Jack took Roger's dainty feminine hand and gave it a gentle shake. ‘Nice to meet you too Liz. I thought Miss Up Herself over there would be my closest companion. She didn’t respond when I said hello either’ Jack must have observed Roger’s failed greeting to the young girl.
‘She’s probably just nervous about flying’ Roger was prepared to give the girl the benefit of the doubt.
‘No. She’s just rude’
Roger had been one of the last onto the plane and now it appeared boarding had finished. There was an announcement then one of the attendants came around to check their seat-belts were on and closed the lockers. Roger found his headphones and plugged them into his personal screen. He then began to browse through the movies available.
But it seemed Jack wanted to talk. That was okay with Roger. He didn’t mind a bit of a chat himself. It would be a long lonely trip if not. Jack asked a lot of questions and Roger answered as if he really was Liz. That was easy enough as Roger had known Liz forever, he certainly knew enough to pass for her in idle conversation.
Jack told a little about himself. He was essentially a builder who liked to surf, or probably more accurately a surfer who funded his passion by working as a builder every now and then. The man wasn’t young in age, Roger guessed him to be late thirties, but he was without commitments and had travelled the world surfing. He was off to Portugal to meet some mates and go surfing. His surfboard was somewhere beneath them in the hold.
Roger could truthfully say he had never surfed in his life. He wasn’t aware if Liz had. The conversation flowed freely either side of take-off and Roger was surprised when the attendants came around to offer lunch that they were already two hours into the flight and he hadn’t even selected a movie yet.
Roger used lunch as an excuse to start a movie.
It was a 14 hour flight to Dubai, in that time Roger watched 3 movies, slept fitfully for who knows how long and went to the toilet twice. He remembered to wipe each time. Both times going to the toilet he dropped by Maureen and Liz. Both times they were both asleep. Maureen had always possessed the knack of sleeping on a plane, a knack Roger had missed out on. From the look of things Liz found it easy to sleep as well. On the second toilet visit Maureen was looking very comfortable leaning against Liz’s chest. They had covered themselves with a blanket.
Likewise, Maureen had sought out the new Liz when she got up to visit the toilet herself, only to find the redhead with her head resting on the shoulder of a young suntanned man. Maureen couldn’t blame “Liz” the man looked pretty hot.
Roger was rather embarrassed to wake and find he had partially slipped and rested his head as if Jack’s shoulder was a pillow. He apologised ‘I didn’t mean to invade your space’
‘It’s fine. Nothing to worry about at all’ the man assured him. ‘I just didn’t want to move and wake you. You seem to have a lot of trouble getting to sleep’
‘I’ve never been able to sleep properly on aeroplanes. I’m usually cranky and irritable when I arrive at the destination but my….travelling companions have no trouble sleeping and are usually fresh on arrival’ Roger had almost said “my wife” that was close.
‘I noticed you speaking to a couple up in front there. Are they the friends you speak of?’
‘Yeah that’s my best friend Maureen and her husband Roger' The lie came easily. 'They have been sleeping both times that I checked on them’ Roger felt better that he had called everyone by the correct name for the bodies they occupied. He really had to start thinking of Liz as “Roger” for the duration of the swap lest he make a mistake.
‘So where are you and your friends travelling to?’
‘Spain and Portugal, We are going to the Sanlucar beach racing carnival then having time on the Spanish mainland and in Portugal’
‘So when are you going to be in Portugal?’
Roger went on to tell the man the dates.
‘I’ll still be there at that time. Don’t ask me exactly where. We’ll just be following the waves. You never know we might bump into each other’
Breakfast came and when that had finished and Jack had gone to the toilet, Roger went around once more to finally find Maureen and “Roger” awake. ‘Hi there. How did you sleep?’
‘Hi Liz’ answered Maureen. ‘We were quite comfortable. These were good seats. I think we were asleep most of the way’
‘You were. I checked on you twice. Both times you were asleep’
‘How did you go?’ asked “Roger”. ‘Did you have enough legroom?’
‘All I needed Roger’ Roger was proud that he was keeping in character.
‘You were sound asleep when I checked on you. Looking very comfortable I must say’ added Maureen.
Just then there was an announcement that they were hitting turbulence and that everyone had to return to their seats. Jack stood up to allow Roger to return to his seat. Their conversation resumed and before he knew it the plane was descending into Dubai.