Our Little Secret Ch. 02

"Nervous?" Melissa asked Joel.

"Fucking terrified," he answered tersely.

"You'll do fine," she smiled, and touched his arm gently.

"Mister Winkman," Lisa Buchannon extended her hand.

"Call me Joel," he shook her hand.

"Joel, a couple of ground rules. Nothing personal. Don't answer anything about your family, your hobbies, your religion, pets, politics, zodiac sign, what you watch on TV, anything. Okay?"

"Sure," Joel nodded.

"Second, don't answer any technical questions. You're not the pilot, but they'll ask you questions as if you are." Joel nodded. "Third, you don't speak for American Airlines. You are a guest."

"Can I praise the performance of the crew?"

"No," Lisa shook her head. "That's technical. You don't have the competence to know if a pilot performs well or not."

"Got it," Joel nodded.

"Put this in your pocket," she handed him a smooth, white oval device that looked like an elongated plastic egg. He put it in his pocket. "Feel that?" Joel jumped. The egg vibrated excitedly in his pocket. "If you feel that, that is me kicking you under the table. Stop whatever you are saying, and let me take over. No exceptions. Got it?"

"Got it," he nodded.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Terrified," he answered honestly.

"Me too," she smiled.

"Yeah, right!" he smirked sceptically.

"No, seriously," Lisa offered solemnly, "this feeling doesn't go away. It's like this before every big press conference."

"Then you're the one who needs danger pay," he half smiled.

"You're going to do fine," she smiled, and walked away. A minute or two later, Lisa Buchannon called out, "One minute, everyone. One minute." She paused, and then yelled louder "EVERYONE!" She waited until they all stopped talking. "Cell phones off, now. Right off!" Everyone pulled their cell phones off and powered them down. Joel turned both his phones right off.

The two pilots were seated stage left, and Lisa Buchannon was at the far other end. Joel was seated beside her, and the three flight attendants in the middle. Melissa was next to the co-pilot, making her the furthest flight attendant away from Joel. The room was huge, and packed. Joel guessed five hundred people easily. The lights on the stage were bright, and Joel had trouble seeing into the sea of faces and flashing cameras. He saw CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, BBC, France 24, and a host of logos he didn't recognize.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Lisa Buchannon started the press conference.

Thirty minutes into the press conference, things were going well. Lisa opened with a prepared statement, introduced everyone on the stage, and then fielded questions. She steered the questions to the participants, and rejected many questions regarding speculation about the white light. She deflected enough inappropriate questions that the press stopped asking them, which was exactly the point. Each participant had a microphone on the desk in front of them.

No questions made it to Joel, to which he was grateful. Finally, Lisa steered a question his way.

"Mister Winkman," came a question from the sea of flashing lights and faces, "did you see the object approach the aircraft?"

Joel looked at Lisa, and she nodded. "Yes," Joel spoke into the microphone. "I was seated on the left side of the plane. I could see the light approach from the front left."

"And what did it look like?"

"It was a round bright light, as bright as the sun."

"And what do you think it was?"

Lisa took a breath to intervene, but Joel beat her to it. "I can't say anything about its nature or origin, because I don't know, and I won't speculate." Lisa was looking straight ahead, but nodded slightly at hearing Joel's answer, her version of saying well done.

"Were you the first one to realize all the women were unconscious?" another question came to Joel.

"I don't know what other people thought and when," Joel answered. "It occurred to me when I started counting the unconscious bodies in the aisle, and that's when I realized every one of them was female." Lisa nodded again.

"Did you touch any women inappropriately? Someone asked.

Lisa started to intervene, but again Joel answered first. "Neither I nor anyone I saw handled any women inappropriately." Lisa nodded again, and her shoulders measurably relaxed.

"What is your job?" someone asked.

"I don't have a job. I was just fired." Lisa turned her head and looked directly at Joel in surprise. She was taken aback by his unexpected, public confession, and she missed screening the next question.

"Why were you fired?" came a question from somewhere else.

"For telling the truth." Joel visibly jumped in his seat as his left leg buzzed in vibration.

"Can you elaborate?"

"No," Lisa jumped in, "this press conference is about the flight. Next question."

"We've been told that you have had an important role to play in this flight, but we don't have any details. Can you tell us what you did on that flight?"

"I can answer that," Captain Paul Granger jumped in from the other end, leaning into his microphone. "You have to understand all three flight attendants were down, but in the cockpit, we didn't know that. We were busy checking aircraft systems, and from our perspective everything was okay. We had no idea of the seriousness of the situation in the cabin. Mr. Winkman found flight attendant Melissa Ferry unconscious and unbreathing. He applied the Heimlich maneuver to Ms. Ferry, and dislodged some food she had taken into her windpipe at the moment she lost consciousness. Mr. Winkman then used the intercom, reserved for crew only, and alerted me to the grave condition of the cabin. Had it not been for his immediate actions, we would not have declared an emergency when we did, and it might have been too late by the time we figured out what was really going on back there. Then Mister Winkman returned to administering emergency first aid to Ms. Ferry, who had taken a life threatening wound to her head. Her doctors assure me there is absolutely no chance that Melissa could have survived without Mister Winkman's swift and able intervention, and here she sits," Paul gestured to his right. Melissa frowned, which was really a suppression of her instinct to cry. Paul continued. "Then Mister Winkman organized a group of passengers, supervised by an onboard doctor, to carefully and respectfully restore all the unconscious passengers to their seats so the aisles were clear. Then he ordered a male flight attendant in training to secure the cabin so that objects would not fly about in the case of a rough landing. Remember, we had declared an emergency, and while we thought we had the aircraft under control, we were not confident of our operational status. After we landed, he alerted boarding EMTs to the situation, and they quarantined the plane."

"Isolated," Lisa corrected into her microphone.

"Sorry," Paul continued, "they isolated the plane. Then he prioritized evacuation of the most critical injuries first so they received immediate medical attention." Captain Granger sat back from his microphone.

"Mister Winkman," came another question, "do you have any experience as an EMT or a pilot?"

"No," Joel answered succinctly, "I did have CPR and first aid training."

"Joel," someone else asked, "do you think they should have cameras in the cabin so the pilots can see what's going on back there?"

Lisa was growing confident in Joel's answers, so she let him take this one. "That is a matter for the NTSB, and I won't speculate," Joel answered.

"Did you give her mouth-to-mouth?" Someone shouted abruptly.

"No," Joel answered calmly, "I performed the Heimlich maneuver on Ms. Ferry, not artificial respiration."

"Joel do you think the pilots did a good job?"

"I'm not a pilot," Joel answered, "and I'm not qualified to say what kind of job they did. I can say I am grateful we all landed safely."

"Joel," a woman reporter's voice called out, "what caused people to pass out?"

"I can't answer that because I don't know," Joel offered plainly.

"Can you tell me then," the same woman's voice called, "why only women passed out."

"I just told you I don't know what caused it. Are you sure you want that to be your follow-up question?" Joel felt his left leg vibrate.

"No," the woman called back, "I guess not. Sorry." The room fell quiet for a moment, everyone wondering if they just heard that correctly.

"Joel," a new woman's voice called out, "how did you know the flight attendant needed the Heimlich maneuver?"

"She wasn't breathing," Joel answered, and a titillating murmur rippled through the press crowd.

"No," the voice returned, "I mean what caused you to check if she was breathing in the first place. I'm guessing you didn't have time to check the breathing of all the passengers in those early moments."

"You're right," Joel nodded. "She looked odd to me. Her face was very pale, and her lips were slightly blue. When I checked her pulse, it was rapid and weak. That's when I got worried. I checked her breathing, and there was none. So then I rolled her on to her back, opened her mouth, and I saw there was a something stuck in her throat, and I followed my training."

"Joel," came a man's voice, "shouldn't you have ignored her and gone straight to the phone to call the pilots to save the whole plane?"

"I'm not going to answer that kind of moronic Monday morning quarterback question," Joel snapped. Lisa couldn't supress her smile.

There was a careful pause before the next question. The press corps started realizing Joel was not their normal interviewee, and this was a live press conference televised around the world. No reporter who liked his job wanted the man of the hour pointing out his question was moronic, and Joel had just shot down two reporters. "Joel do you think you're a hero," someone asked.

"No," Joel answered plainly. "I did what I was trained to do, and what anyone would have done in my position."

"Except no one else in a hundred other people did what you did," the same voice called back.

Joel paused. Lisa jumped in this time. "Let's keep the questions focused on the flight itself, please. Next question."

"Ms. Ferry, do you think Joel is a hero?" the same man asked.

Lisa cut off the question.

Between Joel's disciplined answers and Lisa's screening, the press were not going to get what they really wanted, and facts of the incident had been well covered already. The press conference lost energy, and Lisa closed the meeting almost an hour after it began.

They returned to the green room, away from the glare of the lights and cameras. "Just for the record," Melissa walked over to him, "you are my hero," and she kissed him gently on the cheek.

"Talk about cool under fire," Paul Granger shook Joel's hand and patted his shoulder warmly.

"And here you told me you were terrified," Lisa chimed in.

"I was," Joel admitted. "I guess ... I don't know ... I just went with my gut"

"Are you sure you'd like that to be your follow-up question" joked Gary, joining the discussion. He poised his hands in front of him, as if he was holding a shotgun, then he racked the imaginary slide with his left hand as he vocalized an accompanying sound effect. "You blew that sucker away."

"I know," flight attendant Heather spoke for the first time. "She actually apologized."

"That might have been a little over the top," Lisa touched Joel's arm lightly. "But overall, very well done."

"Over the top?" Paul challenged. "How about moronic Monday morning quarterbacking?"

"I nearly peed my pants when I heard you say that," Lisa smiled. "You have no idea how many times I wished I could answer like that." Suddenly Joel realized everyone was circled around him. He was the center of the room. It was a new experience, and not entirely unwelcome.

Lisa led Joel away to a corner of the room, and spoke quietly. "Joel," she said, "were you really just fired?"

"Yeah," Joel nodded. "My boss sent me an email while I was on that flight. I read it after we touched down in Richmond."

"You were fired by email?" she gasped. "How cold!" Joel thought he better not tell Lisa about the voice mail he left with Valerie this morning. "And what did you mean by telling the truth?" Joel explained the situation to Lisa, and she nodded. She could understand the company's perspective – Joel could have handled it better – but firing him by email seemed severe, not to mention unjustified. Lisa was no lawyer, but it sounded to her Joel's employer left themselves wide open to an unlawful dismissal suit – an opinion that she kept to herself.

Lisa had her staff vet Joel before putting him on stage, and the background check did not mention anything about Joel being fired. Lisa wanted to gauge if there had been any blowback to American Airlines by including Joel in the press conference. She didn't think so, based on Joel's account.

She started walking away. "Oh, Lisa," Joel called after her, "I have your ..." he stopped himself. He was going to say vibrator out loud as he pulled the elongated egg out of his pocket, but realized that might be taken out of context in this crowd. She had turned around to face him, and Joel closed the distance to her. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked quietly, handing it to her discretely.

"It got your attention, didn't it?" Lisa replied with a coy smile.

"You certainly do now," he grinned.

"Down, boy!" she cooed quietly, and turned and walked toward the door to leave the green room. Joel was almost certain Lisa was too much the consummate professional to have had ever used that device for anything except a wireless kick under the table, as she described it. Then again, Joel thought with a lingering smile, as he studied her firm ass walk out the door.

"She's quite the tiger," Paul interrupted Joel's thoughts.

"Sorry," Joel shook his head, "was I that transparent?"

"No," Paul sighed, "we've all been there," and they shared a chuckle. "Listen, I gotta go, but I just wanted to say how pleased I am to meet you, and how fortunate we all were to have you onboard."

"Likewise, and I mean that sincerely," Joel shook Paul's hand. Joel asked for Paul's business card, and he got one from Gary too. "I'd give you mine, but ..."

"Right," Gary laughed, "you just got fired."

Melissa was getting ready to go. She gave him another big bear hug. "Take care of yourself," Joel offered to her.

"I will," she nodded. "I have two weeks off. Doctor's orders," she pointed to the bandage on her head under her hat. She paused. "Did I see Jack Miller give you his card?"

"Yeah," Joel shrugged. "He said I should call him and he'd set me up with frequent flyers. I think he was just being nice," Joel ventured.

"No," Melissa shook her head. "I've met him. He means it. Call him."

"You met him?"

"He flies business class when he doesn't take his own jet. We've met a few times. He even remembered my name."

"Honey," Joel smiled, "every man with a pulse is going to remember your name."

"You're sweet," she kissed him gently on the cheek. "I'm serious. Call him. And take care."

She and the other flight attendants were leaving, so Joel left with them. They caught the shuttle bus to the hotel together, along with Anna, Melissa's sister who was waiting for them on the shuttle bus.

"Joel," Anna enthused once they were seated, "you were awesome! You were so articulate and confident."

"Funny," Joel grimaced sideways, "because I was terrified the whole time." He turned to Claire. "How is the arm?"

"A hairline fracture," Claire replied, "and a sprain. They think three weeks in a cast." Joel thought that strange, as the retired surgeon onboard said it was an obvious break.

"I like how you called that reporter a moron," Anna laughed.

"And that woman who said sorry," Heather piped up.

"Well, this was my first press conference ever," Joel shrugged. "I guess I didn't know what to expect."

"You certainly seem to do well under pressure," Melissa's eyes sparkled at him. Joel was wondering if he was reading the signals properly.

"So what now for you?" Anna asked.

"I'm not sure if they're done with me here, but when they are, I'll go home, I guess," Joel answered uncertainly. "Find a new job."

"And a new wife," Anna grinned. More signals Joel was trying to decipher.

"Well, we need to start sorting this separation thing out first," Joel took in a deep breath. "I don't think I'll be looking any time soon."

"You mean ... Joel!" Anna nearly cried. "You just found out?"

That's one way of putting it. Joel nodded. "This has been by far the biggest trip of my life."

"When?" asked Melissa.

"This morning, just before I met up with you in the lobby."

"Oh my God, Joel!" Anna exclaimed. "You mean on the phone?! What a cold, heartless bitch! And you still went through with the press conference."

"Yeah," Joel nodded. "I guess it just hasn't sunk in yet. I think I'll go back to my room and it'll hit me then,"

"Awwww," was a universal chorus from all four girls with puppy sad eyes.

They stepped off the bus and entered the hotel lobby. Claire and Heather said they had to pack up and head to the airport for a flight to Philadelphia, so they said their goodbyes and went to the elevator. Melissa checked her phone. As she did, Joel realized he hadn't turned his phones his back on yet. He decided to wait until he got to his room before checking for messages. Melissa read a message on her smartphone, and then said to Anna "The NTSB wants to see me about something. Shouldn't take long. Meet you in the restaurant for lunch?"

"Sure," Anna nodded. Melissa said goodbye again to Joel, walked past the elevators, and took the stairs to the second floor.

"Well Joel," Anna held out her hand, with a distant, cold tone "it was nice meeting you." Joel shook her hand, realizing he had misread any signals in the van. "And good luck with ... with everything."

"You too," Joel offered, not surprised this was the end. After all, Joel never considered himself a ladies' man, and few ladies would argue.

"And don't ... I don't know," Anna uncomfortably offered some version of solace, "... don't get too ... too depressed in your room up there."

"Well come on up sometime after lunch and check up on me. I'm in 723," Joel smiled. He had nothing to lose, and it was mostly a joke anyway, like you kiss me in front of all those cameras.

She narrowed her eyes and regarded him with a darkened expression, and then Anna turned and walked away without saying a word. Joel watched her long flowing white dress as she walked toward the restaurant. He turned toward the elevator, and called for the next car.

In his room, Joel first turned on his personal phone. There was no message from Valerie. It was 11:30. Joel wasn't sure what the proper etiquette was after you left a voice mail with your wife that you wanted to end the marriage. He decided to give her until the end of the day – about five – and then call again. Out of curiosity, he turned on his work phone too. It seemed to still be working.

On the off chance the NTSB was finished with him, Joel decided to pack up his things, and if he got the all clear, he would head to the airport and fly home. First, he decided to order some room service before the lunch rush began. He didn't want to go down to the restaurant and create an awkward moment, should he be seated beside Melissa and Anna. He ordered a chicken Caesar salad – he was not a big lunch eater.

It took nearly an hour for his salad to arrive, and by that time Joel was getting quite hungry, and wished he had ordered something more substantive. But the salad came with a two thick slices of garlic toast, which was all he needed to fill the void. At 1:15 Joel was packed and ready to go. He decided to walk down to the NTSB interview rooms and ask if he could go home. Just then his work cell phone rang. He didn't recognize the number or the name, but he answered.