sojourn in my hometown of Parable had something to do with the decision.Tristan and I had a history, one of those angst-filled summer romances between highschool graduation and college. Sure, it had been over for ten years, but I still felt bruised whenever I thought of him, which was more often than I should have, evenwith all that time to insulate me from the experience.My few romantic encounters in between had done nothing to dissuade me from myoriginal opinion.Resolved: Men lie. They cheat—usually with your roommate, your best friend, or somebody you'regoing to have to face at the office every day. They forget birthdays, dump you the dayof the big date, and leave the toilet seat up.Who needed it? I had B.O.B., after all. My battery-operated boyfriend.Just as I was thinking those thoughts, my purse tumbled out of the overheadcompartment and hit meon the head. I should have realized that the universe was putting me on notice. Cosmice-mail. Subject:
Pay attention, Gayle.
Hastily, avoiding the flight attendant's tolerant glance, which I knew would bedisapproving because I'd asked for extra peanuts during the flight and gotten up to usethe rest room when the seat belt sign was on, I shoved the bag under the seat in frontof mine. Then I gripped the arms of 4B as the aircraft gavean apocalyptic shudder and nose-dived for the landing strip.I squeezed my eyes shut.The plane bumped to the ground, and I would have sworn before a hostile jury that thething was about to flip from wingtip to wingtip before crumpling into a fiery ball.My stomach surged into my throat, and I pictured smoldering wreckage on the sixo'clock news in Phoenix, even heard the voice-over.
"Recently fired paralegal, Gayle Hayes, perished today in a plane crash outside the small Montana town of Parable.She was twenty-seven, a hard-won size 6 with two hundred dollars' worth of highlights in her shoulder-length brown hair, and was accompanied by her long- standing boyfriend, Bob—"
As if my untimely and tragic death would rate a sound bite. And as if I'd brought Bobalong on this trip. All I would have needed to complete my humiliation, on top of losing my job and having to make an appearance in Parable, was for some security
Leave a Comment