nacelles and fairings
Driving back from Diane’s parents’ house in Lewisville last night, Luke was sitting in the back seat of the Saturn. The sky outside was dark and I had the radio tuned to the classical station, but turned down low. He was talking to himself about something or other, and I was thinking about the day and the remainder of the evening ahead. Already in a relaxed frame of mind on account of the night driving, the radio caught my attention–but not because of anything in particular that was spoken or any music that was played. The hour had just begun and the NPR news was on. After the anchor finished the news, the DJ (if you can even call them that at a classic station) talked a bit. I had the radio turned down just far enough to be able to pick out the “tops” of their speech, if that makes sense. I could make out the “s” and the “sh” sounds and a few of the lower tones, enough to determine the general cadence of what was said, but I couldn’t understand any of it outright. It felt like I was skimming across the surface of conversation, and the words became a prolonged sound effect, an accompaniment to a frame of mind.
What it reminded me of, after all, was trips to and from Europe on the 767. I never figured out whether what I’m about to describe was just in my mind (doubtful) or had some basis in reality (more likely), but when the in-flight film was being shown, the passengers had the option of listening to it by donning their headphones and tuning the armrest to the correct channel so they could hear the movie. Most of the movies they showed were over my head as a pre-teen, so I rarely put on the headphones to listen. However, the airplane had an in-flight speaker system, the one the pilots use to communicate with the passengers, and I remember the movie sounds emanating from those speakers at the same level and with the same quality as the radio in the car last night–just a series of random “s”, “sh” and “sp” sounds. If the ambient noise in the plane had been less, chances are the sound would have been clear, but the low roar of the wind and engines covered over all the sound except for that top layer. As I said, I never determined whether the sound actually was coming from the PA system speakers or it was just my imagination. Come to think of it, another passenger or passengers in seats around my own probably had their headphones turned up to excess. That’s probably where the sound came from.
In any case, the drive home last night, by virtue of that common element, appropriated much of the same mood as those plane trips, with a dash of nostalgia to boot. I remembered elation, excitement, anticipation, desire for the plane ride to last that much longer (though for most folks they can hardly end soon enough), nervousness about the environment in which we would land no matter which direction we were crossing the Atlantic, and a host of other feelings.
It’s been a long time.