Chapter 19
Stan Turner
It was the fifth day in a row over 100 degrees in Dallas. Stan parked his car in the short term parking garage at Love Field and got out. Hot, humid air washed over him causing him to shed his coat and tie and put them in the back seat of his car before he locked it. As he was walking to the automated ticket machine on the skyway leading to the departure gates, he felt like there were eyes on him. He stopped, looked back, and for a moment thought he saw Paula but the woman quickly disappeared behind a column. A guilty feeling came over him. He wondered if Paula had followed him to the airport. After thinking about it a moment he dismissed the idea as being his own paranoia.
He bought a round trip ticket to Houston on flight 732 leaving in ten minutes from Gate 7. He was cutting it kind of close so he rushed to the security area, unloaded his pockets into a plastic container, and waited impatiently to be processed. He had debated whether to bring a briefcase. He wouldn’t need one, but he thought it might look suspicious if he came empty handed. He flung the empty briefcase onto the conveyor belt and then wondered what the inspector would think when he saw that the briefcase was empty. The man gave him a suspicious look when he walked by but didn’t say anything. Finally he made it through security and rushed to the gate. He noticed a blond woman sitting alone nervously. Their eyes met and she smiled sending a rush of excitement through his groin. They looked away not wanting anyone to suspect what they were up to. Seconds later the ticket agent called the flight and people stood up and began moving slowly to the appropriate lines as shown on their boarding passes. The blond woman was in the first row 1 to 33. Stan’s heart was beating hard as he got into line. He’d never done anything like this before in his life. He’d heard about people doing it, seen it in the movies, but had never thought anyone really did it. Now he was going to find out if it was possible.
The blond woman disappeared into the plane. Stan felt the effects of adrenalin flooding into his bloodstream—a tingling sensation came over him and he began to shake. Could he do this or would he chicken out? No, he couldn’t quit now, he’d made a commitment. He had to be courageous, there was a lot at stake here. His line finally started to move down the gangway and soon he was boarding the plane. He saw the blond woman sitting on an aisle seat. He took the aisle seat across from her as they had previously agreed. She stifled a smile and looked out the portal to her left. Stan felt himself getting aroused and tried to relax so he wouldn’t be embarrassed when he got up. When the plane was full the flight attendant picked up the microphone and told everyone to fasten their seatbelts and get ready for takeoff.
Soon the big Southwest jet was taxiing out to the runway. Stan closed his eyes and took a deep breath trying desperately to relax. The pilot brought the plane onto the runway behind two other jets ready to take off. They stood motionless for a minute until the first plane began to accelerate, then waited another minute until the runway ahead of them was clear. Stan felt the plane lunge forward and gain speed rapidly until it rose right over downtown Dallas. The pilot’s voice came through the intercom. He welcomed everyone aboard, said the skies were clear ahead and advised that the flight would take fifty-five minutes. Stan looked at his watch, his heart pounding. He got up and approached the flight attendant who was loading canned drinks into a cart.
“Ma’am,” Stan said.
The flight attendant smiled. “Yes, sir. How can I help you?”
“My girlfriend and I wanted to join the mile-high club.”
“What?”
“The mile-high club.”
The attendant laughed. “I’m sorry. That’s against regulations. We can’t allow that.”
“Nobody would know,” Stan pressed. “We just need five minutes alone in the restroom.”
The flight attendant shook her head. “No. Please take your seat.”
Stan pulled a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and showed it to her. “Five or ten minutes. That’s all, we’ll be very quiet. Nobody will know it ever happened.”
She looked at the money and shook her head again. Stan stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out another hundred dollar bill. The attendant sighed deeply, looked around and then took the money. “Alright, five minutes. Go in separately after I go by your row with the cart. If you get caught, you’re on your own.”
Stan smiled, went back to his seat and nodded to the blond woman. She stifled a laugh and looked away. Stan felt exhilarated. He couldn’t wait to get inside the beautiful woman with the blond hair. He’d always thought the mile-high club was stupid but now he knew why people did it. He felt more alive at that moment than he had in years. The flight attendant started moving down the aisle. Stan took a deep breath. The anticipation was killing him. He looked across the aisle. The woman shook her head like he was crazy. He wondered if what they were about to do was nuts, but it was too late to back out now.
The flight attendant came up next to him and winked. “Can I get you something?”
“No, thanks. I think I’ll use the restroom.”
When she had passed him, Stan got up and walked toward the front of the plane. He wasn’t wearing underwear which felt weird and uncomfortable. They had both agreed underwear would make a difficult encounter even worse. Suddenly another woman stood up in front of him and rushed inside. Stan sighed in frustration. He looked back at the blond woman who was rolling her eyes. He shrugged. After a few minutes the lady came out and Stan immediately went and took her place. He closed the door but didn’t lock it. The room was so small he didn’t know how they were going to have sex in such a confined space. He waited, feeling his heart pounding in his chest, seconds seeming like minutes. Finally, the door opened and the blond woman slipped inside and locked the door. They kissed passionately, their bodies exploding in anticipation. She pulled up her dress while he pulled down his pants. She wrapped her legs around him and pulled him inside her. They fell backward onto the toilet seat with a loud thud. He grabbed her bottom and they soon fell into a rhythm of pure joy and exhilaration. She moaned a little too loud. “Quiet,” Stan reminded her. They’d had sexual encounters before but never like this one. They tried to make it last, an incredibly intense sensation that permeated every inch of their bodies, until they exploded together like two comets colliding in space. A quick spectacular flash of carnal bliss that they’d dream about for years to come. They held each other tightly trying to savor the moment. There was a knock on the door that made them jump.
“Time’s up.”
Stan’s blond lover stood up reluctantly. Stan looked into her eyes and knew that she’d enjoyed the encounter as much as he had. She lowered her dress, looked in the mirror, fixed her hair, and exited the restroom without a word. Stan took a deep breath, pulled up his pants, counted to thirty and then headed back to his seat. The flight attendant gave him a relieved look as he went by. When she walked by his seat a few minutes later she whispered into his ear, “Welcome to the Mile-High Club.”
When Stan got back to Dallas he was so relaxed and in such a great mood he had no desire to go back to the office. It was late in the afternoon anyway, so he decided to go straight home. He’d told Maria he might not make it back to the office, so he wasn’t worried about being missed. On the way home he took the Dallas North Tollway to LBJ and then headed north on Central Expressway. When he passed the Beltline exit he heard sirens and saw heavy smoke rising from a building just off the freeway. He got off at the next exit and circled back on the access road. He prayed that he was wrong, but he thought the smoke was coming from the vicinity of Ram’s grocery store. When he was a block away he saw the police and fire trucks in front of the store. He parked his car as close as he could and ran the rest of the way to the store. The fire was out by then and the firemen were mopping up. Stan tapped a fireman on the shoulder.
“Was anyone hurt?” Stan asked.
The fireman turned and replied, “Nothing serious. Smoke inhalation mainly. They’ve been taken to Richardson Medical Center.”
&
nbsp; “What about the store?”
“It’s a total loss—someone tossed a few Molotov cocktails through the windows. The gasoline spread the fire quickly.”
“Oh, my God!” Stan moaned. “I know who did this.”
The fireman stared at Stan a moment. “Then you should go tell the Fire Investigator,” he said pointing to a man talking to a police officer.
Stan nodded and walked over to where the men were talking. They looked over at him as he approached.
“Hi,” Stan said. “I’m Stan Turner. I’m Mr. Bakira’s attorney. I know who did this.”
Stan told the officer and the fire investigator about the animosity between Ram and Sammy and Sammy’s threats to get even.
“Do you know where we can find this Sammy fellow?” the officer asked.
“If you call the U.S. Marshall’s office they should have it. They had him in custody for a few days until his family came up with the money to pay off the contempt judgment.”
“Alright. We’ll do that and get a detective out there to question him.”
“I’m sure he’ll deny it and will have an alibi. Back in Pakistan he’s part of a crime family that exploits people who want to immigrate to America. They took my client for a quarter million dollars.”
The officer shook his head. “Well, this case may be out of our league then. It may be a case for the FBI.”
Stan shrugged. “Maybe so. I just want to get him shut down so my client can live in peace. He’s got a wife and a new baby. They’ve been through a lot.”
They took Stan’s card and promised to keep him updated. Stan took one last look at the smoldering ruin and then returned to his car and drove over to Richardson Medical Center to make sure Ram and his family were okay. Melakea, her baby and other family members were in the waiting room. Stan went over to them.
“Is Ram okay?” Stan asked.
“He will be, I think,” Melakea replied tentatively. “He’s getting some oxygen therapy right now. They’re worried that he might have suffered cyanide poisoning from the fire.”
“Oh, my God!” Stan exclaimed.
“He’s going to be on a ventilator and an I-V drip for a few days. The doctors seem to think he’ll recover okay.”
“Good. I just saw your store. I can’t believe Sammy would do something like this.”
“He’s promised to ruin us and send us back to Pakistan and now he’s done it,” Melakea spat.
Stan shook his head. “No. You have fire insurance. You can rebuild the store.”
“Really?” Melakea replied skeptically.
“Yes, we had to buy it as a requirement of the U.S. Trustee to get their approval of our plan. The complete loss should be covered along with business interruption insurance to provide you some income and allow you to make your plan payments while you are rebuilding.”
Melakea raised her eyebrows. “Are you sure? I thought for sure we’d lost everything.”
“No. That’s why we bought the coverage.”
“Oh, Stan. I’m so glad we found you. You’ve been our salvation.”
Stan shrugged. “Well, I just did what any good attorney would do.”
“No, I have talked to a lot of people from my country and most are disappointed with the attorneys they’ve run across in America. Most are only interested in how much money they can get as fees. I feared you were the same when you wanted a ten thousand dollar retainer.”
“Well, there are good attorneys and bad attorneys, you just have to make sure you hire a good one.”
“And we’ve done that, I know now.”
Stan didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t feeling so good about what he’d accomplished so far. “Right. Unfortunately, it seems like every time we take a step forward we get pushed back two steps.”
“But at least we’re fighting back and making Sammy lose face back home in Pakistan.”
“Is that really happening?”
“Yes, when he went to jail for contempt many back home were laughing at him. That’s probably why he felt he had to do something to save face.”
Stan sighed. “Well, I’m glad nobody got seriously hurt. Tell Ram to call me next week and I’ll help him file a claim with his insurance carrier.”
Melakea nodded and embraced Stan. “Thank you.”
Stan returned the embrace and then left. By the time he got home it was nearly 7:00 p.m. Rebekah looked at him anxiously when he walked in.
“What happened? It’s been hours since your flight came in. Did you go back to the office?”
“No. Somebody threw a few Molotov Cocktails into Ram’s store. I noticed the smoke on the way home and stopped to check it out. The store was a total loss, so I told the police and the fire investigator about Ram’s history with Sammy and then I had to go by Richardson Medical Center to make sure Ram and Melakea were okay.”
“Oh, my God! How terrible. Are they okay?”
“Melakea is okay but Ram suffered smoke inhalation. He’s going to need to stay in the hospital for a day or two. So, now they’re broke and have no income.”
Rebekah shook her head. “I’m so sorry. I know how hard you worked on his case.”
“Well, they do have insurance,” Stan said tentatively.
“That’s good, huh?”
“Yeah, but I’m afraid getting the insurance company to pay may be another story.” Stan hadn’t brought this up to Melakea but he knew with arson involved the insurance company would be reluctant to pay the claim until they caught the arsonist.
“Oh, no. How come?”
“You know insurance companies, they like to hang onto their money as long as the law will allow. In the case of arson they might claim Ram started the fire himself since he was in financial trouble.”
“What are you going to do?”
Stan didn’t respond. There was nothing he could do except file the claim and then hold his breath. If the insurance company delayed in paying the claim he’d threaten them with a lawsuit. But from experience he knew litigation could take years to resolve and with Ram and his wife penniless, how long would it be until they were forced to return to Pakistan?