Morning all. The danger seems to have passed, at least as far as cold vs. internet goes. We managed to spend the afternoon yesterday above freezing, even if it dipped low at night and we are on our way to above freezing again. Not entirely certain why the internet gets dicey when the temps reach single digits. I am sure there is a logical and probably insulation based reason. But for now I will just be happy things are working and let it go. So shall we set the timers and see what we make of the above sentence? Excellent, into the blank page we go.
Not where I thought this was going but I do like it. I may have to think it through over lunch.
Tuesday, February 3rd: They were upgraded to first class.
They were upgraded to first class. Cynthia checked before accepting the offer, certain there was some sort of hidden fee. There wasn’t, at least from any of the information she could find. It was a free upgrade. Wallace, Bradley and Tiffany accepted the change without question. They sailed into the first class area as though relieved someone finally recognized that they belonged there.
Cynthia followed somewhat hesitantly.
She generally believed, you received the amenities you paid for and was raised by people with a deep suspicion of anything that looked free. She was half certain that if you were to peer inside each of her parents there would be inscribed the phrase ‘no free lunch’.
‘Not as literary, but neither were royals,’ Cynthia thought as she followed the others.
It was interesting to go out with the others. Especially now. They grew up with wealth and privilege, she did not.
They lived off their families while she was informed that she needed to start making her way early and held small jobs from the first age anyone would hire her. She worked under the table in a lot of places until her age reached the acceptable hiring age.
Their families were currently suffering economic losses, their fortunes waning while hers had been on the rise and now outstripped theirs.
‘Not that I mention that,’ she thought as she looked around for her new seat.
She knew that they had to purchase the regular tickets instead of upgrading to first class. They could no longer afford to get top of the line everything and had to pick and choose. They justified it as traveling with her. They told others they didn’t want her to feel left out. She accepted it, not only because she did not feel the need to parade her finances, but more because as soon as they found out she had money she would be tapped for loans and asked to pay for more than her share of the bills.
The fact that she opted out of higher dollar adventures when she couldn’t afford them and never asked them to pay her way for anything would count for nothing. ‘I don’t see them much any more,’ she reminded herself. They grew apart after graduation and now their getaway once a year was the only time she really spent with them.
As she looked around Cynthia realized they were the only ones in first class. She found it strange even as she slipped into her seat.
“Now this is what I am talking about,” Bradley said. “Our own cabin even if we couldn’t hire a private jet because we didn’t want to insult Cynthia.”
She smiled wanly at Bradley. He was already three scotch and soda’s into his vacation mode and wouldn’t think anything of the insult even though she Saw Tiffany hiss at Bradley to ‘Stop it.’
She was smirking and Cynthia decided that this might just be the last vacation she ever took with the trio. ‘Next year I will say no.’
As the flight attendant walked by, she touched her arm. “Is there a reason the plane is so empty?”
Ten til Midnight 