Hide & Seek

Chapter 11
Flying the Friendly Skies

Chapter Description: John is heading home after a tiring journey to the other side of the world.

XI

The ride through the streets of Auckland in the back seat of Valerie’s rental car passed in a blur for Johnny. All through the airport he sat passively in his pushchair, awed by the plethora of new sights and sounds that surrounded him in the busy terminal. Soon enough though he was settled comfortably back in an economy class seat on a Cathay Pacific flight home to London.

It was back at 30,000 feet in the darkened cabin that Johnny recognised a face. The older lady in the uniform with the shiny buttons was leaning over him, saying big things he couldn’t understand. She reached down and ran her soft, warm hand through his hair and Johnny blinked and tried to focus his thoughts.

The woman’s familiar face acted like an anchor, dragging Johnny back to awareness. The next thing he noticed was something big in his mouth, he looked down cross-eyed and saw, yuck, he had a set of plastic captain’s wings in his mouth. How had that happened? He removed the offending toy, feeling more and more aware of his surroundings. Suddenly he recognised some of the words the familiar lady was using and then some things Mummy was saying as part of their hushed conversation. And as if someone had flipped a switch, Johnny knew. He knew he was supposed to be a big boy, not a baby and he knew the woman over him with the soft hands and pretty buttons was Jenny, the air hostess.

Johnny cringed, worrying if she had seen him chewing on the toy like a stupid baby. Looking to his left, away from Jenny, he caught sight of something more upsetting. Mummy had turned the reading light on overhead and as a result Johnny could see his reflection in the window. It was a pathetic sight. His hair was messy, his face stained with food, the ring of his shirt soaked in drool, a big string of which was hanging from his chin. Even if Jenny hadn’t seen him chewing on the toy she would think he was a baby. He was so upset he wanted to cry.

Jenny didn’t seem to be happy; she looked quite cross and the tone of her voice was grave.

“But I’m sure that this is the same boy, madam. I fly a lot, I know, and I see lots of passengers but...” she was saying.

“Well there you go, how can you possibly recall one boy out of the thousands of passengers you must see,” Valerie interjected quietly.

“Because I talked to him and there was some odd confusion about his name,” Jenny insisted, her soft tone beginning to increase in volume.

Johnny had a hard time following the conversation but he got the gist of it. Jenny knew who he was and now he felt even more stupid for acting like a big baby in front of her. Johnny needed to tell her he remembered her now. “Uhhh...baa...boo...” he jabbered excitedly, frustrated by his inability to form words. His tongue wouldn’t cooperate, all that happened was more saliva dribbled over his lips.

Valerie put a protective arm around Johnny. “Look at him. Does this look like a child who could talk with you and lie about his name?”

“I don’t want to argue with you, madam, I just need to see his passport.” Her voice was now at a normal level, ready to make this bigger than a threesome, ready to call for reinforcements.

Johnny watched as Valerie took a bag off the empty window seat beside her, drawing a white stuffed bunny from it. He shook his head and babbled frantically, he knew what was coming. But Jenny just kneeled down to shush him and tell him it was okay. She didn’t understand.

“Have you ever seen such a lovely toy bunny?” Valerie asked, flicking the switch in its back.

“I didn’t want a...” Jenny trailed off, and Johnny watched in horror as Jenny’s face relaxed and her eyes focused on the bunny. Then she took it into her arms and cuddled it with her eyes closed. Johnny kicked his legs, drumming his heals on the floor uselessly as tears streamed down his cheeks. Valerie turned to face John, “Shh, shh, sweetie pie, Mummy will make everything all better, don’t you worry your little head.”

Johnny babbled more, finally managing to say, “No...teddy.”

“Oh no sweetie, we don’t need Mr. Teddy anymore. Molly warned me you might have some adult thoughts left over after the process but those are easy enough to cure once they pop up. Don’t worry, you’re angry now but you’ll be right as rain in no time,” she crooned.

With that she picked up the complementary headphones and slipped them onto Johnny’s ears. “Just listen to the pretty music sweetie while Mummy takes care of some business,” she instructed while taking Jenny’s arm and leading her towards the lavatory.

Johnny looked all around the cabin for help but everyone seemed to be asleep. Silly nursery rhymes filled his ears.

“You put your left hand in...” a voice sang cheerily. Johnny shook his head and put his hands on his ears, trying to block it out, but only succeeding in holding the headphones to his ears more tightly. “And you shake it all about,” the song continued. Johnny couldn’t escape the silly tune, the catchy lyrics slipped into his ears, filling his head, taking up all the space and pushing his big boy thoughts out. Growing disoriented, Johnny’s hands fell away from his ears. “You put your left foot in...” Johnny did as the song told him, raising his left foot. “And you shake it all about.” Johnny swung his foot around, giggling despite the danger he was in.

As the song continued Johnny found it harder and harder to follow the directions, they came too fast. He looked back over at the window and his reflection. It was funny to watch himself. He was entranced by the way his arms and legs swung about. Then he stuck out his tongue and blew raspberries at his reflection. He reached out his hands to touch the pretty window thing, the thing he could no longer name, but it was too far. He reached out his legs lifting them over the armrests, peddling his feet in the air. Johnny giggled in glee and clapped his hands, this was fun!

Johnny giggled at the big boy in the window staring back at him. Johnny wondered who the boy was and why he was outside the plane. He waved his hands and was delighted when the big boy did the same. It was amazing, every movement he made, this silly big boy did the same! Johnny babbled his excitement at the boy as the last adult fragments of his mind faded into oblivion. His final coherent thought was how silly the big boy looked with his toes in his mouth.

THE END