Obligatory Phillips

Getting ready Mom gave me Phillips Milk of Magnesia. She said she'd heard people get constipated when they travel. I think i hesitated a little, so she only gave us a little, as I remember. Me and my brother. He was six i was eight. Our sister was a baby, three months old. I remember random things, the drive there windy. A week or so before getting a haircut. A "pixie" haircut, the adults thought it would be practical because it was so hot in Libya. I cried. Smelling the exhaust fumes at LAX, they made me excited. And they still do.

The airplane was glamour to me. Like my aunt Jeanine's all white with blue balls christmas tree. Everything was lovely, quiet, kind, color coordinated. TWA light blue with navy and red accents. I was in awe. Every few minutes a new little comfort: drinks, warm towels, hot food, a toy plastic stewardess pin. We flew over the Atlantic.

It was a fairly empty plane, so the stewardesses made my brother and me little beds out of three across seats. They smelled like ladies. When tucking me in with a soft pillow and dimmed lights she said, "Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite." I thought that was the coolest thing, never having heard it before. It felt delicious there in that blanket with those lovely women taking care of everything and the warm hum of the engines cocoon.

When I woke up the sun was bright. I was a little unsure of what to do. I thought there was some sort of schedule of life on the airplane. I waited for someone to come and announce something next. Peeking out the bright window all I saw was endless white. It was the tops of clouds, but then I thought it was frozen arctic water. The stewardess laughed when I asked her if it was ice and if it was time to wake up. Not in a mean way, in an "aren't you darling" way. She got us things for breakfast. I started to feel a little something in my stomach.

We went back to sitting with our parents, getting ready to land. She got me a bag and my mom told me about the proper use of it. I felt better. The seatbelt light came on, we started the long descent thing. I threw up. Didn't quite make the bag, not all the way. some, the rest ended up in my brand new white boots. I cried because my boots were ugly now and my tights all dirty. The stewardess brought me some water and mint gum to freshen my mouth. I felt better. Then threw up again, this time I got the bag thing figured out. Could have used some Dramamine.

I wonder if those women ever realized how beautiful they were.