So the captain just informed everyone inside the plane that takeoff had been delayed...
A man in a black sport coat with silver hair and glasses turned to the man next to him with the intention to commiserate. However, the much older man sitting next to him had, what seemed to be, an innate pleasant expression. The silver hair man noticed this then realized his misery could not be shared with his adjacent passenger.
The older man was dressed in stereotypical old man clothes. He had on a golf cap and a plain red button down shirt that was neatly tucked into his obviously pressed khakis. Despite his seemingly business casual fashion sense, the older man wore bulky ugly (albeit practical) sketcher’s sneakers. All male senior citizens share the same wardrobe, respectable but outdated office clothing combined with abhorrent cross fit sneakers. Contrary to what you may be thinking, the older man was friendly and conversational and very much wanted to engage his fellow traveler in conversation, but was waiting for the right moment.
The silver haired man reached into his pocket to pull on his phone and his pack of cigarettes fell out of his pocket. The older man next to him and saw the pack of cigarettes on the floor and, in spite of the psychical pain it caused him, bent over to pick them up. He handed them to the silver hair man and said, “you know son, you really shouldn’t smoke, terrible habit really”. The silver hair man rolled his eyes in a familiar fashion, but appreciated the genuineness in the old man’s voice. He said, “Yeah, well I’m fully aware of what could happen, I’m a doctor actually”. The silver haired man was expecting a chuckle from the old man due to the irony of his situation, but it never came. “Well, not a medical doctor just a PhD,” said the silver haired man. Instead of chuckling, the old man listened intensely and seemed to be waiting for the conversation to continue. The silver hair man continued attempting to explain his poorly received joke, “Kind of ironic in a way I suppose, a smoking doctor. You know, I remember when people smoked on air planes too”. He then realized the stupidity in his sentence. Obviously the old man remembered those times as well. Waiting for a slightly condescending response, the silver hair man pushed his glasses up his face in preparation. However the old man remained as sincere as possible and told the silver hair man that he did in fact remember those times. “People sure use to be stupid, but you know you can’t blame them because nobody knew”. The silver hair man thought that this was a passive insult and felt slighted. The old man then said, “But you know everybody does things that are bad for them, some just do it in public” then he chuckled a little. The silver hair man immediately felt a sense of comfort after realizing the old man was not condemning him. Feeling more at ease, the silver hair man extended a handshake to the older man and introduced himself as Victor. The old man graciously accepted the handshake and said his name was Jack.
Personally, Jack is my favorite character in this story. Or maybe it's Victor, or Colin, or Colin's Mom. Are you supposed to capitalize Mom? mom? It's like god or is it God. I guess just capitalize if it feels RIGHT.
