Flight to
Paradise by Gerard O'Neil
"Some
trips seem to evolve rather than be planned," is what Paula was thinking
as she looked out the plane window at the world passing by below.
Normally her
desire to travel somewhere came from reading a magazine or from a friend
recounting the tale of a recent trip. This journey however was different. Paula could not identify when the idea for this
latest adventure had formed. Rather than a desire, some sort of "deep
need" had motivated her to make the travel arrangements. This
"need" was mixed with a longing to return to the innocence of her
childhood and the pining she had for her parents, especially her father who had
died many years previously. Perhaps “old
age” was just making her sentimental!
Paula always
associated air travel with her father.
As a small child her father had often taken her to the airport to watch
the planes taking off and landing. Planes had been his lifelong passion; her
parents however had been too poor to have ever considered flying somewhere.
Paula could
remember every detail of her first flight. She had been twenty-four at the time
and had just finished her university degree. She was still in the process of
completing the paperwork to take up her first teaching position when a very
official looking letter had arrived from the Education Department. She had
presumed it was her teaching license but to her surprise it contained an
invitation to further her studies overseas. (She had completely forgotten about
the international research scholarship she had applied for at the beginning of
her last year of university. She never imagined she would ever be accepted).
Looking back
she could see how that one letter had changed her life. Of cause her parents
had been just as excited and proud, but she suspected they did not really
understand what such a scholarship meant. This was confirmed a couple of
days later when she discovered that her
father had been proudly telling everyone, not about the scholarship, but that his
daughter was going to fly in an airplane!
The departure
at the airport had been very emotional. On one hand she knew that destiny
awaited her but on the other, as an only child, she knew she would be sorely
missed by her parents. As she hugged her father goodbye, she felt him
tremble. She pretended not to notice the
tear that he quickly wiped away as it ran down his cheek. She had never known
her normally controlled, disciplined father to show any sort of emotion!
It was five
years before Paula returned home. She will never forget looking out the plane
window as it was still taxiing in and seeing her parents eagerly leaning over
the fence waiting for her. Until this day however she can remember how shocked
she had been by how much they had aged.
Over the next
ten years Paula could only manage a couple of brief visits home. As far as the
house was concerned everything remained and smelled exactly the same, (things
just looked older and more threadbare). Her parents however seemed to be aging
much more rapidly than she had imagined possible.
Upon
completing her PhD, Paula had begun lecturing on the international circuit.
This took her to every corner of the globe. Every time she passed through an
airport or boarded a plane she remembered her father. It became her custom to
send a postcard featuring the airport or plane she was flying on with a brief
message outlining her latest exploits.
Whenever she
could she would also send some money home. In her mind it was to provide her
parents with a little more comfort in their old age, but deep down she knew it
was to alleviate some of the guilt she felt concerning her infrequent visits
home. On one of these visits Paula had become a little concerned that the money
had not been arriving as she could not identify anything new in her parents' home.
Her mother assured her that the money was being deposited into a saving account
and one day they would use it to buy something special!
Just after
her 51st birthday a letter from home caught up with Paula at the university in
New York where she was lecturing. She recognized the handwriting on the
envelope immediately. It was that of her fathers. Her father never wrote and so
she knew something was wrong. With shaking hands she tore the envelope open and
began to read. Her father had written to inform her that her mother had
suffered a massive stoke and was not expected to survive the week. His letter
was dated three months previously. Paula was shocked. "Poor Dad," she
thought. She decided then and there to
catch the first flight home.
The next day
when Paula arrived back from the travel agent she found a small parcel waiting
for her. This time she did not recognize the hand writing. With misgiving she
opened parcel and began to read the letter inside. It was from her aunt. She
had written to tell Paula that her father had passed away. The doctor had said
his death could probably to attributed to his “broken heart.”
"On one
hand he had been heartbroken over your mother's death, but on the other, he had
been overjoyed with the prospect of seeing you," her aunt wrote.
Paula was
confused. "Overjoyed with the prospect of seeing her? How could he have
known about her intended visit?"
Her aunt
concluded her letter by telling her that after her mother’s death her parents’
house had been returned to the landlord and the few possessions they had had of
any value had been sold. Her father had been staying with her when he had suffered
his heart attack. The small box she had sent was what her father had always
referred to as his “treasure chest". It contained his "most treasured
possessions".
Paula
carefully opened the small box. On the top was a little bag containing her
parents wedding rings, on the next layer were several wedding photos of her
parents and a photo of Paula and her father taken when she was a child at the
airport. The next layer contained every postcard Paula had ever sent her parents.
(They were tattered as if they had been read over and over again). The second last item in the chest was a bank
savings book. When Paula opened it she immediately recognized the amounts
debited as corresponding exactly to the amounts she had sent her parents over
the years. To her surprise she saw that a few weeks before her father's death
the total amount had been withdrawn. As she looked deeper into the box she saw
one remaining item. When she pulled it to the surface Paula began to cry
uncontrollably. The last item was an air ticket to New York purchased on the
same date as the withdrawal from the savings account. The ticket was valid for
the day Paula`s father had died!
All this had
been thirty years ago. This trip was would be the first time Paula had returned
home since then.
The voice of
the pilot interrupted Paula`s thoughts.
"This is
your captain specking. On behalf of the crew and myself, Captain Jesus do
Santos, we would like to welcome you on board. We are currently flying at 35,000
ft. and after turning west will reach our cursing altitude of 37,000 ft. We are
expecting clear skies and calm conditions. We will reach our “heaven” on time.
So please sit back and enjoy your flight."
Paula smiled.
The South American accent of the captain had made "destination" sound
like "heaven".
As the plane
gently began to bank to the west sunlight filled the aircraft. For a few
moments Paula was blinded by the bright light. As she began to recover her vision
she noticed a young man walking down the corridor. He was smiling. When he was
opposite, he slid into the vacant seat beside her.
"Hello Paula,"
her father said beaming, "Let's fly home together!"
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