Scrambled Thoughts and Runny Mouth (copyright Paramount Pictures)

“Write like a maniac,” I said.

With power, there would be no excuses.  I dug my rear into 36K and prepared my writing space.

My words bounced off the seat backs in front of us.  My new best friends, in 36I and 36J, shifted under their buckles and shot each other a glance.  I knew the look, it was of the “oh crap, here we go” variety.  Their conversation didn’t need words.

–         Wife: He is talking to himself.

–         Husband:  Bloody hell, we haven’t even taken off yet.

–         Entire plane: Oh crap, here we go.

Next to us, a Quantas flight with the same destination pulled from its gate.   

It’s not too often that I get an electrical outlet on a plane.  I was thrilled.  With the exception of my excited utterance, my English neighbors were pretty excited too.  They were on a one way ticket to Perth with all their worldly belongings.  Well, except for their dog.  He was on the Quantas flight along with my boss.

“We avoided excess baggage that way,” Husband said.  I enjoyed the easy opportunity to make a joke about my boss.  But Wife beat me to it.

“It was a selfish thing to do wasn’t it?” Wife asked.  I shrugged.

“What was I supposed to do, pay £1000 for the mutt to sit in economy?”  I thought better than to make a joke about Wife.

“It’s a worry,” she said.

“Your dog will be just fine,” I said.

“He better be,” Wife said.  She shot a dirty look at the man who checked their dog.  Her husband fumed.

I lifted my head above the seats and found my other neighbors. Together, we rolled our eyes towards the overhead bins.  

But I had power.  And a laptop.  And electronic paper.  I plugged my headphones in, and wrote the preceding words.

Categories: Bloody Hell, Creative Writing, Rambling, Stream of Conscious, Travel

Tags: bloody hell, creative writing, excited utterance, new best friends, perspective, Procrastination, short story, travel, travel writing, warm-up, wine, writing