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With her oversized pocketbook in hand, Aggie held it in front of her, trying
not to bop anyone upside the head. She followed closely behind Betty, inching
“Remind me again why we’re not seated in first class?” Betty asked,
plopping down in the assigned seat matching the number and letter combination
on her ticket.
“We booked late, dear,” Aggie sighed, sitting down next to her friend of
Getting up with her knees bent and stooping so as not to hit her head,
Betty straightened her purple pantsuit and gasped, “Would you look at that?”
Aggie followed her gaze to the couple seated across the aisle that was
glued together at the lips. The silver haired man, seated next to the window, was
probably in his late fifties and the blonde woman, whose back was to them, more
across the top of her black and white checkered skirt, fastening it.
“Yeah, I see them,” Betty said. “He’s groping her back, and every other
“No ring.” Aggie grabbed the Sky Mall magazine from the pocket on the
“My word,” Betty sighed, leaning back in her seat. “You notice the
darndest things.”
The flight attendant marched down the aisle checking the overhead
compartments to make sure they were all securely latched. Aggie smiled up at
her as she passed then quickly scanned her fellow passengers. It looked to be a
full flight. There were three seats per row on either side of the plane. The
kissing couple now had an old lady sitting next to them on the aisle. From what
she could see the only seat still available was the one between herself and Betty.
“Excuse me,” wheezed a large man with a red-tipped bulbous nose and
black-rimmed specs. He scratched at his belly protruding from a two sizes, too
bumblebee.
The man smoothed his thin comb-over of straggly black hair and nodded
“Oh, dear. If you’d like,” she offered, “I can scoot over and you can have
“No.” He tugged the seat of his black pants exactly where Aggie
envisioned the stinger would be. “My ticket says that’s my seat.”
“I’ll move,” Betty said, gathering up her things. “Why don’t you take the
window seat? That way my friend and I won’t be talking over you.”
Betty scrunched up her nose and cringed. “Oh, we wouldn’t want that.”
“Indeed not,” Aggie agreed, hopping up from her seat, then standing in the
aisle to let the man squeeze by. From behind she felt a hand grip her shoulder.
“Please take your seat,” snapped the flight attendant. “We’re about to
take off.”
The couple across the aisle was staring at Aggie. The old lady on the end
with the Coke-bottle glasses probably was also. It was hard to tell through the
thick lenses.
Several minutes later, Aggie was seated, strapped in, and the aircraft was
up in the air. The two flight attendants, one blonde and one brunette were taking
Unexpectedly, Aggie had the sudden urge to use the restroom and
glanced up at the fasten seatbelt sign above. She then eyed the big rolling
The man seated next to her, who had introduced himself as Gary a few
minutes prior, was snoring up a storm. His head plopped down on her shoulder
with a thud.
Using the tip of her index finger, Aggie pushed the round, greasy face
away. Gary snorted in the process and fortunately settled on his own headrest.
Realizing she couldn’t hold it much longer, Aggie defied the fasten seatbelt
sign and released the latch of her belt. Getting up from her seat, she noticed the
“What are you doing?” she asked as Aggie approached the cart. “You’re
supposed to be seated.”
“I’m sorry,” Aggie whispered. “But you see it’s urgent. I need to use the
restroom.”
“The fasten seatbelt sign is on,” the flight attendant stated loudly so that
everyone could hear. “I don’t care that you have to go to the bathroom. You
should be seated.”
“Thank you.” Aggie held her breath trying to shrink her 5’9” frame, turning
sideways, squeezing past the cart while apologizing to the passengers seated
behind her. She tried extra hard not to squish the nun who was getting up from
her seat.
Taking a quick look over her shoulder, she noticed the nun heading in the
direction of the drink cart that was now at Aggie’s row. She would miss her
chance for a drink and was dying of thirst. She was tempted to ask the nun to
request a bottled-water for her, but instead headed for the bathrooms.
When she made it to the two restroom doors, the ding of the fasten
Upon leaving the restroom, the blonde woman having the affair with the
older man, was waiting impatiently to get into the stall. Pushing past Aggie, she
Shrugging her shoulders, Aggie stumbled down the aisle just as the old
woman with the bottle cap glasses headed towards her. She turned sideways to
let her pass, again almost squishing the same nun, who was now back in her
seat.
The nun nodded her acceptance and Aggie continued to her seat. Upon
reaching it, she plopped down next to the snoring bumblebee and a sleeping
Betty. She turned and gazed at the silver haired man across from her. He
caught her eye and smiled, taking a sip of a bubbly beverage. She noticed the
tray to the seat belonging to the old lady held an almost empty plastic cup with
Probably apple juice, Aggie thought, wishing she had something to drink.
She returned her attention to the Sky Mall magazine to try and get her
mind off of it. She’d just have to wait for the next round.
Aggie looked up to see a young boy of about five standing on the seat in
“Very nice,” Aggie said, mouth parched from thirst then skimmed an
would be the very item you’d want with you when deep sea diving.
“Hey,” he said desperate for attention. “Look what I found under my seat.
It’s magical.”
“Oh my,” Aggie gasped when the sparkling diamond ring caught her eye.
The little boy certainly found a way to catch her attention. “Is that your mother’s?
“No. I found it. Now it’s Bruno’s,” Tim said. “I’m going to make it into a
magic collar.”
Aggie pulled out her pocketbook from beneath the seat in front of her and
rummaged about. She found a green rubber band in the side pocket.
“How about we trade? I’ll trade you this green rubber collar for that ring.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Bruno really likes this one.” He tried
with all his might to screw the ring over the dinosaur’s head.
wondering what her grandson would like. “How about I sweeten the offer?”
Now she really had the little boy’s interest. He peered over his seat
looking into her large pocketbook. Aggie pulled out a stick of gum and held it up
“What flavor?”
All I Wanted Was a Drink 7
“Spearmint.”
dead!”
The plane became noisy with chatter and chaos as the passengers began
conversing and getting up from their seats to see for themselves what all the
“Everybody, please take your seats and stay calm,” the brunette flight
attendant’s voice floated over the intercom system. She was standing at the
front of the plane. The blonde woman was sobbing into the other fight
attendant’s shoulder.
The silver haired man quickly made his way up the aisle.
“It was terrible!” the blonde cried throwing herself into his arms.
“What’s going on?” Betty asked groggily. “I dozed off then I thought I
heard a scream.”
awakening. He wiped a string of drool from the corner of his mouth with his
hand.
“I’m not quite sure,” Aggie said, her nosy nature getting the best of her.
She shot her hand up in the air along with the other passengers that were
asking questions. The flight attendant avoided Aggie’s waving and evasively
Annoyed at this, Aggie stood up. “Excuse me,” she said, wildly waving her
The brunette threw her a sour look. “You’ll have to wait your turn.”
“Who died?” Aggie asked. The passengers quieted down and listened
“No one has died,” she said sharply. “If you’ll please take your seat.”
“Agsie, dear,” Betty began, “maybe you should take your seat. I’m sure
“I will not,” Aggie whispered. “Someone died and I want to know who.”
passengers, Aggie marched up the aisle. She pushed past the pinched-faced
flight attendant and approached the sobbing blonde woman still in the older
man’s arms.
“I opened the bathroom door and she was dead,” she cried. “The old
woman.”
“She’ll be all right,” the man said. “Aimee has a way of overreacting.”
“I’m not overreacting, John.” She glared at him. “And I don’t care if I’m
“Did you know the woman?” Aggie asked. Both Aimee and John stared at
“I hope you don’t mind my prying,” Aggie said, smiling sweetly at the girl.
“I see.”
The man patted Aimee’s back as she turned and buried her head in his
shoulder.
“Oh, dear. How awful! Now, how do you know she’s dead? Did you
“No!” the girl spat. “I can just tell. She was just sitting there slumped
“So she must have just entered the bathroom and died. Heart attack,
maybe?”
Aggie.
All I Wanted Was a Drink 10
“Your wife?” Aggie asked. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were married.”
“You haven’t lost your ring, have you?” Aggie dug out the diamond ring
“It’s not mine,” Aimee said snottily, wiggling her long slender fingers.
There was no trace of a tan line or an indent to where a ring used to be. “Not
“What are you doing up here?” asked a now familiar, stern voice from
behind.
Aggie turned to see an angry, red-faced flight attendant with her hands
planted firmly on her hips and her right foot tapping. Her nametag introduced her
“Just heading back to my seat, Maddie, dear.” Aggie patted her bleached
blonde hair piled on her head. “Thank you for your concern.”
“Something doesn’t sit right with me,” Aggie told Betty when taking her
seat.
“Well, what is it?” Betty asked, over the bumble-man. “What happened?”
“The old lady that was sitting next to the kissing couple died.”
Aggie shrugged. “I don’t know, but she found her in the bathroom.”
All I Wanted Was a Drink 11
Gary, a.k.a., bumble-man, turned to face Aggie. He slid his glasses off,
tugged at the bottom of his shirt, stretching it just enough to use a small portion
“You have a house?” he asked, holding the lenses up to the overhead light
in search of smudges.
“No.”
“Oh.”
Aggie shot Betty a sarcastic thank you look. But Gary hadn’t noticed.
“A condo?”
“Yes, why?”
“You garden?”
“No.”
“What?”
“Okay. Red.”
“Red. Um, no, won’t work. How about yellow? You like yellow?”
“Just wait. People are always amazed.” Trying to get up from his seat he
reached a hefty arm up and over in the direction of the overhead compartment.
Not bothering to ask why, Aggie got up and pulled at the latch on the
compartment above. After a yank or two it flung open. Two small bags and one
good sized black bag came flying out. One bonked Aggie on the head, rolled
onto her shoulder and flew backwards, landing on the blonde woman’s lap.
“What’s wrong with you, lady?” bellowed the silver haired man. Jumping
up from his seat in a fit of rage, he bashed the top of his head into the overhead
light.
hands planted firmly, again, on her hips. “I should’ve known it was you!”
Aggie smiled sheepishly. “I was just retrieving this bag.” She lifted the
heavy black bag from the aisle and set it on her seat. Gary took his precious
“And this fell,” she explained, taking the small bag from the blonde then
handing it to Maddie. “And the other,” she pointed in the direction of the
restrooms that were at the front of the plane, “it rolled that way. I’ll just have a
looksee.”
Maddie’s jaw dropped. Her mouth opened and closed, opened and
closed, but nothing came out. She just stood there holding the bag that Aggie
Aggie took this as an opportunity to head to the front of the plane and do a
little snooping.
All I Wanted Was a Drink 13
“Be back soon, dear,” she whispered to Betty and turned on her heel to
leave.
“Oh, you sell hoses,” Aggie could hear Betty say. “And in every color.”
Gary had unzipped his carryon and was pulling out samples.
An idea suddenly came to her. “Gary, the couple seated over there are
newlyweds. And everyone knows that a couple just starting out needs a hose.”
“Yes, indeed,” Gary said, pushing up his glasses with his middle finger,
As Aggie scurried up the aisle she could hear Gary introducing himself to
the couple asking them what their favorite color was. She looked over her
shoulder just in time to see him planting himself in the now vacant seat that
belonged to the recently deceased. She could then hear him ask if he could sit in
between them because the aisle seat would give him motion sickness.
That should keep them busy, she thought. And give me a little more time
to investigate.
Bending over she retrieved the bag that dropped from the overhead
compartment. It had burst open dispersing the contents on the floor. Aggie
“Oh phooey,” she sighed. When she lifted the make up bag the magnetic
“Excuse me,” she apologized, chasing down a tube of lipstick and a bottle
of pills. She squeezed between a man and woman. “I’ve lost something and it
The man reached down to grab them. His fingers brushed against the
bottle and it rolled under the seat of the passenger in front of him.
“Excuse me,” Aggie addressed the nun. “I’ve lost something and I believe
The nun looked down and grasped the bottle of pills. Her eyes practically
“What are you doing with my bag?” She grabbed the handle and tried to
That’s when it clicked. At that very moment Aggie knew what happened to
“She put the pills in what she thought was her husband’s drink, but
screwed up and put it in the old lady’s by mistake. The victim drank the pill-laced
apple juice, suddenly felt sick, headed for the bathroom and died.”
“Is this yours?” Aggie held up the bag she had dropped from the overhead.
All I Wanted Was a Drink 15
“I bet your camera is loaded with photos of your husband and his mistress.
Aggie fished the diamond ring from her pocket. “Does this belong to you,
dear?”
“Where’d you find that?” The nun held up her left hand revealing a naked
“You took it off because it didn’t go with your nun costume and you were
The woman checked her empty pocket that was once occupied by the
ring. She had the same startled look plastered on her face that her husband did
“Now, dear, hand over the pills.” Aggie held out her hand.
“No.” The woman shook her head. “You can’t prove a thing!”
“I believe the camera adorning your fingerprints, and the fact that your
husband is here on the flight and can ID you, is enough. Oh, and not to mention
Maddie gripped the disgruntled wife’s arm. “I’m gonna call this in. And
you’re gonna to sit where I can keep an eye on you ‘til we land. Move it!”
All I Wanted Was a Drink 16
With a satisfied grin, Aggie headed to her seat. The bumble-man was still
demonstrating his array of colorful hoses to the couple in the row across from
her, Betty was sound asleep and the murderer would be taken care of.
Now she’d be able to relax and enjoy reading the Sky Mall magazine, and
place a few orders with the payphone in the back of the seat in front of her. The