In a world with six billion people in it, million-to-one chances happen thousands of times a day. Thousands of lucky folks strike it rich, or get killed by a falling coconut, or have something equally unlikely happen to them. It ain't all good, but it is all rare. And sometimes some guy finds himself at thirty thousand feet with... well, you'll have to wait a bit for that part. This is the story of the day it was me who got lucky.
I was on the first leg of long flight home. I'd been doing forensic geology in a place I'll call Unpronouncablestan--one of the crazy little countries on the southern edge of the old Soviet Union that are the wild west of the new Asia. There was a little company claiming to have made a big gold strike there, and before Western investors plunged in they wanted some assurance that the gold was--how do I say it?--not added to the samples along the way.
Trust is a hard commodity to come by in the precious metals business, but my old college roommate worked for one of the investors and could vouch for me personally, as could any number of clients. I don't claim any special virtue--I'm just such a lousy liar that pulling any kind of scam always seemed impossible. I kinda like some of the work I've done unraveling other people's dishonest schemes because it shines a light into an alien world, one where what people say isn't always what they mean. I'm just not good at that.
Knowing that, you might guess I have trouble with women. My very-recently-ex girlfriend was just the latest in a long line of failed relationships. I think she was attracted by my honesty at first, but in a kinky kind of way. She was always on about people being liars. The big thing I learned from her is that people see in others what they find in themselves. She was the least honest person I ever met, and even with killer legs and perfect pert tits topped by little pillbox nipples it wasn't worth being subject to her paranoid rants about my purported dishonesty.
Being habitually dishonest herself, she accused others as a kind of preemptive defense. It had taken me a long time to see that, and even longer to act on it. She was a crazy bitch, but a wildcat in bed, and a man gets to like that. But we all draw the line somewhere, and she finally crossed mine by accusing me of lying to her about all kinds of stuff through the whole time we'd known each other. It would have been funny to watch in a movie--the nutty blonde who lives in her own little world and thinks she's fooling everyone with her misdirection and manipulation. She fooled me for quite a while, because really honest people have a hard time seeing dishonesty. Like I said: we see in others what we find in ourselves.
The last time I'd seen her before flying out to this job ended with her screaming accusations at me about all kinds of things. I got fed up and walked out, and I knew I wouldn't be back. I could see now that she'd stuck with me mostly for my money--I'd made a major find early in my prospecting career and really didn't need to keep working, but kept in the game 'cause it's what I know and what I like. On reflection I could see that her sexual antics were just a ploy to keep me interested. She figured I'd never stay if she was just herself, which was probably true because underneath the hedonistic exterior she was a prudish bitch who hated sex and, from what she had been screaming at me when I left, thought my interest and enjoyment in it was sick and disgusting.
The whole thing got me soured on women, and the whores of Unpronouncablestan got the benefit. They didn't speak my language and I didn't speak theirs, but I wasn't there for conversation, and at least we both knew we were involved in a straight commercial transaction.
I was wondering what I'd do for sex now I was headed back to the world. I couldn't really imagine a steady diet of escorts and hookers would be very satisfying. I got thinking then about the pair of flight attendants who were staffing the aft cabin. I could definitely imagine a steady diet of them being satisfying, or even just a snack. One was a petite brunette with fine features and glossy shoulder-length hair. The other was a bit taller, a sturdy blonde with strong athletic shoulders balanced by a find pair up front that bounced and swayed as she walked through the cabin.