A poor old woman decided to fly business class to get closer to her son. However, she faced rejection from passengers on board until they discovered her true identity. Rhea felt self-conscious. The old woman had gotten on the first plane to leave the airport that morning, and she sat in a seat in business class where the well-to-do folks stayed.
As she entered the cabin, nobody spared her a glance, but when she located her seat and sat, eyes turned towards her. The reason was simple; she stood out like a sore thumb. Where the other men and women present all wore fancy and expensive-looking clothes, Rhea wore her old, broken-in clothes — it was her best, but it looked drab compared to what the others were wearing.
The man next to her had his face completely buried in a newspaper when she sat down, so he did not quickly notice her. When he put down the issue, he looked to his side and winced at her appearance, then he signaled a flight attendant. “What is this?” he asked, pointing to Rhea. The flight attendant looked a bit mortified at the man’s tone, but after verifying the woman’s seat number, she faced the man and replied.
“This passenger took a seat according to the ticket she paid for.”The man looked like he would vomit at any minute because of Rhea’s presence, and before he even proceeded to talk, he unfolded a pristine handkerchief and used it to cover his nose. Then he said, “I don’t know what’s on her ticket, but I bought a seat in business class to get away from people like her, now it just feels like I’m in a cheap alley with homeless people.
“The altercation had gotten the attention of many in the cabin, and some seemed to be in support of the man. One plump woman bedecked from her head to her feet in jewelry piped up. “If I wanted to fly with such riff-raff, I would buy an economy class ticket,” she said, and a murmur of agreement moved through the passengers. The murmur quickly took on a life of its own and soon led to a squabble the attendant tried to quell, but the rich folks would not hear of it — the woman had to go.
“Can’t you see she doesn’t belong here?” one man said. “Is this how low this airline has fallen? How can such a person afford the bill?” another asked.”We want her gone and we want a formal apology for allowing us to come into contact with such filth,” the man beside Rhea said. He and a few other passengers were on their feet and refused to sit until they got what they wanted. Rhea sat there, listening to them arguing and trampling all over her dignity.
“I’m okay, this too shall pass,” she kept repeating under her breath like a mantra. Still, she heard how they spoke of her, and it hurt her very deeply that people could be so cruel. Before she knew it, sad tears cascaded down her slightly wrinkled cheeks. “Perhaps I’ll just leave,” Rhea thought, then started to gather her things with shaky hands.
As she stood up to go, she stumbled, and rather than catch her as instinct should have made him, the man beside her flinched away as if to avoid getting splattered with mud. Rhea fell to her knees and inadvertently spilled the contents of her purse. She started to collect her things with trembling hands, knowing she was the focus of everyone in the cabin.
An expensively dressed old lady who had been resting comfortably until the commotion woke her up stood up and went down on her knees to assist Rhea. The cabin fell silent, and the passengers were stunned when one of them handled Rhea like a human. The woman’s first purchase was a passport photo of a young boy.
“Thank you very much,” Rhea said quietly as she took it from her. “This is my son,” she murmured, still on her knees, with a sad smile. “He is the plane’s pilot.” “He must have matured into a gorgeous young man,” the wealthy old lady observed. “How could I have known? I had to give him up for adoption when he was just five years old because I couldn’t afford to care for him.” As she spoke, tears streamed down her cheeks, and the cabin fell silent.
“I’ve been hunting for him for years and have yet to find him. I recently discovered he had become a pilot, so I began searching airports for him. I found him today, but the only way I could get near to him was to board this airplane.” Rhea raised her eyes to the people surrounding her, most of whom averted their gaze ashamed, and proceeded.
“I apologize for making you all feel uneasy, but I just wanted to be as close to my son as possible, which is why I saved up my money for this opportunity. Because the business class is closer to him and I’ve never traveled before, I thought it would be a nice birthday present for me.” Many of the passengers were crying by the time she finished telling her story.
Rhea eventually got up and joined the flight attendants, who were determined to introduce her to her son. “What if he doesn’t want to see me?” she questioned, defying their persuasion. “What if he hates me because I abandoned him?” Before the flight attendant could say anything, the man who had been against her sat beside him.
“You had no choice, I believe he would understand,” he replied before ducking back behind his newspaper. He was also embarrassed. Rhea boarded the plane with the flight attendant to finally meet her son. After a while, a man’s voice could be heard on the plane. “This is the captain speaking… there is a special passenger on this flight – my mother, and today is her birthday.”
Everyone congratulated the elderly lady, and others who had previously mocked her apologized for their error. When the jet touched down, the pilot, Joseph, raced towards his mother, and Rhea finally grabbed her son again after many years apart.