Lucky Ticket by Ed Lindsey (good book club books TXT) 📕

was sitting in seat 26, window. Mary’s face went slack as she watched the close to 80 year old lady take her heavy winter coat off and put it in the compartment above. The old lady was still standing, and a gentleman was helping her to get the overhead compartment door to shut, she could not slam it hard enough for the catch to click, and lock. Mary looked at the sweet grandmotherly face, and rosy cheeks, with the brightest blue eyes, framed in silver glasses that she had ever seen. The woman was short at just under 5 feet and she was bent a little from age. She thanked the young man, after the door was shut, and very carefully, not wanting to break anything of hers, sat down in the seat. Mary was sure thrown a curve; there was no way this sweet woman would buy a plane ticket off a thief, specially a teenager at that, without questioning him, about how he happened to have a ticket, or turning him into the authorities. The right side of the plane was almost full and the left side had 10 seats left when the plane took off. The sweet old lady had 2 seats beside her empty, so when the pilot got to the altitude he was told to achieve by the tower, and the plane evened out, Mary wanted some answers, and her curiosity was like a cats. Mary movedfrom her seat as soon as she saw; the you may remove your seat belt sign come on. And she headed back to greet the elderly passenger herself. Mary greeted the sweet old lady, and asked her if she could sit, and talk with her awhile. The little old lady smiled at Mary, and told her sure that she would love the company, and she loved to gab. Mary learned a lot in the next 15 minutes about the old lady, its funny how you can sum up a lifetime in 15 minutes, and the sweet old lady was just as kind, and sweet as Mary thought she was.


Chapter 13
Mary learned that the old ladies name was, Betsy Williams and she had only one child, a son who will be 41 years of age at 10:15 a.m. today! And she is on this particular flight to bring to him his birthday gift. She lost her husband to cancer when Benny was 12 years old and never married again. She worked various jobs all her life as a waitress, a seamstress, a teller, and of course her major job, as a mother. She saw more baseball games and basketball games then any normal mother should, and always was there to cheer Benny on, no matter if Benny made mistakes, or not, he was still her son. Benny went to college when he got older, she had saved up enough money for that, and he also got interested in flying not the small planes mind you, but the huge ones, and he became a commercial airline pilot. He wanted to see the world, and he felt free, and at peace when he had the control wheel in his hands. Benny married at the age of 39, and his wife was 35 and a very gorgeous woman. Benny decided to make me a grandmother this past August, he and his wife were both thrilled to announce to me that the baby was a boy, and that it would be born in August. It never happened, the baby was a still born, and Benny’s heart was broke, and his wife was sad to find out that she could not have anymore children. I tried to comfort them as much as I could, and I told them there was always adoption, and that I would even give them the money to adopt a child. You see back when Benny was a youngster,I was not only saving for his education, I invested some money in stocks, and they are with Merrill-Lynch right now. I found her a very sweet mother and a very good person talking with.


Chapter 14
We were in the air now for 20 minutes, and it is now almost 9:35 a.m. we talked on for another couple minutes, when all of a sudden the right side of the plane started to yawl. The right wing tipped drastically towards the ground, as the pilots fought to take control, some of the passengers were thrown with sudden force from the left side to the right which further hampered the pilot’s control. The loud speaker was now crackling as the pilot tried to calm the passengers down, and telling them all to find a seat on the left side of the plane. I quickly got up from the 26 row seats, and headed to my own in 23 A., I forgot all about Mrs. Williams in my own fright, and looked to see if a stewardess found a seat for her. The 10 seats on the left side of the first class side were already filled, and there was 7 passengers left on the right including Mrs. Williams who was calm, and not afraid at all with the commotion around her. She never made an attempt to get out of her seat, and was quite content staying where she was, for the time being. The stewardess came around making sure that everyone was buckled in, and the plane was still dipping to the right side. The pilot came back on informing them that they were going to make an emergency landing and they would have to head back to J.F.K. airport, they already made the turn toward the airport, but first they would have to dump fuel out over the ocean, before landing. He also told them not to worry, that this plane could actually fly itself. He thought it was just a little icing problem, on the right wing, and if he descended in altitude it might melt off, giving him back complete control before landing. But he advised everyone to stay in their seats, and remain calm, and make sure that you are buckled up. And upon final approach to the runway to listen to the stewardess for further instructions. Mary after hearing this was more frightened than ever, and she did not know about everyone else, but saying the plane could fly by itself did not put her mind at ease at all. Mary looked at all the passenger’s faces, and she could see the same fear in all of them, and that included the stewards and stewardesses on that flight, all except for one that is, the old sweet lady Betsy who just sat in her seat buckled up, and smiling at her. Mary was beginning to feel guilty,about not asking Betsy to come and change seats with her. When the coast was clear and the flight attendants got busy in other sections of the plane, Mary unbuckled herself, and asked the man sitting beside her to please save her seat. The man was big and muscular and no one would even dream about stealing Mary’s seat while she was gone,specially with him watching over it. Mary was hoping that it would only take a few minutes to convince Betsy to sit in her seat that the big man was now protecting. Mary went back to the seat and sat next to Betsy, and asked her if she would like to go, and sit in her now vacant seat. Betsy just smiled, and said to her that everything would turn out just fine, and she needs not to worry. Everything was in God’s Hands, and the good Lord never failed her yet, and the Lord will give wisdom to the pilot to carry them through safely, this she knew, and told Mary that she was safe also, on any part of this plane, so there was no need of her to move, and she intended not to. Before Mary left her, Betsy said something strange to Mary, and Mary had heard the phrase time and again, when she was faithful to God. After September 11, Mary gave up on any God, and she did not attend any church services after 09-11. It went like this “God does work in mysterious ways.” “And he will not take anyone until his or her time is up on earth”. “And then he will hold you safe in the palm of his hand.” Betsy said this to Mary, with those big sparkling blue eyes, and smiling at her with that motherly face. She then thanked Mary for her kindness and told Mary to get back to her seat before she was caught,out of it, and remember this she said to Mary. If it was God’s will that she should perish, that her life was to end, then nothing on this planet could stop it. Mary went back to her seat that was being carefully guarded by the big man, and sat back down. Mary was thinking and wondering, if she was persuasive enough in trying to get Betsy to move, and she looked back at her,as Betsy smiled and gave her a wink.


Chapter 15

Inside the cockpit the pilot and co-pilot had there hands full trying to stabilize the dipping right wing. The instrument panel was bleeping, and the red lights kept popping on indicating different shut downs of the plane. Just as soon as they would get one blinking red light out, another two would pop on. They tried increasing thrust from the engines on the right side of the plane, and slowly decreasing engine thrust on the left. It seemed to help, but if they decreased the engines any further they just might shut down. Then the plane would go into a spin, and there would be no more regaining control, as it dove, and spun towards earth killing all that was on board. The pilot made a decision then,and evened out all the engines, he did not want to lose an engine. He and his co-pilot could see what was going on through the cockpit window with the right side wing, but they were helpless on doing anything about it. They both figured that at least a half of an inch of ice formed on the wing itself, and the left wing was completely bare. They asked permission to dive to 2,000 feet to see if any of the ice would melt. “Permission is denied “. Came a quick answer from J.F.K. airport and the voice said loud and clear “you are to remain at 15,000 and keep your heading at zero, five, zero and dump all your fuel in the ocean” “And after you have done this report back to the tower for further instructions”. “Do you understand TWA 17"? "Please respond” The pilot responded with a “Roger” and cut off the link. That is when the plane started shuttering and shaking, like someone with a bad cold and coming down with a high fever. And once again the plane wanted to roll over to the right, as the pilot fought to regain control of the massive jet. It was not hot in the cabin, but both men are now drenched from their own sweat. The pilot regained control, but the plane was still shaking badly, and still