Wings of Ice

Wings of Ice

         The plane shook from the turbulence as one of the engines gave out. My six-year-old daughter, Sarah, woke up and looked around. "Mommy, are we there yet?"

         "No, honey, go back to sleep." The captain had made an announcement earlier that they were experiencing engine trouble, but everything would be all right. I didn't want Sarah to worry so I softly hummed to her.

         "Attention! This is the Captain speaking," said a voice over the loud speakers, "We are going to attempt to land at the Greenwood military base. Our wings are freezing up in this unexpected snowstorm, and there is a chance that we may have a hard landing. Please review your safety instructions, which can be found in the pocket of the seat in front of you. We'll give further instructions when we know more. Attention, s'il vous plait. . ."

         Great, and this started out to be a simple trip home to visit my mother.

* * * * * * * *

         I was looking forward to visiting my mother for Christmas. Since my husband left me, I did not want to spending the holidays alone. Sure, I had my daughter with me, but it just wasn't the same. I packed in the morning and was all ready for our afternoon flight, when my daughter informed me that it was snowing. It was a major snowstorm.

         I called the airport and found that the flights had been canceled, and they had me on a waiting list. Once the snow let up, they would call me.

         At 5:30 P.M. I got tired of waiting and got supper ready. We had just settled down to eat when the phone rang. The storm had died down, and a flight would be leaving for Halifax in two hours. If I wanted to catch the flight, I had to be at the airport in half an hour.

         I hung up the phone, ate as quickly as I could, and tried to get Sarah ready to go. She was as tired and cranky as usual at this time of day, and by the time we were ready to go, it was time for us to be at the airport. I drove as quickly as I could, but the snowplow had not cleaned this end of town yet, and it was hard going. When I hit the downtown area, the streets were clean, and I sped up in order to make up for lost time. There was not much traffic, so I ran a red light. Wouldn't you know it? There's always a cop around when you don't want one.

         I was a half hour late when I finally reached the airport, but it was still an hour before the plane was scheduled to leave. I quickly headed to my terminal and asked if there was still room on the flight. I was informed that the plane was full, but it was delayed so that the wings could be deiced. If I was willing to wait, someone might drop out and leave me a seat.

         So I waited. Sarah played, slept, cried, hollered, whined, and ran around bothering the other passengers. It was a long wait.

         A couple of seats became available but there were further delays: changing weather patterns, engine repairs, a change of the crew. It was 3:00 A.M. before we boarded the plane, and a half-hour later before we took off.

* * * * * * * *

         Now it was 4:00 a.m., and the plane was no longer going to Halifax. It looked like we were going to spend Christmas in a strange town far from friends and family.

         "Don't worry. Everything is going to be fine." The young man from the seat in front of us was leaning over the seat and talking to my daughter. Earlier, I overheard him say he was a divinity student on his way home for Christmas. He had a kind, friendly voice and I'm sure he would make an excellent minister someday.

         "How do you expect me to sleep with all this racket?" an elderly voice came from behind me. The man had done nothing but complain since he got on board. He complained to his wife, to the flight attendants, to my daughter for asking so many questions, and to me for having such a talkative child. I was glad when he finally went to sleep. "Miriam, get me a glass of water. I'm thirsty."

         "Yes dear," said the elderly lady who had the unfortunate fate of being married to the grumpy old man. She got up from her seat, and headed toward the dividing curtain toward the front of the plane.

         "Excuse me, Mrs.," said a flight attendant standing near the curtain. "You should be in your seat while the plane is experiencing turbulence."

         "I'm sorry, but my . . ." The elderly lady never finished her sentence. The whole cabin rocked as one of the engines exploded.

         The young man who was talking to my daughter was thrown from his seat, as the plane dipped to the left and began to take a nose dive.

         Passengers screamed in panic as the captain called for everyone to prepare for a crash landing. I made sure my daughter was in position and prayed that we would land safely.

* * * * * * * *

         The rest of the landing was a confusion of sights and sounds. I felt the thump as we touched down, and again as we hit harder. I heard the scrape of steel on concrete, and the sound of sirens coming closer. I felt myself being lifted into the air and thought I was on my way to heaven, until I came crashing back to earth. I could hear my daughter crying in the distance and suddenly she was in my arms. I held her tightly for a long time.

* * * * * * * *

         Although many passengers were injured, only three were killed. A flight attendant and two passengers. One of them was the grumpy old man's wife and the other was the divinity student.

         My daughter once asked me why that nice young man had to go to heaven. I didn't know. Maybe God needed him there more than he was needed on earth. Some people die and some people live. It doesn't matter how good you are. When it's your time to go, you go. I was just glad it wasn't Sarah's time.

         "Mommy, promise you won't leave me."

         "Never, Honey, we'll be together always." I hugged her and put her to bed in the hotel room that the airline gave us.

         The next day, we got up late and took the bus to Halifax. We reached my mother's house by suppertime and managed to have Christmas together after all.

         Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if we had not been on that plane. Would the young man have stayed in his seat? Would the Old man have slept and not asked his wife for a glass of water? Was God warning me not to get on the plane by causing so many things to go wrong that day? I'll never know. I'm just glad that my daughter survived to see another Christmas. Praise the Lord!