“This was going to be one of our last March fourteenth flights together.”
He rested his hand over hers.
“I always hoped we would find you before then.”
Grandma’s eyes filled once more.
“He wasn’t alone?” she whispered.
Gene shook his head.
“No, ma’am.”
“He had people with him.”
Then a gentle smile appeared on his face.
“And he had a frightened little boy holding his hand.”
For twenty-seven years, Grandma had imagined Frank alone in 34A.
Now, for the first time, that picture was different.
Gene looked directly at her.
“If you had been beside him that day, Danny would probably have been sitting somewhere else.”
Grandma stared back at him.
“Your husband gave that boy courage when he needed it most.”
Gene motioned toward the cockpit.
“And that boy is now flying the airplane carrying you.”
Before heading back toward the cockpit, Gene looked at Oliver.
“You traveling alone?”
Oliver nodded.
“First time?”
He nodded again.
Gene reached into his pocket and pulled out a modern plastic junior-pilot pin.
“These aren’t quite as impressive as the old silver ones.”
He fastened it onto Oliver’s shirt.
“But they still work.”
Oliver gave him a nervous smile.
“Be brave,” Gene said.
Then he returned to the cockpit.
I never went back to first class.
I remained in row 34.
Oliver sat in the middle.
Grandma stayed beside the window.
Not long afterward, the captain’s voice came through the speakers.
He told the passengers that we were approaching the Rocky Mountains.
Then he briefly told them about Frank Walsh.
An aircraft mechanic who had spent thirty-four years helping keep airplanes safely in the sky.
A man traveling across the country to meet his newborn granddaughter.
A man who had offered kindness to a frightened child sitting beside him.
Then Gene said,
“That frightened child is my first officer today.”
The entire cabin fell silent.
“And Mrs. Ruth Walsh is sitting in 34A today for the first time.”
Grandma placed her palm against the window.
Beyond the glass, the Rocky Mountains spread across the horizon.
Sunlight reflected from the snow.
The peaks seemed to continue forever.
“This is the view he wanted you to see,” Gene said over the speaker.
