Flight

May 16 2024

She was back on the plane again, this time early in the morning. Filly had gotten up at three am because she could not sleep, showered, dressed and then lay back down on the sofa to wait for time to go. There were storm warnings but the flight was not delayed.

She had just gotten back in town from California the night before.

When she woke up, she saw that her daughter had come over to do laundry. Her daughter’s house had also had an attic pipe leak, and they were trying to remediate the water damage, just like Filly’s house, and there was major drywall repair happening, so her laundry room was out of commission for the time being. Her daughter said she was feeling stressed out, so Filly had suggested that her daughter also pick a randomly chosen bible verse, as they waited for the clothes to wash and then dry.

So she did…she grabbed the shiny blue covered bible, and had opened it up to a page and pointed.

“and John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, BECAUSE THERE WAS SO MUCH WATER THERE: and they came and were baptized.”

Filly had said that she thought that God was telling her daughter to use these trials as a baptism of experience, or new renewal. And paying attention to “what comes through the pipes” and making sure the pipes were in good repair, was just part of “starting fresh”.

Her daughter had laughed and held her head and saying “so much water so much water”. Isn’t it ironic…doncha think?

They had finished the four or five loads of laundry, shared some “raising canes” chicken, and fertilized all the plants in the front and back yard.

They had spent the day packing and cleaning because the next day would be a travel day to North Carolina.
That night as she talked to her husband, he remembered he had not been able to give her the mothers day gift because they had been out of town. He had handed her a small box, lined with cotton and on the inside was a heart of stone, carved out of a unique spotted mineral.

Filly had loved it and she had a bowl full of unusual stone hearts that she had collected.
Then that next morning, when she had been ready to leave for the airport, and go out to the car with her luggage, she had picked her own bible verse for the day.

“yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets; therefore came a great wrath from the lord of hosts.”

Isn’t it ironic, Doncha think?

Filly could see who the Lord was talking to, and yet those who needed to hear “the words” were still refusing to listen and that was not good. Filly knew that she was listening, and even though the new Reacher book she was reading, said that seeing a bible verse at a diner made Reacher “sick to his stomach”, she could not and would not dispute the wisdom conveyed in her randomly chosen bible verse. Reacher lost that battle.

And then before she knew it, the time was up and they had to get to the Terminal C.

The drive to the airport was uneventful and Filly kissed her husband goodbye.

Once on the plane, she had her water, NOT coke, and had kept reading her Reacher book. Filly had a window seat and about thirty minutes after take off, she put the book down and put her head on the side of the plane and fell asleep until the stewardess came by to bring ginger-ale and a Quinoa and chocolate salted caramel wafer. The tall athletic African American man next to her on the right, ordered just a cup of water, no ice.

He smiled and commented on her book because he liked the Reacher movie…but had not read the books. They ended up talking about running and he originally was a sprinter, but now was doing Iron man’s and had done the one in Panama beach Florida.

Filly shook his hand and told him her name and he said his name was Indie. When she looked him up later, there was no sprinter with that name that she could find but she did learn that INDIE meant independent when she had always thought it meant “from India”.

She also learned that there were sprinter “vans”. And she remembered that he said that he liked doing the iron-man in Panama because he could swim in the “canals”. But when she looked up the panama beach iron-man, the water part was swam in the ocean, not canals. She also learned that the ports of the panama canal were being controlled by the Chinese, which could be a problem.

She did not know why it seemed like the man next to her had given her a fake name, or maybe it was his real name. Or maybe he was just saying he was independent. …Or maybe it was just a pen name, like her pen name Filly. In any case Filly decided to pick one more bible verse for this man she did not really know, who was obviously an elite athlete, who said his name was Indie.

This is what she randomly picked…
“Jesus asked the man “what is your name” and the man replies “my name is legion, for we are many”.

Isn’t it ironic, doncha think?

If Indie were symbolic of India like she had incorrectly thought earlier, this verse was significant because Jesus had authority over demons everywhere, including India, and had the power to cast them out. IF the verse was about independence, Filly thought the verse was saying that it was better to be on the same side as Jesus… She felt like she could not go wrong as long as she made what the bible said her top priority. She did not share the bible verse with the man named Indie.

The plane landed, not much later, and the passengers emptied into the crowded airport. Filly’s sister was waiting to give her a ride. The bible verses, and how they so correctly connected to her world, made Filly glad she could count on God…and with that, she waved at “indie” as she passed by him in the airport terminal…and mentally wished him well.