Turbulence

The plane filled with the smell of warm bread and old feet. It was only a short fight but it already felt like it was going to be a long haul. The baby at the back wailed incessantly as if trying to entertain its captive audience while the girl next to me played her MP3 player so loud I could tap my feet along to Rhianna. Without warning the plane lurched violently to the left, throwing bodies around like flowers in the wind. Now it wasn’t only the baby crying as sobs and prayers filled the air.
‘Please fasten your seatbelts’ the hostess said, panic and fear in her voice. The announcement was superfluous because as soon as the plane had begun to shake, belts had been fastened, tightened and clutched. Oof the plane lurched right now then again to the left buffeted by the gale blowing outside, tossed around like a discarded McDonald burger box. This was far worse than anything I’d experienced before. God’s phone must have been ringing off the hook as many of his long lost friends were suddenly desperate to talk to him, desperate to beg his forgiveness for various sins and wrongdoings.

I smiled, what else could I do, I couldn’t fly the plane and didn't believe in god, so all I could do was sit back and enjoy the ride. Soon the roller coaster became more like a bumpy old bus ride and then it hardly felt like we were moving; fists were unclenched, tears dried and noses blown. Mild embarrassment replaced fear as the overriding emotion. I smiled and wondered to myself how many people would use our lucky escape of proof positive of there being a god or how many of the promises made to him would be forgotten within an hour of landing. Maybe god should have struck us out of the sky as a pre-emptive strike to get his punishment in first.