Just after my eighteenth birthday, I had to fly clear across the country all alone to identify my older brother's body. He had suddenly been killed in an automobile accident, and my parents were just way too distraught to make the long journey themselves.
When I boarded the airliner, I just went towards the first available open seat on an inside row; an older lady had the window seat, and the middle seat was still vacant.
I wasn't sure by any means, but if I had to guess, the lady had to be in her mid to late sixties.
She was very well dressed in beige slacks, a white blouse, and a business-type jacket; her long gray/silverish-colored hair was up in a bun. She looked crisp and professional; she wore small, rimmed glasses on her nose, which may have reminded me of a librarian or schoolteacher. She had a small light blue throw blanket folded in her lap, a little white pillow, a paperback novel, and a small purse. I could see that it was one of those steamy romance novels.
As I sat down, she greeted me politely, and we introduced ourselves. She complimented my nice looks and told me how beautiful she thought I was. I responded by telling her how nice that was of her to say. We chatted back and forth for a bit more about this and that.
As the other passengers all began to board, the plane started filling up, and a rather large man stopped at our row and nicely asked me if I would mind letting him have my seat. He said he thought he was too big to sit in the middle and didn't want to disturb us. I figured he must be getting ready to catch some Zs on this long flight, as he already wore a sleeping mask resting on his forehead like a pair of sunglasses.
The older woman reached and softly patted the empty seat next to her, and I carefully slipped over into it. I wasn't hoping for any idle chit-chats or company from a stranger, as I was pretty upset about my brother, and I had never flown before, so I was terrified about that.
After sitting, the gentleman said thank you to me, and the older lady and I both exchanged introductions with him as I looked around; considering my choice, I figured the seat might be a good chance for a bit of quiet on this long, dreadful flight that I did not want to be on.
As we were about to take off, she recognized my nervousness and asked, "Are you ok, dear?" I explained my fear of flying; she assured me everything would be alright as she reached over, took my hand, and gently squeezed it.
She intertwined our fingers and squeezed my hand tightly as the plane took off, and we were soon up and away. She released my hand, and I immediately said, "Thank you, that was very kind of you to do."
"Oh, you are quite welcome, sweetie," she replied and asked how old I was. I replied that I had just turned eighteen three days ago, and she said, "Well, happy birthday then; my goodness, if I had had to guess, I would have thought you were a little younger than that."
After a bit of sitting in silence, the plane hit a little turbulence, and when I gasped aloud, she reached over and took my hand into hers again, explained what was happening, and once again assured me all was well as she squeezed lightly. As she held my hand gingerly, even after things settled down, she gave it another soft squeeze, and upon recognizing the sweet, grandmotherly jester, I glanced over, smiled at her again, and gently returned the squeeze.
I had been a great deal concerned about making this long flight to a strange place all alone, but this dear, sweet lady was turning out to be an absolute comfort for me.
As we sat holding hands, I casually glanced over at her, and our eyes suddenly met. And as she again smiled at me, I began to see the vast loneliness written across her face and set deep in her eyes as I returned her smile.
I certainly didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings if I could help it, so moments later, when she began lightly tugging at my hand, I didn't resist her and allowed her to pull my hand from my lap and over into her own. As she squeezed my hand softly, I again, recognizing the motherly type of jester, smiled softly and gave her hand another gentle squeeze in return.
I then lay my head back on the seat, closed my eyes, and tried to relax a little. When I drifted off for a bit and then awoke suddenly when the plane ran into some more wind, my open hand lay palm side down on her leg, and she had unfolded the little blue throw blanket and placed it over her lap; her hand was on top of mine beneath the small blanket.
When she saw the disturbance had awoken me, she gently patted the top of my hand and softly whispered, "It's ok, sweetie, just go back to sleep now."
When I drifted off again and awoke a short time later, my open hand was still lying palm-side down under hers, but it was no longer precisely on her leg as before. It was high up on her pelvis over the front of her slacks, and she appeared to be sleeping as she had her head back on the little pillow, slightly turned towards the window with her eyes closed.
"What should I do, I thought?" I surely didn't want to awaken her. After a little longer, I again considered what I should do when she squirmed around lightly in her sleep a moment and gently pulled my hand down a great deal lower.
"This is getting a bit weird," I quickly thought, "should I pull my hand from between her legs now and awaken her," I again questioned myself.
"Oh my God," I quietly exclaimed to myself just moments later, "She's not asleep at all!" as I felt her gently push the four fingers of my hand downward and lightly press them ever so gently up against the crotch of her slacks.
"Just what in the hell is going on here anyway," I quickly ask myself.
"Oh no, no way," I thought, "not this dear sweet old lady, not her!"
It just didn't hardly seem possible to me, not at all!
I sat there a minute trying to tell myself that I must be mistaken and that it just happened while she was soundly sleeping away, when she suddenly pressed my fingers into her again, but much more tightly this time.
"Ok!" I quietly proclaimed, "That right there was no mistake!"
"What must she be thinking?" I shockingly asked myself.
I glanced at her sharply momentarily and then quickly surveyed the aircraft. The big guy was snoring away next to me, but everyone else I could see seemed to be wide awake, and they were sitting all around us in every single direction except next to the little window beside her.