“I understand that,” I said. “But you’re taking up part of 24B too.”
She finally looked at Grandma.
“So?”
I stared at her.
“So my grandmother needs to sit down.”
The woman rolled her eyes.
“I paid for my seat. If she needs extra space, maybe she should have bought first class.”
Grandma tugged gently on my sleeve.
“Rebecca, sweetheart, don’t make trouble. I can manage.”
“No, Grandma.”
I turned back to the woman.
“She paid for an entire seat too.”
The man in the aisle seat suddenly became extremely interested in the overhead compartment.
The woman returned to scrolling through her phone.
“I’m not moving.”
My patience disappeared.
I pressed the flight-attendant button.
The woman sighed dramatically.
“I don’t care what you need. Stop bothering me.”
“My grandmother has arthritis,” I said. “She cannot sit sideways for three hours because you refuse to respect the space she paid for.”
“I like the armrest up,” she replied. “And I’m not putting it down.”
Grandma gave me the look she always used when she thought I was about to lose my temper.
A flight attendant soon approached.
Her name tag read Cheryl.
She took one glance at Grandma’s cane, then at the raised armrest, and immediately understood.
“What seems to be the problem?”
“This passenger is using part of my grandmother’s assigned seat.”
Cheryl nodded.
Then she turned to the woman.
“Ma’am, could you please move closer to the window so the passenger in the middle seat can sit comfortably?”
The woman’s face twisted.
“Why should I be punished because some old woman decided to travel?”
Several nearby passengers turned around.
I couldn’t believe what I had heard.
Grandma’s hand tightened around mine.
“You owe my grandmother an apology,” I snapped.
The woman laughed.
“For what? I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.”
Grandma flinched.
That hurt me more than anything else.
I looked directly at the woman.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone this miserable.”
She shrugged.
NEXT PAGE
