He did a little salute, and after she got out, he drove off.

Elizabeth knew it was neurotic, but she opened her bag and checked her ticket was still in it. It had only been a few minutes since she’d last checked it, riding in the car. The ticket was still there, seat 23B on the 3.45pm flight to Glasgow. As she walked into the terminal, Elizabeth glanced at her watch. She had just enough time to check in.

The staff in the airport were very helpful. It had been a long time since Elizabeth had last flown and Gatwick was unrecognisable. It seemed like there was always someone standing in precisely the right spot to point you in the right direction. British Airways staff, in their smart new-looking blue uniforms, saw her through the check-in process, scanned her bag, guided her through a metal detector, and then led her and a few others out to the plane.

It was a small aircraft. Elizabeth didn’t know if ‘charter plane’ was the correct term seeing as it was a BA aeroplane, but there was no boarding jetty. They had to walk across the tarmac then climb up the steps.

The plane was quite full when Elizabeth got on. There were a few empty seats, but they were dotted about. Elizabeth had booked a window seat, and between her and the aisle was a young woman and a little boy. Elizabeth groaned inside her head when she saw she’d be sitting next to the child. He was standing up, looking over the top of the seat in front, or looking out the window.

“Let the lady past. Sit down,” the mother said.

Elizabeth smiled graciously. “Thank you.”

When the pilot announced they were ready to take off the boy finally sat down and put his seat belt on.

The stewards and stewardesses came through the plane together and took their seats. Then the engines started up.

The boy strained in his seat belt.

“Sit down!” his mother said, grabbing him.

“I can’t see! I can’t see!”

“There’s nothing to see. Sit still.”

The boy slumped in his seat crossly. A moment later he was leaning over Elizabeth, trying to see out the window.

“Timothy, stop it!” the woman snapped.

“I don’t want to miss the bit when we take off.”

The woman gave Elizabeth an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry.”

Elizabeth waved her hand. She looked out the window. The plane was rolling onto the runway.

Still the boy leaned over her.

“I am going to give you such a slap!” his mother said.

Finally the boy sat still. He folded his arms and stared straight ahead and looked like he was about to cry.

Elizabeth felt distinctly uncomfortable.

“Is this your first time on a plane?” she asked.

The boy looked at her and nodded.

“How old are you?”

“I’m eight.”

“Eight? Wow. I didn’t go on a plane until I was twenty. That’s more than twice as old as you are now.”

“I know.”

The plane was picking up speed.

“Where are you going?” Elizabeth asked.

The boy looked to his mother. “Where are we going?”

“Scotland,” she replied.

“We’re going to Scotland,” the boy said proudly. “That’s where my brother lives now. He goes to school there.”

“University,” his mother corrected.

“It’s a lovely place,” Elizabeth said.

“It’s another country,” the boy told her.

“I know.”

The boy glared at his mother. “I want to see the sea!”

“We’re not flying over the sea,” she replied.

“Then how can it be another country?”

The plane was really going quite fast now. Elizabeth could feel the slight vibration through her seat.

“Are you going all the way?” the boy asked.

“What? To Scotland? Yes,” Elizabeth said.

“The plane doesn’t stop anywhere else,” his mother said. “I keep telling you.”

“But what about the people who don’t want to go to the same place as us.”

“Then they catch another plane.”

“They should have bells like on the bus.”

Elizabeth laughed.

The plane was airborne. The little boy didn’t seem to have noticed. He was fiddling with the in-flight magazine and pamphlets in the netted sheath on the back of the seat in front.

“Why are you sitting on your own?” he asked, suddenly getting bored of the magazine and turning to Elizabeth.

“Timothy, don’t be rude!” his mother hissed.

Elizabeth smiled. “But I’m not sitting on my own. I’m sitting with you.”

The boy, Timothy, shook his head. “No. I’m not sitting with you. I’m sitting with my mum.”

Elizabeth glanced out the window. They were several hundred feet up and climbing.

“Where’s your husband?” Timothy asked.

“Don’t be personal, Timothy,” his mother said.

“I don’t have a husband,” said Elizabeth.

“So you don’t have any kids, then?” Timothy said.

Elizabeth shook her head. “No. But I have a nephew who’s just a bit older than you. I should be seeing him later.”

“What’s his name?”

“He’s called Thomas.”

“I have a friend called Thomas.”

“Yes. It’s a common name.”

Elizabeth saw the stewards and stewardesses get up. A few moments later the pilot announced they were now at cruising altitude and passengers could remove their seat belts.

Timothy undid his and leapt up instantly.

“No, Timothy, sit down,” his mother said.

“We’re flying! We’re flying!”

The boy promptly started leaning over Elizabeth even more now, trying to see out the window. Elizabeth saw people on the other side of the aisle roll their eyes and give her sympathetic looks.

“Timothy, sit down!” his mother snapped. “Sit down and put your seat belt on!”

She grabbed at him but he struggled. “Other people are standing up. Why can’t I?”

“Because I’ll give you a slap if you don’t sit down!”

Elizabeth glanced at her watch. Only another couple of hours of this to go before they were back on solid ground.

She tapped Timothy, who was facing away from her, struggling with his mother, firmly on the shoulder. He turned round. His mother pulled him into his seat.

Elizabeth leaned in. “How about I give you a special treat? If you do what your mum asks and sit quietly for the rest of the journey, I’ll let you have this.”

Then she held up the pound coin she’d just taken from her purse.

“A whole pound?” Timothy was awestruck.

Elizabeth nodded. “Only if you’re good.”

“No, he doesn’t deserve it,” his mother said.

Suddenly he was on his feet again, fighting her grip on him and moaning loudly.

“Well, you’re certainly not going to get it behaving like this,” she said eventually.

He stopped struggling. “So I can have it?”

She looked at Elizabeth, who nodded behind Timothy’s back. “Yes, but only if the lady thinks you deserve it.”

Timothy sat down in his seat immediately, put his seat belt on and didn’t say anything for almost two hours.

Elizabeth eventually managed to drift off, waking only when she felt a gentle tug on her sleeve.

She opened her eyes to find Timothy looking at the safety leaflet, which he’d obviously fished out of the netted sheath on the back of the seat in front. His mother had also fallen asleep. Her bottom lip hung open.

“If we’re not flying over the sea,” Timothy whispered, “why are the people in the pictures wearing lifejackets?”

Elizabeth smiled. Just like a young Robert, she thought.

The stewards and stewardesses finally stopped delivering drinks and then the pilot announced they would shortly be landing in Glasgow. Timothy shook his mother gently.

“You’ve got to put your seat belt on, Mum,” he said.

She smiled at Elizabeth, blinking the sleep out of her eyes.

The landing was swift and straightforward and before Elizabeth knew it, the doors were open. Fresh air filled the cabin. She looked out the window. The late afternoon sun was beginning to droop toward the horizon.

“Can I have my pound now?” Timothy asked.

Elizabeth smiled. “Because you’ve been good.”

Then she gave him the coin and headed off the plane.

NOTES:
The reason I picked Glasgow as a destination is because I wanted the pound coin to travel as far as possible across the British Isles and it was already three o'clock and it hadn't got far outside London yet. So I catapulted it right to the other end of the country in the space of one chapter. On the surface Elizabeth's encounter with Timothy might just seem like killing time to account for their journey, but note that she does tell him some important details about herself that factor in later.