked mostly about my health while the stranger said little about himself. In the course of our conversation, I casually mentioned I’d sell my soul to the devil to be young and healthy again. I was a strong swimmer while attending both high school and college. Now, in my golden years, I was barely able to walk down the isle of the airplane.

  Having seen the difficulty I had with my luggage, the odd looking gentleman agreed that he would feel the same if he too was in such poor health.

  “Since we have adjoining seats for the next hour or so, may I ask your name?”

  “Oh, Ron, Ronald Gilbert,” I replied as I unbuckled my seatbelt.

  “Ronald Gilbert?” That’s interesting he chuckled.

  “Did you know that both your first and last names have common etymological origins?”

  “What I’m trying to say is that your first name, “Ronald,” is an Old Norse form of “Reginald”, meaning ‘Strong Ruler’ and “Gilbert” means ‘Bright Wish,” he quoted.

  “How interesting,” I noted. I never knew that names had meanings.

  “You’re quite a scholar,” I remarked.

  “Tell me then, what are your names and their meanings?”

  “My first name is “Roy” which means, “King.” “My last name is “Nomed”, which has no historical ethnic or significant meaning that I have been able to research for any definition…but…then…who knows?”

  At that moment the flight attendant asked if either of us would like a complimentary soft drink or some snacks.

  I replied, “No thank you,” while Roy simply shook his head.

  I asked Roy if he had noticed the cheerful smile on the face of our flight attendant as she passed by our seats.

  Her smile reminded me of my daughter’s smile when she was young and I’d call her my angel from heaven.

  “That attendant has the smile of an angel from heaven,” I suggested.

  “The smile of an angel from heaven?” he chuckled.

  “When that flight attendant has a day off, she probably walks the streets of Las Vegas with all those other angels in their high heels and hot pants”.

  “That angel’s smile can lead the most honest man down a path to hell,” he muttered.

  What a degrading expression of prejudgment, I thought.

  How could this total stranger utter such a negative remark about a lovely person he knows nothing about? And now, I have the unfortunate experience of having to sit next to him for the remainder of the flight.

  After that rude remark, I ended our conversation, closed my tired eyes, buckled the seat belt, and fell into a deep sleep.

  ––––––—––

  The sudden jolt of the airplane landing awakened me only to realize that Roy was not in his seat. As I unbuckled my seatbelt, I noticed that my hands were those of a very healthy young man of twenty years. “I must be dreaming,” I thought as I reached for my luggage in the upper compartment. “Is this your cane next to my luggage?” I addressed a nearby passenger.

  Since there was no response to my question, I calmly handed the cane over to the flight attendant as I stepped onto the ramp and out the exit. “Was that all a dream?” I muttered to myself as I stopped at a men’s room on my way from the terminal. As I looked in a mirror, I got the shock of my life.

  Standing there was a young man’s image of me fifty years earlier. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. “This can’t be me,” I said to myself.

  When I opened my eyes again, behind me was the stranger who sat next to me on the airplane. “You sure look a lot younger now than when you first boarded that airplane and sat next to me,” he remarked “How can this be?” I inquired. “I got on that plane a tired old man, and got off fifty years younger and as healthy as I was when I was in college.”

  There was a long pause as I stared at myself in the mirror. “Miracles do happen.” he quoted.

  I could only shake my head in total disbelief”.

  “And, how was it possible that you left your seat before me and deplaned before I did?” I asked him. “Well, you were still groggy when I stepped over you and retrieved my luggage at the rear of the plane,” he replied with a smile.

  Quickly changing the subject, Roy promptly suggested, “I have a limo waiting for me at the curb if you’d like me to drop you off somewhere.” “Sounds good to me,” I responded as I easily lifted my heavy luggage bag and rapidly exited the terminal. “This limo is provided to all the high rollers at a local casino I’m going to after I drop you off,” he said. “Better yet, suppose you join me now to the casino,” he suggested. “Great idea…let’s go for it!” I responded without hesitation.

&nbsp
; All of this was happening so fast that it must be true! I was riding in a stranger’s chauffeur driven limo and feeling as good as a young athlete about to receive an Olympic, Gold, Medal. “It appears that my strength and my health has improved since I left that airplane,” I said with a big grin. Roy’s enthusiasm was as joyful as mine.

  Something remarkable had come over me since I met Roy. The experience was wonderful!

  ––––––-––

  The casino was bubbling. If you’ve never been to a Las Vegas casino, you’ve been missing an experience of a lifetime. The lights are never dimmed nor are the gambling tables ever totally shut down. There is music, dancing and ongoing shows around the clock. Las Vegas casinos are an adult’s playground that begins the moment you step inside. Tinsel town, (as it’s called) have casinos where adults become children again and nobody cares. There’s a fever which overcomes the sense of reasoning of right from wrong and nobody cares. Even the most conservative people get caught up with that fever and nobody cares. “Roy, let’s have a night to remember,” I gleamed. “Go for it Ron, It’s all yours,” he responded. “How lucky I was to have met Roy,” I thought. “Who knows how far this unexpected encounter with a total stranger could lead to.

  ––––––-––

  “Wake up old man, we’re about to land,” I heard a forceful man’s voice over the powerful noise of the planes landing gears being lowered.

  It was my passenger companion shaking my arm, which was now sore from sleeping on it in an awkward position.

  “You’ve been sleeping for over an hour old man,” he shouted.

  “Sleeping?”

  “I don’t believe it,” I uttered.

  “Surely that was not a dream?” I sputtered in disbelief.

  “Why we… you and I that is; drove off together in a chauffeur driven limo, stopped off at a casino, won a great deal of money, and met the most beautiful women in the world.”

  “Is that so?” he chuckled.

  “I was a young man again. I discarded my cane and danced the night away. It was wonderful.”

  “Is that so?” he beamed more cheerfully this time…

  “Well, old man Gilbert, it looks like you got your Bright Wish, and so did I”, he grinned.

  “As you know, my first name means, “King.” “However, my last name also has an Old Norse meaning as well,” he joked.

  “What do you mean?” “Doe’s Nomed mean something in Old Norse?”

  “Oh… I forgot to tell you that you only get the true Old Norse meaning of my last name is when you spell it backwards.”

  “You mean, D-E-M-O-N?”

  “Now you’ve got it!” he gleamed.

  “Don’t you remember saying you would sell your soul to the devil if you were young and healthy again?”

  “Yes,” I trembled

  “Well, you did,” he laughed with joy.

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you that I appear in many forms and I am often called…SATAN”.

  “Sometimes I appear as a snake as I did in the Garden of Eden.

  “But, I mostly appear when you least expect it,” he chuckled.

  “And there’s another thing I neglected to tell you, Ron”.

  “What’s that, Roy?”, I whispered as I began to feel slightly drowsed.

  “Ron…you’re about to have a heart attack.”

  Suddenly I felt a sharp pain deep within my chest. As I tried to catch my breath, my eyes began to close and the last voice I heard was that of the flight attendant.

  “Did you just ring for assistance, sir?” she asked

  “Yes, I did,” replied Roy.

  “Please inform the captain that this old man sitting next to me has just passed away!!”

  “What old man?” the flight attendant inquired.

  “The old man in this seat next to me,” he barked.

  “The seat next to you has been empty for this entire flight,” she stated.

  “That’s a lie,” Roy shouted at her.

  “Please sir, you’re causing a disturbance,” she responded.

  “Look in the luggage compartment above the seat and you’ll see his belongings,” Roy suggested angrily.

  Holding the door to the open compartment, the attendant peered inside and casually remarked, “There’s no luggage in this bin with the exception of a walking cane.”

  “That’s a dam lie,” Roy screamed.

  “Perhaps your mind has been playing tricks on you, sir,” she politely responded.

  “Sometimes changes in altitude and cabin pressure affect passengers differently”.

  “Are you suggesting that my mind can play tricks on me?”

  “No one can play tricks on me, not even my mind….you lying wench!”

  “Well, perhaps it was your Guardian Angel sitting next to you,” she smiled.

  “There’s no such thing as Guardian Angels,” Roy shouted at all the passengers on board.

  At that moment, the flight attendant leaned over his seat, peered directly into his evil eyes and smiled, “You’re looking at one!”

  “Get out of my face,” Roy snarled.

  Her smile infuriated Roy to an intense display of bitter rage.

  ‘There are only Fallen Angels on this earth,” he screamed loudly.

  “Sit down and shut up!” all the passengers began to yell and shout at him.

  “Sir, you’re causing an unlawful disturbance,” she remarked.

  Suddenly the captain’s voice came over the loudspeaker system.

  “Please buckle your seatbelts, we’re about to land.”

  At that announcement, the flight attendant slowly walked toward the flight deck, and spoke momentarily with the captain before buckling herself in the flight seat.

  –––––––—––

  As the pilot cheerfully bid farewell to each passenger that exited the plane, two law officers came aboard, handcuffed Roy, and escorted him from the terminal. Hence, he was tricked in a game of deception in the ageless encounter of good versus evil.

 

 

  Varian Johnson, The Parker Inheritance

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