Is This Time Travel Too?

The AC on the airplane is blowing

short stray hairs across my face,

triggering a memory of my Dad, asking

me to pull back my hair—when I leaned

over to kiss him goodbye those last days

we shared.  I feel bad he had to ask me

more than once.  It must have been

annoying.  Is this memory surfacing

here and now a form of time travel? 

Was there something else? 

Something beyond the surface of

that request that day back then?

The stewardess with blue eyes and

deep cheek dimples—is holding a phone

to her ear.  The tone of the plane is changing. 

Soon the descent will be announced, but will

take forever.  She is older, maybe my age, thin

and firm.  This triggers for me the one interview

I had with United Airlines—how I had to walk

back and forth, then turn around, as someone

looked me up and down.  I weighed 125 pounds

at five foot seven.  Not quite good enough.  I’m

glad I didn’t get that job, but wonder— if I had,

would I have learned to travel light, with ease?

Maybe I would have been laid-off, as so many

were--then what?  Leaving my questions

up in the air, I fasten my seat belt, anxious

for a smooth landing, my life on the ground.

(c) elaine heveron