Trapped. Stagnant air. Strapped in, unable to escape.
Not a prisoner of war, an inmate, or a mental patient---I was a business traveler. Stuck on the tarmac at the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, waiting our turn to lift off into the never-any-longer friendly skies. The delay would have been tolerable, since I had a fully-charged iPod full of new tunes to pass the time. Unfortunately, the iPod is one of the 'banned' electronic devices during takeoff and landing (really, now, can my iPod break the airplane's whole navigation system?). Even without the iPod, I would have been fine if I hadn't been seated next to Mr. Social.
I don't mind the general "Hello" or "How are you doing" from the stranger in the seat next to me, but Mr. Social launched into a series of questions I was totally unprepared for, including but not limited to:
- Where are you from?
- Are you travelling on business or pleasure?
- What do you do?
- Is it a large company that you work for?
- Do you fly much?
- How long have you been away on this trip?
- Where did you go to college?
- Have you ever been to Paris?
- Have you ever been to Rome?
- Have you ever been to London?
- What's the most interesting place you've ever lived in?
- What's the worst place you've ever lived in?
- Do you like the desert or the mountains or the beach for a vacation?
- Do you prefer the city or the suburbs?
- Do you play a musical instrument?
- How much do you think it costs to host an independent website?
- Are you a cat person or a dog person?
- Have you ever ordered anything from Toscano? (I had opened the SkyMall catalog by this time.)
- Do you think we'll take off soon?
Mercifully, we did take off soon and I jammed the iPod earphones in and cranked it up as soon as the airplane's nose pointed UP. Seeing that I was officially "checked out" at that point, Mr. Social kicked it over to his neighbor across the aisle, who unbelievably kept right up with the conversation! Two of a kind not only on the same plane but on the same row!
Mr. Social somehow got Ms. Across-the-Aisle to spill forth about her terminally ill sister who has MS. MS, he remarked, there was a famous cellist who had that, but I can't remember her name; her husband was a musician too, Daniel something oh I can't remember (blah blah blah)... On my iPod, at full volume only half-blocking his prattle, was Jacqueline DuPre playing her famous Elgar Cello Concerto in E Minor. Thinking that this was too much coincidence, I considered pulling out my earphones to at least tell him her name so he would stop going on and on trying to figure it out. I immediately pictured him dragging me kicking and screaming back into the scene with the two of them for the remaining hour of the flight, and wisely decided to let the moment just pass.