Jonel felt his heart drop when he saw the aircraft. It loomed before him, like an enormous bullet at rest, its engines humming loudly. Other passengers had queued up on the wheeled, steel staircase, oblivious to his face which bore an expression of panic. It was his first time to fly.
His friend Christian came up to him and said: “Jonel is scared now,” tapping him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. We all had the same feeling the first time we boarded a plane. But of course that was a very long time ago.”
He could only smile at what he thought was both an insult and consolation. At least he was not as ignorant as those who had stopped midflight of the staircase to have their photos taken. As though reading his mind, Christian nudged him to look at a twentysomething guy smiling at a camera held by an elderly man.
“Probably his father,” Mike, Christian’s partner, commented. “Look at the pride on his mother’s face.” The mother, bespectacled and clad in floral-printed blouse, wore a big grin. Jonel could imagine her eyes brimming with tears behind her glasses. Then, as if they hadn’t held up the queue long enough, the trio asked another passenger to take a picture of all three of them.
“Why don’t they pose near those big fans so they can get sucked right in and end their misery,” Christian said.
“They’re called propellers,” Mike volunteered the information.
Christian looked at him, and said: “Smartass.”
Ang ulan ganinang hapon misamot pagbunok padulong sa tungang gabii. Ang tinabisak sa daw guang-guang nga mga lusok sa ulan maorag molusno sa bubongang kahoy ug kugon sa payag nga nag-umbaw sa tampi sa suba sa Sinuda. Ang kamaot sa panahon nakapabalaka ni Noebong, usa sa mga timawa nga amahan sa panimalay sa nagkapuo nga tribu sa mga Giyangan sa pag-utlan sa Dabaw ug Bukidnon.
