Blog # 4 A fly on a plane

I am a fly on a plane whose final destination is Philadelphia. There are no open seats so I land next to an elderly couple who doze off before the plane has taken off from the Denver airport. The woman's head is resting on her husband's shoulder and she is wrapped in a blue airline blanket. Another lady is making her last phone call before the flight attendant tells her to turn her cell phone off, and she complains that she wasn't allowed to get off the plane and buy food during her layover. I can smell the onions on someone's sandwich. Luckily, the flight attendants are getting coffee ready and soon it is all my nose can detect as I'm eagerly waiting for my daily dose of caffeine. Later on, I notice that there are four children on this flight-an infant and three toddlers-who'd cry occasionally until their parents would get up reluctantly and try to walk them on the narrow aisle so they would stop being fussy. Two men in business suits start a conversation with another middle-aged man who's interested to know the reason of their trip. They're sales executives going to Philadelphia to meet with successful business entrepreneurs. They introduce themselves to each other. David is a tall, slick businessman with a navy suit and a black suitcase in his lap, and Elmer is wearing a green shirt with a light brown jacket and pants. Bob, who initiated their conversation, asks about the origin of Elmer's name. It turns out that he is from Bahrain, an Arabic island country in the Persian Gulf. With a population of about 800,000 people, it is the most open Muslim country in the world, he claims. Then he goes on to explain how men from neighboring Saudi Arabia drive to Bahrain every weekend and go wild because they can drink alcohol, go clubbing and see women who are on the streets at night. To my surprise, he tells a story about when he was on the beach and a car pulled over, three women jumped out covered head to toe in the traditional Muslim burkas, took their clothes off and had their bikinis on, ready to enjoy life as free women, away from Saudi Arabia. The world is an interesting place, and people do interesting things. As I'm writing my "Memoirs of a Fly", lying on the beach in Ocean City, New Jersey, a young boy comes up to me and asks me what I'm writing. I tell him it's my homework and can't help but think...there are many flies in the summertime, and they are everywhere you go...