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Shook Chapter 10: High Risk
Clear blue skies over a blanket of white clouds. The flight seems to be going okay. But is the oxygen getting thinner? And why won't Maya wake up!?
“Maya!” Dyan yelled and shook Maya.
Everyone around her turned her way, including Maya with wide eyes. “What!?” Maya wondered.
“Oh.” Dyan smiled shyly, and ducked her head. Everyone went back to what they were doing, some smiling at her before doing so.
The round man beside Maya chuckled and went back to staring at his phone.
After Dyan was sure everyone else wasn't paying attention to her, she leaned over and whispered, “Sorry, I thought you had passed out or something.”
Maya rolled her eyes. “You thought I passed out with my eyes open?”
“Yes. I’ve heard some people sleep with their eyes open!” Dyan glared.
Maya huffed and leaned back in her seat. “You worry too much. I’m just bored. I have nothing to do, and George started to watch a movie.”
“Who’s George?” Dyan asked.
“The man next to us.” Maya pointed to the round man, who was wearing earphones attached to a phone perched on the eating tray in front of his chair.
“Oh.” Dyan muttered. Come to think of it, they would be on a plane for the rest of the morning, and Dyan was bored as well.
She looked around. In front of her was another chair, with a food tray kept up by a latch and a little net below it that held a magazine and a safety brochure.
Dyan slipped the magazine out of the net and said, “How about we see what’s in here?”
“Sure!” Maya smiled and nodded.
Soon the two girls were imagining themselves as backpackers flying to exotic places, or discussing the movies featured with the planes wi-fi, or laughing at silly ads.
When Dyan looked up again, she saw the plane staff were giving out snacks. Maya turned and asked Dyan what she wanted so Maya could ask for the both of them.
Dyan wrinkled her forehead. “Peanuts or cookies? Is that even a question?”
When the staff got to Maya she said, “Two packs of cookies please, one for me, and one for my sister.”
“Wow, such nice manners! By the way, I love your hair color, girl.” The flight attendant laughed. “And what do you want to drink?”
Maya smirked at Dyan and said “I’ll have a bloody mary,”
Dyan remembered they had seen the bloody mary drink in the magazine, and they had both been wondering how it tasted. Dyan thought it would be something Spirit would drink, so no wonder Maya picked it.
“Bold choice,” replied the flight attendant, then she looked at Dyan. “And what do you want?”
Dyan hadn’t even thought of drinks. She could try a bloody mary, but what if it was gross?
Dyan finally decided to say, “I want a water please, thank you.”
“Thank you two for being so well-behaved! In fact you two can have two packs of cookies!” The flight attendant dug her hand into the cart and plopped each of the girls cookies.
In no time Dyan had a plastic cup of water, and Maya a red soda can along with a cup of ice.
“Thanks!” Dyan and Maya said at the same time.
The flight attendant nodded and left. A moment after Dyan heard her say, “The sisters in those two seats up ahead are SO well behaved. Their mother is so lucky,” Dyan liked being called Maya’s sister, as if she was really a part of the Blue family.
“You didn’t want to try a Bloody Mary?” Maya asked Dyan.
“No. Any food with the word ‘bloody’ in it sounds gross to me.” said Dyan, already pulling open a cookie wrapper.
Dyan thought maybe she should have got a bloody mary. It sounded different and uncommon. But Dyan had been too scared to even try it.
Dyan sadly ate those sweet-tasting cookies as they flipped through the final pages of the magazine.
After their cookies, Maya announced it was time to try the bloody mary. She snapped the metal tab up, and learned it up to her smiling lips.
Dyan looked down sadly.
“Don’t worry, if it’s good, I’ll pour some into your cup,” Maya reassured Dyan.
And with that, Maya poured some of the drink into her plastic cup, and took a huge swig. Her face got so wrinkled after drinking it, Maya looked like a livid grandmother or a wicked witch. Maya slammed the cup against her tray and began to cough.
“Is it good?” Dyan asked weakly.
“Forget having some! You can have the whole drink! It’s nasty!” Maya shook head and clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth.
Dyan hovered the bloody mary over her and poured a bit into her mouth.
It tasted as if someone had put ice cubes in a bowl of tomato soup. The drink was so incredibly sour, Dyan wondered if they had put fresh onions in the drink.
“Ah! Oh my gosh!” Dyan stuck her tongue out and had a good drink of water.
“Here!” She gave Maya her last gulp of water, so each girls’ palette could be at least halfway washed out.
When the attendant came around one last time again the girls begged for more water, and gulped it down wordlessly.
“Not…worth it….” Maya moaned, staring up at the ceiling with her mouth opened.
In the end, Dyan was glad she didn’t order a Bloody Mary. She had dodged a bullet. Then she realized something. She had forgotten about the air getting thinner. If the air had really been getting thinner, wouldn’t she have passed out by now? Dyan took a deep breath as she imagined herself spontaneously passing out, dropping a bloody mary can to her side. She laughed out loud.
“What?” asked Maya
“Nothing,” said Dyan. “Everything’s fine.”
Find out what happens next in the next part!
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