Just then, the planes intercom system produced a long single beep signifying the captain was about to relay a message. The captain came on the speaker and said,

“Ladies and gents, I hope you are enjoying your U.S. AIRWAY flight. I’m gonna ask, if you have not done so, to please fasten your seat belt as we are beginning to experience some moderate turbulence. Nothing major, but safety comes first here at U.S. AIRWAY, thanks ladies and gentlemen and enjoy the rest of your flight."

The slight and persistent static hiss from the intercom system came to an abrupt halt.

By this time the wonder and awe of the seemingly endless clouds had worn off and Colin had become somewhat board and restless again. He started playing with his seatbelt again following the captain’s announcement, but the moment he touched it, his mother shot him a look. He had forgot his light purple GameBoy at home and the in-flight movie, Casablanca, was boring. Colin had no idea how all these grown ups were watching it; the movie wasn’t even in color. His mother seemed very engaged in her book but Colin thought she’d probably like to take a break and talk to him.

“Mom, whatcha reading?” said Colin.

Colin’s mother replied, “Dance Upon the Air by Nora Roberts."

Colin was thoroughly perplexed.

She added, “a grown up's book."

Colin found this answer much more satisfying.

Even so Colin still had questions, “Why do you like reading books? It’s so hard and boring."

Colin’s mother smiled warmly and said, “Well, when you read a book you can imagine anything, books are the most entertaining thing there is. With TV shows, whatever you see is what happened. With books, you could imagine anything. The same book is different to everyone because people have different imaginations."

Despite the eloquent soliloquy defending the value of books and the introspective analysis of human imagination, Colin’s response was simply, “oh okay."

I hope you really like these two.