When a poor man turned forty-four, he decided to sell everything and go on a big adventure. All he wants is peace and a sunny place!
But, no matter how beautiful a man's plans may be, a woman will always have the power to turn them upside down.
The...
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We all perk up our ears.
"Are you sure, Eva?" I ask. "Absolutely sure? Look, the moment has arrived, and nothing has happened. What kind of German calculation did you do? Are you sure you calculated correctly?"
The three of us are in the back, at the tail of the plane.
"I'm not sure. It depends on how much fuel the aircraft had," the girl responds after thinking for a moment. "Anyway, it seems our arrival time has passed. By four minutes."
"That means we should be seeing the coast of Malaysia. It would be logical to see the coast. I stand up cautiously and look through each window one by one, first on the left and then on the right. Nothing. Blue water everywhere. I go to the front. From the cockpit, the same endless blue expanse is visible. The girl comes next to me.
"Tell me honestly," I ask, "did you mess around with the controls? Did you touch them? Did you blow on them?"
"I didn't touch anything," the girl responds a bit annoyed and points to the dashboard. "Of all that's here, I only touched the headphones and the microphone. I only adjusted the radio."
"Then I don't understand anything anymore!" I grumble angrily. "This autopilot should have taken us straight to Kelantan. Where the hell is Kelantan?"
I glance at the dashboard clocks and see that we have the same speed and altitude. Nothing has changed.
"Eva, do you have any idea where the fuel gauge is? How much fuel do we have left?"
"I don't know," she responds thoughtfully. "I can't tell."
"It would be interesting to know what each lever indicates. I wonder if this aircraft control works the same as a car's steering wheel. Like, 'Turn right, go right'? And what are these small, colorful, crooked levers for?"
"I think you should just leave them as they are."
"But I'm not touching them. I was just asking. Look, this button, for example, seems to be placed here specifically to be pressed. It's bigger. It must be important. What does 'PTRW' mean? Probably, if we press..."
"Probably, we'll both get out of here and head straight to the queue. Right now!"
"But why are you so agitated?" I say surprised. "It doesn't hurt to experiment a little, does it?"
"Leave the buttons as they are. Come on! Now!"
The girl grabs my arm and pulls me like an enthusiastic German policeman. Halfway there, I stop abruptly.
"Come on!"
"Be quiet for a moment!" I shout, frightened. "Listen!"
I raise a finger, then slowly turn to the nearest window. The right engine hums somewhat strangely. I analyze the propeller for a while. It spins. Still.
