Make A Life-Changing Decision
I’m fixing to make a life-changing decision (part 4).
The tail section of the plane, including the last three rows of seats in front of me, continued to slide in a different direction from the ball of fire that had been the rest of the big jet. When it came to a stop the sudden stillness and silence seemed far from being natural after the barrage of horrible sounds that had descended upon me during the last few seconds. It took me a few moments to focus, and once I did, all I could see in the gaping hole in front of me were rippling waves of green.
I shook my head to clear my vision and realized I was in the middle of a cornfield.
After that realization, and the fact that I was alive, it didn’t take me long to see that I was still strapped into my seat, but I was sideways from the ground.
The three middle seats and the two window seats on the opposite side were to my left between the ground and myself. The view from the front was a gagged circle of torn metal where the steel telephone pole had ripped my section away from the rest of the plane and sent it in a different direction.
I felt around on my legs, arms, face and the rest of myself searching for any broken bones or injuries and discovered that I could move everything and I wasn’t bleeding anywhere. Now, I desperately wanted to get out and onto Mother Earth.
When I looked down I was amazed to see that my briefcase was on the floor at my feet. I kicked it out and watched it fall to the far side. I didn’t desire to make my exit in the same manner because there were a lot of pointed, sharp and gagged edges in most every direction. So I carefully unbuckled my seat belt and climbed down over the three center seats as if they were the rungs on a ladder.
After I retrieved my briefcase I tossed it out through the open hole to the ground below. Now it was my turn, but the jagged edge between myself and the ground smelled of burning metal and I saw the heat waves shimmering above it. Quickly, I gathered debris and constructed myself a bridge of protection, crawled over it and dropped to the ground below. Several corn stalks broke my fall, and before I got up I kissed the ground.
When I stood up, I just stood there for several moments, amazed that I was alive and unhurt. Then I heard the sound. It was a very loud boom! Turning toward the direction of the sound, I saw the fireball over the top of the rows of corn. I grabbed my briefcase and began sprinting in the direction of it.
Upon arrival at the edge of the cornfield there was a great open field, littered with luggage and plane parts. In the middle of the field was what was left of the main body of the plane completely engulfed in flames. As I stood there mesmerized, I realized that they were all dead, everyone on the flight, that was except myself.
And after an explosion followed by the inferno I was witnessing, it occurred to me that there would be no bodies to identify.
That’s when the thought hit me! I could walk away and still be alive, but also be dead. The manifest had me listed in seat 11-F.
Think, I told myself. If you are going to do this then you have to do it right.
It dawned upon me that I didn’t have much time either because in the distance I could hear the sirens and sound of approaching vehicles. I could stay and be the only survivor, or seize the opportunity to implement my plan of disappearing. The thought of returning to work and facing Ms. Tally Vinegate from the government’s Office of Circumlocution pushed me over the edge.
I extracted the cash, about two hundred dollars, from my wallet and threw it out into the field as far as I could. I also took the little emergency stash, another four hundred dollars, from my briefcase and it followed my wallet to lie among the scattered debris which had once belonged to live people.
The sirens were getting real close when I turned and dashed into the depths of the cornfield. By the time I reached the other edge of the cornfield the sirens had become a distant blur. What I observed there was a ditch in front of me along beside a deserted two-lane highway. I began to cross that ditch and was in the middle of it when I slipped, landed on my head, and as blackness descended upon me I knew I was fixing to be knocked out.