Chapter 3 – An Endless Flight
The army of restless girls invaded the Los Angeles airport after a three-hour bus ride. Mrs Jenkins took the girls through group check-in, then they proceeded to the customs. “It’s already past midnight, girls,” she laughed. “But yet you do not seem sleepy in the least!”
It was a decidedly hilarious scene when Alice was held up by the security guard because they had discovered a can of Coke in her bag – she had exceeded the limit for liquids.
The guard asked, “Would you like to finish it now, or would you prefer to just throw it away?”
“I – I – I’ll give it to you as a present, sir,” stammered Alice, flushing. Everyone laughed at her nervous reply.
The girls reached the gate, teasing Alice viciously. Alice shouted indignantly, “Stop vexing me deliberately! Haven’t you ever made a mistake in your life?”
The others let it go at that, and sat down to wait to board the flight.
“Gosh, how long must we wait?” exclaimed Lizboa after half an hour. “We’ve sat here for ages and we still can’t board.”
“What’s the rush?” asked Alexis. “A fifteen hour flight is not exactly what I’m looking forward to. I’m not being snobbish, but it really is quite unpleasant. I am excited to go to China, but the flight won’t be my favorite bit. That’s what I’m saying.”
“I know, Alice,” said Lizboa. “It’s going to be unpleasant for you because you’ve been on airplanes before. I’ve never been. I’m really excited, so I wish they’d speed up!”
“Well, you can’t do anything about it,” pointed out Baixue, candidly.
Of course we can!” giggled Alexis. She shouted, “Whoever’s in charge of boarding! Lizboa wants you to speed up!”
Cynthia screwed her nose scornfully. “That’s awfully rude. I hope you shall display better manners in the coming days. I shan’t be able to live with a crew of low-bred savages.”
The others cast disgusted looks at Cynthia. Five minutes later, their conductor signaled for the choir to start boarding the plane. “Yes!” cried Lizboa, hugging herself. “This is it!”
“Let’s get on!” said Evelyn, picking up her hand-carried bag.
The five 6th Graders rushed off with their bags, leaving Cynthia collecting her things clumsily. “Wait for me!” she shouted.
The horde of girls marched onto the plane. Lizboa was sitting with Baixue, Cynthia with Evelyn, and Alexis with Alice. Lizboa was extremely excited to be on the plane, and even praised the quality of the food, even though it was nothing but soggy, flavorless porridge.
The fever of excitement spread amongst the girls soon wore off. The girls became weary and slept. Only Cynthia tossed about in her seat, not able to doze. She was miserable. Her head ached, and felt as if it were burning. Her eyes were heavy, but she could not sleep. Her stomach was tumbling around inside her like an enraged, galloping horse, and she felt as if the world was spinning around.
After a while of inward torture, a sour taste filled her mouth and she felt something warm lurking in her throat. She had no time to consider the reason before she vomited all over Evelyn.
The repugnant liquid spread over Evelyn’s clothes, and roused her from her sleep. She was mortified by the sight of her dirtied clothes, but before changing into clean clothes, she took out a paper bag for Cynthia, saying, “Are you all right, Cynthia? I hope you’re feeling better. Do you have any stomach medicine?”
“No, I don’t. Could you give me some? Dreadfully sorry about your clothes, Evelyn,” said Cynthia.
“That’s all right. Don’t worry yourself about it. I have some medicine here. You’d better take it and go to sleep,” said Evelyn gently.
As Cynthia took the medicine, Evelyn crept to the bathroom, trying not to wake the whole plane up. She changed into clean clothes and went back to her seat, and saw with ample satisfaction that Cynthia was asleep.
Evelyn herself could not get back to sleep, so she amused herself watching movies on the TV embedded on the back of the next seat. As she was watching “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” on her TV, she heard a whisper from behind.
“Evelyn!” whispered Alexis. “What should I do? I played so many games on my TV that I broke mine, then I used Alice’s, and now I’ve broken hers too!”
“Well, then, leave it. You can’t play for the rest of the flight,” replied Evelyn.
“Wonderful!” groaned Alexis. “I say – what happened to your clothes? You’re in another outfit!”
Evelyn told her about Cynthia’s little illness. Alexis laughed, picturing the embarrassing scene. “Well, thank me for telling you to bring spare clothes.”
“I thought it was Alice’s idea,” said Evelyn, smiling.
“Do you have a watch, Evelyn?” asked Alexis. “How much longer is there to the flight?”
“Three hours,” said Evelyn.
“Let’s have a competition. Let’s see who can finish all the levels of Snail Bob 7 on our TVs first,” said Alexis.
“All right,” agreed Evelyn. “But I thought your TV had broken down.”
“Oh, yes,” groaned Alexis. “Then let’s play Hangman with paper and pen. I’m bored to death.”
After about two hours, a thundering announcement awoke the whole plane, telling them that they were approaching the Beijing airport, and that they should sit upright, turn off their TVs, and put on their seatbelts.
Landing was just like a rollercoaster. The plane rocked up and down, and the girls bumped around in their seats. They could feel the intense speed as the plane went downwards. It was fun to sense the wheels of the plane touch the ground.
As the plane taxied in the airport, Alice said, “We’re finally there! I thought the flight would never end.”
“It wasn’t too bad,” said Baixue.
“It probably was quite comfortable for you,” teased Lizboa. “Goodness, you slept for about 10 hours and kept me up with your snoring.”
“Well,” said Alexis. “What about poor Evelyn? Cynthia vomited all over her.”
“Oh, that wasn’t too bad,” said Evelyn. “I slept well too. How are you feeling, Cynthia?”
“Much better,” replied Cynthia.
Mrs Jenkins swept by and said, “Stop chattering, girls! It’s time to get off the plane!”
The girls collected their things, and got off the plane. It was a glorious, sunny morning in Beijing, and the temperature was pleasant.
The girls were weary from the long flight, but the excitement of the trip shook them up again. Their trip in Beijing had begun!
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