The Captain Knew Me Before the Passenger Did

smudged a little.

She said, “I’m sorry I didn’t speak up.”

Real quiet.

Not for performance.

Her husband said, “Me too.”

Behind them, another voice. Then another. A chain of awkward apologies passing forward seat by seat, uneven and embarrassed and human.

I nodded to each of them because what else do you do in a metal tube.

When the door finally opened, nobody continue reading …