Free The Best of Connie Willis by Connie Willis Page A

hours but watch Lissa and Neil and listen to Zoe.
    I consider cheerier possibilities. “What if we’re not going to Cairo?” I say. “What if we’re dead?”
    Zoe looks up from her guidebook, irritated.
    “There’ve been a lot of terrorist bombings lately, and this is the Middle East,” I go on. “What if that last air pocket was really a bomb? What if it blew us apart, and right now we’re drifting down over the Aegean Sea in little pieces?”
    “Mediterranean,” Zoe says. “We’ve already flown over Crete.”
    “How do you know that?” I ask. “Look out the window.” I point out Lissa’s window at the white flatness beyond. “You can’t see the water. We could be anywhere. Or nowhere.”
    Neil comes back with the water. He hands it and my aspirin to Lissa.
    “They check the planes for bombs, don’t they?” Lissa asks him. “Don’t they use metal detectors and things?”
    “I saw this movie once,” I say, “where the people were all dead, only they didn’t know it. They were on a ship, and they thought they were going to America. There was so much fog they couldn’t see the water.”
    Lissa looks anxiously out the window.
    “It looked just like a real ship, but little by little they began to notice small things that weren’t quite right. There were hardly any people on board, and no crew at all.”
    “Stewardess!” Lissa’s husband calls, leaning over Zoe into the aisle. “I need another ouzo.”
    His shouting wakes Zoe’s husband up. He blinks at Zoe, confused that she is not reading from her guidebook. “What’s going on?” he asks.
    “We’re all dead,” I say. “We were killed by Arab terrorists. We think we’re going to Cairo but we’re really going to heaven. Or hell.”
    Lissa, looking out the window, says, “There’s so much fog I can’t see the wing.” She looks frightenedly at Neil. “What if something’s happened to the wing?”
    “We’re just going through a cloud,” Neil says. “We’re probably beginning our descent into Cairo.”
    “The sky was perfectly clear,” I say, “and then all of a sudden we were in the fog. The people on the ship noticed the fog, too. They noticedthat there weren’t any running lights. And they couldn’t find the crew.” I smile at Lissa. “Have you noticed the turbulence stopped all of a sudden? Right after we hit that air pocket. And why—?”
    A flight attendant comes out of the cockpit and down the aisle to us, carrying a drink. Everyone looks relieved, and Zoe opens her guidebook and begins thumbing through it, looking for fascinating facts.
    “Did someone here want an ouzo?” the flight attendant asks.
    “Here,” Lissa’s husband says, reaching for it.
    “How long before we get to Cairo?” I say.
    She starts toward the back of the plane without answering. I unbuckle my seat belt and follow her. “When will we get to Cairo?” I ask her.
    She turns, smiling, but she is still pale and scared-looking. “Did you want another drink, ma’am? Ouzo? Coffee?”
    “Why did the turbulence stop?” I say. “How long till we get to Cairo?”
    “You need to take your seat,” she says, pointing to the seat belt sign. “We’re beginning our descent. We’ll be at our destination in another twenty minutes.” She bends over the Japanese tour group and tells them to bring their seat backs to the upright position.
    “What destination? Our descent to where? We aren’t beginning any descent. The seat belt sign is still off,” I say, and it bings on.
    I go back to my seat. Zoe’s husband is already asleep again. Zoe is reading out loud from
Egypt Made Easy
. “ ‘The visitor should take precautions before traveling in Egypt. A map is essential, and a flashlight is needed for many of the sites.’ ”
    Lissa has gotten her bag out from under the seat. She puts my
Death on the Nile
in it and gets out her sunglasses. I look past her and out the window at the white flatness where the wing should be. We should be able