The Flight

She woke to the sound of roaring and knew that it wasn’t the roar of wind. More like something flowing over a rigged surface, perhaps like a train rolling over the tracks. But there aren’t any train tracks nearby. She laid there listening. She isn’t dreaming is she? Or was she?

Then she came fully awake, and remembered. She was traveling via airship, on the trans-Antarctic route. 11 days from Capetown to Ushuaia.

Once she collected herself, she flagged down a flight attendant at the end of the aisle. “Whiskey, please,” she asked. “Something old and rich.” “Right away ma’am,” the attendant said. This would give her just enough time to figure out what to do with her unpredictable companion.

One the flight attendant was out of sight, she jabbed a finger in her companion’s face. “Now, listen here, you have to get out of sight,” she hissed. “Got it?” Her companion laughed and then abruptly disappeared. “Like this?” came a disembodied voice. She gasped. “I...guess?” The

wide grin appeared once again. "Excellent. Seems like you don't reject my existence as long as I'm invisible, correct?" Before she could reply, a contract appeared signed with her name before it disappeared. "Now, we're bound forever, young miss," cackled the invisible companion.

She looked over the contract, which seemed an awful lot like a marriage contract. It appears her invisible companion was lonely. “I know a better lady for you, strange cackling man” she said. That day she introduced him to her mother-in-law, and all lived happily ever after.