My seat was 14F, located beside the window, right smack in the middle of the wing. Upon take off, I felt the rumbling and heard the racket with my entire body and noted our position in relation to the Colorado landscape east of Denver. We were not rising to the height of the clouds.

I glanced two rows ahead to where my husband sat, wondering what he was thinking. He and I had flown gliders while dating and he would be able to confirm my concern or help me laugh at my fear. But he was unreachable by cell phone.

I turned to my seat mate. I had enjoyed picking her brain about her experiences in India and other exotic locations. She was a frequent flier. She cleared her throat. "That's unusual," she said.

OMG. For some reason I thought of Flight 93, the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9-11. I had an instant sense of their final moments, knowing death was imminent. "My kids are going to be so upset," I thought. I did not feel ready to die. I doubted the passengers on Flight 93 did either.

The banging continued. The plane continued its horizontal flight path along the eastern Colorado plains. I discontinued thoughts of my children's response. They would manage. I trusted they would.

The captain's voice. "I know the sound is unusual," he said. "Our brakes overheated and we had to lower the landing gear in order to cool them. I know it is noisy but we will raise the landing gear in a few minutes and we will be back on track shortly."

I meant to read the young adult novels I had checked out from the library. I had the manga Othello, which as it turns out was not Shakespeare's version but shojo manga for 10-18 year old girls, containing what I considered an intriguing introduction by author Satomi Ikezawa:

As it turns out, this is the second story I've written that uses multiple personalities. The idea of having another "you" within you is an important theme...

I also had a couple graphic novels recommended by a young man in his early 20s. I'd run into him at the library and he'd earned my respect with his commentary on the history of graphic novels and his list of must-reads, including Batman Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli; The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan, Jr; and Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon- inspired by a true story.

But my seatmate had turned on the free in-flight movie, Bride Wars and I was not in the mood to read anything heavy for the moment. I wanted to laugh.

^{Liv: "We're going to be each others maid of honor."}

^{Marion St. Claire: "I have three openings at the Plaza. Two the sixth, one the twenty-seventh."}

^{Liv: "Oh! My parents anniversary is the sixth. That's so meant to be."}

^{Emma: "And I'll take the twenty-seventh."}

^{Marion St. Claire: "You want to discuss this with the grooms?"}

^{Liv and Emma: "No."}

_{Each week, somewhere in the world, one passenger dies on a plane flight. Death in flight is roughly six times more common than deaths in a plane crash. On average, one passenger dies in flight for every 7.6 million passengers carried. In a paper to be delivered at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) in Sydney (May 6) Dr Howard Roby, an Australian anaesthetist with post graduate qualifications in aerospace medicine, says there is no international convention relating to the legal implications of a death in flight.}

^{Marion: "Your wedding dates have been booked on the same day. Which one of you want to choose another venue?"}

^{Liv and Emma: "What?!?"}

The picture froze. The sound stopped.

The voice of a female flight attendant: "If there is a doctor, or a nurse or a paramedic flying United today, would you please head to the rear of the plane?" The movie leaped back to life.

^{Liv: "One of us will just have to get married on a different day."}

^{Emma: "One of us will just have to be flexible."}

^{Liv: "One of us can just look at different venues."}

^{Emma: "One of us could."}

I was no longer fully engaged. What was happening in the back of the plane? Had someone suffered a heart attack?

Again the movie stopped. "If there is anyone traveling with an elderly woman in khaki pants and a striped shirt, would they please join us in the rear of the plane?" No one got up.

^{Emma: "Your wedding will be huge, just like your ass at prom."}

I laughed then caught myself. How could I laugh? Maybe someone was dying in the back of the plane. Maybe a family member right now is anticipating the arrival of their mother/grandmother/sister and have no idea what is going on. Maybe the plane will land and everyone will get off and that person will be waiting where ever it is people wait at Newark. They will wait and wait and then they will become concerned. And they will discover their person died in flight.

The flight attendants stood in the aisle gazing backward, foreheads creased, mouths frowning. They exhanged glances. Things were not going well, evidently. A crowd had gathered in the back of the plane: people in the know. Everyone else tried to be discrete, not staring, not turning back too often. But wondering. Waiting. Would someone please tell us what was happening?

^{Liv: If I were your wedding, I'd be sleeping with one eye open...}

It would be horrible if this woman died on the flight when she might have lived with emergency care. How often did this happen? My in-laws had flown home from Florida only a week before. My father in law was on oxygen and the oxygen had run out during the trip, what with his becoming disoriented and lost in the Orlando airport.

^{Marion St. Claire: It was quite a wedding and as I stood there watching I realized something I'd forgotten a long time ago. Sometimes in life there really are bonds formed that can never be broken. Sometimes you really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what. Maybe you will find it in a spouse and celebrate it with your dream wedding. But there's also the chance that the one person you can count on for a lifetime, the one person who knows you sometimes better than you know yourself is the same person who's been standing beside you all along.}

I thought of my three kids, my mother, my sister. I felt very fortunate.

My seat mate went to the restroom. When she returned, she gave me the scoop. "The woman grew lightheaded. She hadn't eaten anything this morning and she fainted in the bathroom."

The Captain's voice came over the loudspeaker. "We are landing half an hour early, blah blah blah." I wondered if we had been given clearance due to our possible emergency. Amazing the effect of one woman skipping breakfast.

The flight attendant's voice followed: "Upon landing we ask that you all remain in your seats and keep the aisles clear long enough to allow paramedics to travel to the rear of the plane."

We landed without the tires popping or the overheated brakes failing, pulled into the gate and immediately a man jumped up and grabbed his bag from the overhead. Our hostility was thick enough to slice. Sheepishly- or I hope sheepishly- he sat down clutching his bag. It wasn't as if he were going to miss a connection. We were a half hour early for Pete's sake.

The paramedics moved down the aisle.

We stood. I bid my seatmate farewell. I believe she took a sliver of my heart with her.

Upon exit, I thanked the pilot for letting us know what was going on with the brakes. My husband joined me and asked, "Why did the brakes overheat?"

"We were directed to the furthest runway," he said. "It's a long downhill to get there and we have to apply brakes often. It happens quite a lot in Denver."

It was quite a flight and as I stood there watching them converse, I realized something I'd forgotten a long time ago.

I pulled out my cell phone and texted my kids, "Life is fragile as a steel bird in flight so remember to eat your breakfast."

"Oh crap, you're early!" my graduating daughter texted back. "I'm stuck in horrible traffic right outside New Brunswick!"

"We're good," I replied. "No worries."