unusual sight

Grace and I are on the plane waiting awaiting our departure to from New York to North Carolina.  Grace is in the window seat, checking out the tarmac scene. I’ve pulled out my book, Chirp, by Kate Messner.  I turn the first page, I’m pulled into the story immediately.  Mia and her parents are moving from Boston to Vermont, a place I know fairly well.

Grace’s jerks me off the pages.

“Mom.”   She whips around.  Her long curls brush my cheek. I lift my head out of my book and look out the window.

At first glance all I see is the wing, the pavement, and some luggage movers.  I know I’m not seeing what she wants me to see.

She senses my blindness and whips back at me again. “Push-ups.”

Huh?  I look again.  I look beyond the wing, the pavement, and luggage movers.  Then I see what Graces has seen.

There, on the tarmac, beside a luggage mover, just beyond the tip of our wing is a Delta employee. He’s all dressed in his warm weather gear and sturdy boots.  His body is like board, straight and strong.  His form is impeccable given all the layers he is donning.  We count, 12, 13, 14.

We watch a man on the tarmac doing push ups.