bench where I did my homework in nice weather ?
The plane suddenly lurched downward and my eyes snapped open , my hands flashing down to clutch my armrests with a death grip . I yanked out my earbuds and looked around frantically , expecting to see yellow oxygen masks dropping from the ceiling . But the plane had steadied and all of the other passengers were reading or sleeping or tapping away at laptops and cell phones . Nobody looked perturbed .
“ Just a little bit of turbulence ,” said a voice to my right . I turned to find Mr . Smith beaming at me . “ Perfectly normal , nothing to worry about .” He patted my hand reassuringly .
I gave him a close-lipped smile and tried to pull my hand away as discreetly as possible . “ Is this your first time flying ?” Mr . Smith asked . I nodded . “ Remarkable , isn ’ t it ,” he said dreamily , looking out the small window at the cloudscapes around us . “ Yes ,” I managed creakily . I wished for a bottle of water . “ A hundred years ago , no one would have believed this ,” he continued . “ Flying around in giant metal tubes ? Impossible .” He laughed gently . “ I guess you really never know what ’ s going to happen in the future . And one hundred years , that ’ s not even that long ago in the grand scheme of things .”
“ A lot can happen in a hundred years ,” I offered . “ The Industrial Revolution , the destruction of Aztec civilization , the ends of dynasties .”
“ Smart girl ,” Mr . Smith said , echoing the TSA agent from security . “ You know your history .”
“ I ’ m a history major at U Penn ,” I said , resigned to the fact of conversation .
“ Ah ! A noble choice ,” he said approvingly . “ But why ? If I may ask . It seems like you young people these days are all about technology , innovation , the future !”
“ I guess I like knowing what happened ,” I said , suddenly acutely self-conscious . “ Things in the past seem so clear . You can find out the causes for things , see why they happened . See what could have happened instead .” I smiled awkwardly , feeling like I ’ d said too much . “ I just … I like knowing .”
“ Oh , I know you do , Kate ,” Mr . Smith said , in quite a different tone of voice than before . “ I know you do .” He began to fumble with the clasps on his satchel , and I turned towards the window again , assuming , with some relief , that the conversation was over .
Thirty seconds later , something heavy landed in my lap and I snapped around with a small shriek . A couple of heads turned to look at me , and , cheeks flaming , I ducked my head to look at whatever was now resting across my thighs .
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