Chapter 3 - The VIP Cabin Above
Ten minutes later, we were settled in the spacious, private upper-deck lounge of the Boeing 777. The seats were wide and plush, with a panoramic view of the endless sea of white clouds stretching out beneath us in the afternoon sun. A flight attendant had already brought my mother a warm blanket and a cup of ginger tea, treating her with a level of deference that felt closer to royalty than an ordinary passenger.
I sat across from her, staring at her profile as she gazed out the window at the sky.
“A colonel?” I finally asked, breaking the quiet hum of the cabin. “Mom, you told me you worked in logistics admin for the Air Force. You never said you were a colonel, let alone a commander of a strategic transport wing.”
Mom took a slow sip of her tea, setting the porcelain cup down on the small tray table with a steady hand. She turned to look at me, a gentle, apologetic smile softening the lines around her eyes.
“When your father passed away, and I retired from active service to raise you, I wanted a normal life for you, sweetie,” she said softly. “The military wasn't something I brought home to the dinner table. By the time my reserve commitment ended, you were in high school, and it just felt like a chapter of my life that belonged to the past.”
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“A chapter?” I echoed, shaking my head in disbelief. “Mom, the captain of this commercial airliner saluted you like you were a four-star general.”
“Captain Vance was one of my rookie pilots twenty years ago,” she chuckled, a rich, genuine sound that I hadn't heard in months of hospital visits and chemotherapy treatments. “I chewed him out so badly during a simulation at Travis Air Force Base that he nearly transferred to supply logistics. I suppose he never forgot it.”
