Bonnie and David had the window and aisle seats on the left hand side of the plane. I was in the middle section of seats across the isle and Joaquim was next to me. A man who spilled out of his seat and into Joaquim´s seat by the time he had sat down was one of the last people to get on the plane. Before he was settled into this seat, he peppered Joaquim with questions:
¨Vous parlez français?¨ No answer from Joaquim.
¨Snackst du Plattdüütsch.¨ A few inaudible (to me) mumbles from Joaquim.
ñТы говоришь по-русски?¨ Joaquim stares staight ahead.
¨Hablas español?¨ Still no burst of conversation from Joaquim.
Then the man said in English, ¨Well, if you want to get up during the flight don´t try to come out this side. I´m not moving. Go over her.¨ And he points at me and gestures toward my seat and my isle, in case Joaquim doesn´t get it. And then he says to Joaquim again, ¨Don´t try to come this way. I am not getting up for the whole flight. The whole flight.¨
I was in stunned silence.
A minute or two later, a steward was by the man´s side, genially squatting in the isle of the man at Joaquim´s side, smiling at him, saying, ¨You are having a good time? Drinking in the bar before the flight? Feeling good?¨ The man nodded a bit. ¨We won´t be serving you any alcohol on the flight. If that is not alright with you, you will have to get off now Do you understand me. No alcohol during the flight. Nor with your meals. This time it was our travelling companion who was stunned.
Then the steward was gone.
A sigh of relief from me and a whisper to Joaquim, ¨Ï have no idea why I suddenly want to get out of my side by climbing past the two of you to go to the bathroom.¨ Joaquim just raised his eyebrows.
Arta
David was the perfect travellor. As requested by the airline crew over the speakers, David carefully studied the Saftey Information pamphlet. He had a good nap stretched out across his seat and my lap. I know the rule - sleep when your child does because you want to have the same level of jet-lag. I got in six hours of sleep myself.
ReplyDeleteA few days ago, David told me he was ready to go back to Canada and speak English all the time. We are all having some linguistic fatigue as we work hard to communicate. We seem to be creating a Pidgin of English, French, Catalan, Spanish, ASL, Armenian, Arabic, and nonsense words - new derivations evolving from the languages spoken by the Camps extended family (e.g., bicycletta)
David asked if his Catalan cousins could come back to the Lake with him. He thinks they would really love to meet his Canadian cousins. He asked if his Aunt Rosa could make it onto the plane with her canes (a recent ACL tear having her temporarily slowed down). He said he wants her to come too, but if she can´t he thinks it would be okay since Uncle Jordi could come. He explained, the children would have at least one adult accompanying them.
I said she could come on the plane with her canes. He looked pleased. A few hours later he asked me what she would do in the event of a plane crash in water. He had read that shoes must be removed not to puncture the rafts. He was concerned that canes might also be prohibited and then what. I did my best to translate his concerns to her. She reassured him with Catalan words augmented by gestures. she woul swim. She backed this up with the fact that she is a very good swimmer. David seemed happy with that answer and went back to LEGO play with his cousins.
Oh my gosh! I have never been next to a person so rude on the airplane. I love it that the steward told him no more alcohol. I love it even more that Joaquim played deaf and dumb. So you never watched any movies Bonnie. What a waste of 1500 dollars.
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