On a Wing and a Prayer

The body was found in the cargo hold on Flight 257. The person or persons who murdered this unfortunate soul stuffed it in the cargo hold and in such a way as to suggest that the killer or killers were quite deranged. Intrigued to say the least Homicide Detective Jack Donaldson started his investigation. Would a cheater, jilted lover, or some kind of love triangle be involved? Jack was thinking along these lines because of what he was currently going through with his ex-wife. This was a medium to large airport and cordoning off the crime scene was fairly involved but it needed to be done. When Jack woke up this morning he thought the day was going to be a good one but when he got the call about this case that good feeling completely vanished. First of all the FBI was on the scene and they were trying to take over, second, his ex-wife had just sent him a text about his alimony payment, and the third and final thing was that he hadn’t had has his cup of coffee yet. The day was just going from bad to worse. The Coroner said that from his preliminary diagnosis the victim had been dead for about 36-hours because the body was starting to come out of rigor. Detective Donaldson’s Blackberry suddenly went off. A Sergeant Davis told him that he should get over to Gate 32 on Concourse ‘C’ ASAP. Jack was at Gate 24 on Concourse ‘A’ at the moment. He got into his car and turned on his flashers. When he go to Gate 32 Sergeant Davis informed him another DB or dead body was found in another cargo hold. Like he said earlier, this day was going from bad to worse. The Press was going to have a field day with this. So far the only things that were common to both of these crimes was the fact that both airplanes were Boeing 737-800’s and both dead bodies were found in the aft cargo holds. In the 17-years that Jack has been a Homicide Detective he has seen dead bodies in quite a variety of places but this was the first time he has seen one in the cargo hold of an airliner. Now he has seen two. The aft cargo hold of a Boeing 737-800 has almost 900 square feet of space in it. Who has access to it? Would they have been seen? How would the bodies have been put in them? Questions, questions, so many questions. Jack would need to get access to any and all surveillance cameras. Just then Jack received a radio call from the Airport Manager Steve Billings telling him that the press wants a statement and what should he tell them. Jack told him to wait. As Jack started turn he felt a sharp throbbing pain at the base of his neck, he instantly knew someone had hit him from behind. He went down to the ground. When he was on the ground all he could see, just barely, before he blacked out was a figure running away from him….

Just Another Day

It’s a Thursday – September 9, 2010. I look out the window. A 20-something couple is walking down the street. A man is walking his dog. The local Fire Department horn bellows because it is 12-noon. I can hear a plane off in the distance. I can also hear someone mowing there lawn off in the distance. My wife, the woman that I love dearly, is at work. The plants have been watered. The ones under the front window are blooming nicely. A cool breeze is coming through the window. Katie is studying hard at school. I wonder if she is feeling o.k. I also wonder if Ryan and Matthew are studying hard in school. Austin is probably at work. Eric and his wife Maii are in England – he is in the Air Force. The couple who live out of their van in our neighbor Bob’s backyard are burning stuff again. It doesn’t smell toxic today. My wonderful wife Kelly just sent me a text thanking me for getting her $20 and 2-packs of cigs for cards tonight. The mail-woman just picked up and dropped off the mail. Such a busy road we live on. The traffic goes by so fast! And don’t get me going about the noisy trucks and motorcycles! A farmer just drove by with his tractor and hay baler attached. Then his son went by with a tractor and a trailer to hold the hay bales. They work 7 days-a-week on their farm. A train off in the distance just blew its horn. Fred brought Miss Ab home. Miss Ab is our Chihuahua. Fred and Barbara are Miss Ab’s grandparents (and Katie’s). Katie just got home from school. She goes to New England Tech. Miss Ab was so happy to see her ‘mommy’ and Katie was so happy to see Miss Ab. Kelly works at Regency Heights and she should be home soon. The day is flowing along, meandering. I am thinking about my writing, I am thinking about my writing because I want to be a published writer and/or author. I am 50-years old so I am starting a little late in the game. Some people would say you’re too old to do this. I would disagree. This story itself will be posted to my blog and hopefully someone will read it (and the others I have posted there) and comment on it, negatively or positively. So this is just another day, a day in a small northeastern Connecticut town. Much like many towns all across America. People just doing there normal day-to-day things. There is nothing wrong with normal. Normal isn’t boring. Normal is good. Normal is peaceful. Things don’t have to be wild and crazy or abnormal. Maybe I am naïve. What is the definition of normal? My definition may be different than yours. We are born, we live our lives and pay our bills, and then we die. Yesterday was Wednesday, tomorrow is Friday. What makes today any different? It’s just another day.