Veronica Lake
September 12th, 2012
7th hour
My whole life I promised myself I would never get on a plane. That is undoubtedly the
reason I’ve never been anywhere fun. The problem with not getting on a plane is staying in
Missouri. Missouri is one of the most boring places perhaps in the whole universe. Anything
that could be justified as fun is way too expensive. When you don’t have money, you’re stuck
with being bored all the time. transitionThe year I became a freshman, my father got this
girlfriend. Her name is Brenda. Because she is from California my father promised to take my
sister Alaina and me there on vacation. Each summer he would randomly say we were going to
go, we never did. So when my senior summer break began, and my father said we were going to
California I didn’t believe him. Something different happened, he mentioned it again, and then
again, and then finally one day he set a date.
This year I knew would be different. After skating by and not having to worry about
getting on a plane, being forced to confront my worst fear, I tried to come up with an escape
plane. Why couldn’t we just go cross country and drive there! I told my father the idea and he
instantly shot me down. “I want you to go but if you’re won’t get on the plane you’re not going,
I will not drive all the way there.” I was in despair. I wanted to be anywhere outside or Missouri,
but getting on a plane… I didn’t know which would be more essential.
As the days past, Alaina and Brenda tried to convince me to just get over my fear and
go. I told them “The only way I’m going is if I’m knocked out for the entire trip. I don’t want to
wake in the middle of the flight and lose my mind.” At first Brenda didn’t take me seriously but
Alaina knew I wasn’t messing around. Alaina has seen me all the way on top of the stairs for a
six flags water slide. It’s not pretty. nice detail Brenda needed more of an explanation so I
painted her the picture. write this as dialogue?
Me, all the way on top of a rickety staircase shaking like a fish, flipping out if I feel the
thing shake or if anyone touches me “Don’t! Don’t touch me!” Why do I go to the top of the
water slide you ask? I like roller coasters and the benefit I get from actually being on the ride is
a great reward for climbing all those stairs. Of course being in California would be awesome,
but I didn’t think it would justify being 10,000ft in the air for 3 hours.
Brenda finally realized I was not joking and promised I would have some happy pills for
the ride I agreed on that condition only. The days grew closer and I kept telling my father I RO
needed to go to the doctor and get them prescribed to me. Never once did we go, when the
week finally showed up I didn’t have my happy pills. I was extremely mad, why would you tell
me one thing when you knew good and well it wasn’t happening. My father used the excuse
that he had already bought my plane ticket, no matter what I had to go because they were not
refundable. I wasn’t going, just thinking about being on the plane made me shake how would it
be if they actually made me get on. I wasn’t going.<--NICE TRANSITION
I went. My father pushed me into going and promised it wasn’t as bad as I thought it
would be. Yeah right. You know when people complain about having to go though the metal
detectors and all that? Well it isn’t that bad. No one groped me or anything. I honestly wished it
was one of those days where there was a long line; it would have given me more time to not
think about it. After we got to our boarding location I sat there just waiting shaking. I hated
them how dare they make me do this. Our flight was called and we got up to stand in line. One
Veronica Lake
September 12th, 2012
7th hour
of the bad things about not getting your ticket early is getting put in the last section of group C.
Which means your group is the last to get on the plane. Guess who had group C.
When getting on the plane my father says “Touch the outside of the plane, it’s was good
luck” I looked up at him with wide eyes “Really?” he said “no but I like to.” My heart dropped
and I gave him the stair. “Why couldn’t you just lie?” I still touched the outside in hopes that if I
wished hard enough we would crash and burn. As we got on the plane I could see that there
were no seats together. This was going to suck for someone else, actually two other people, I
was put in the middle of two men I didn’t know. When it occurred to me that my dad wouldn’t
even be sitting next to me when our plane would begin to free fall, I started to cry…we weren’t
even off the ground yet. Instantly the men beside me were trying to make me feel better and
my father who did get a seat right in front of me put his hands all the way behind him to hold
mine.
This whole time my dad was making fun of me about being scared but when the time
came he was the one who really made me feel better. The men beside me kept talking about
being on a plane, and how it was fun and it’s so much different than just being up high. Sure.
The plane began to move and my heart sank it also stated to do flips and tighten inside me. The
lights dimmed and the men kept talking. I wanted to be left alone. Kind of like me not wanting
to be touched when on the rickety stairs, I didn’t want to be told that everything was ok. In my
mind I could just see us falling 300miles an hour, and a fire seen on the news the next day.
Added to my fear of heights I also am a tad claustrophobic. I can’t do tight spaces, and I was in
the middle of two complete strangers. My hands began to sweat but my dad still sat
uncomfortably holding my hands. When the plane began to lift off I let out a little cry, he
squeezed tighter and turned around to wink at me. For some reason that made me feel a
better. Doesn’t mean I stopped crying.
I finally let go of my dad’s hands when the seat belt light was shut off. The guy to my
right smiled and said “you did great” I laugh at that, when I went to the rest room to clean my
face I could tell I didn’t do great. I had mascara running down my face and everything else was
smudged. Now that we were all the way up here and I couldn’t do anything about it I didn’t
mind it so much.
My dad always says if you can’t change something don’t let it bother you. The rest of the
flight to California went well. No message to the passengers about how the engines failed and
we were going to do an emergency landing. Turbulence wasn’t bad (the plane ride home had
way more and I actually enjoyed that). The guy next to me even traded seats so I could sit next
to the window. He told me “landing in LA at night is a sight you can’t miss and landing is the
best part anyway.” He was so right. L.A. is beautiful at night, the lights go on forever, and as you
get closer to the ground you try and get a look at as much as possible, if I was up there for the
rest of the night I’d want to stay.
In California we went to so many fun things, because we were staying with Brenda’s family, we
didn’t have to spend money on a hotel and could do more with our time. We went to Disney
world, a couple of fairs and the salsa parade. The beach and the Fashion District were my
favorite parts of California. Of course, this was my first time ever seeing the ocean I was in awe;
it seems to go on forever. The fashion district has what every girl needs; cloths, shoes and
purses. My father was nice enough to give my sister and me each $80 to spend on anything we
Veronica Lake
September 12th, 2012
7th hour
wanted. I got five different things for $15 at the Fashion District I honestly could have my whole
vacation there. California was definitely worth the plane ride. By the end of our stay I was
actually looking forward to getting on the plane for the way back.
Veronica: Some vivid moments here and playful voice carries you. Keep playing with the
organization and selection of details to make this a masterpiece. Remember the why things
happened isn’t important, it’s the how. Everything leading up to the moment of panic before
takeoff should simply be there to add suspense. Then dwell on this moment. The 6 Flags
incident provides a nice comparison and COULD be a key to organization. Start w/ the slide.
Move to boarding the plane. Show the difference. Oh, even if the next moment the plane had
burst into flames, the moment you look at LA and decide you would stay up there forever
looking down, your story has ended.