Thomas' New Horizons

The Plane

I boarded the plane, sat down, and put my flip phone on airplane mode. I wonder how long this flight will be. I don't care as to how long the flight is. I have my iPod, and I have my visual novels. Timmy and Tommy sat away from me. At least I don't have to deal with talking animals anymore!

"Hi, there!"

Me and my big mouth... I looked up, and I saw a cat standing in front of me.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked me.

"If you want to," I said. Nearly every other seat was empty. So why did that cat have to choose the one next to mine?

"Great!" he said, sitting down next to me. "I'm Rover! You know, it's been a while since I have been on a plane. I'm more of a train kind of guy. Let me tell you: the last time I travelled by plane was terrible! I sat in between two women from Albania who had terrible body odour, the kid behind me kept throwing up, the flight attendants ran out of salted peanuts and Dr. Pepper, and the in-flight movie was Biodome starring Pauly Shore! ... Huh?"

He stopped talking and noticed that I had changed seats. I just wanted some peace! So I turned on the TV.

"Hello, everyone. Thank you for taking this chartered flight as part of Nook Inc's Deserted Island Getaway Package. Please sit back, relax, and enjoy a complimentary video presentation about deserted-island life."

It was nothing but a glorified ad for Nook Inc. It was just as bad as hotel TVs. I turned it off and looked around to see who else was on this plane. Aside from Rover, Timmy, and Tommy, there was also a squirrel and a koala.

"Hey!" the squirrel said, walking up to me, "a new workout buddy! I'm Sheldon, cardio!"

"Oh, hi," I said to him, "I'm Thomas."

"Awesome!" he said, "Well, Thomas, let's not waste any time! Let's get started! We can warm up by running, cardio!"

"Um, I'm not really in the mood for a workout," I said.

Sheldon just continued to talk to himself. "Now, let's see... This plane is flying at 926 kilometres an hour. My top running speed is 32 kilometres an hour. So if I run on the plane, I'll be running at a speed of 958 kilometres an hour. I'll break a world record! I'll be the fastest squirrel alive, cardio!"

"Maybe we should start with a 'warm-up?'" I suggested, trying to get him to stop.

"Good idea!" he said, "How about some yoga or some strength training, cardio?"

He proceeded to stand in the middle of the aisle and do some yoga pose that I couldn't name for the life of me. I'm no fitness guru, after all. I hope this doesn't affect the flight attendants coming by with food and drinks. If we hit turbulence, he's getting a concussion.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to your seat?" I asked him.

"Great idea, cardio!" he said, "Chairsercise time! One, two, one, two..."

He got back in his chair and started doing God knows what. I ignored him and went back to my visual novels when the koala walked up to me.

"Excuse me," she said, "do you know what time it is, nuh uh?"

"Um..." I stammered, pulling out my flip phone.

"It's time to watch a movie!" she said, answering her question. She sat down in the seat next to me. "I'm Canberra, by the way!" She pulled out her laptop. She seemed to be like the older sister that I never had and never really wanted, but she's here now, and there's not much I can do about it. "How about Citizen Kane, nuh uh?"

"Um, sure," I said, "Is it your favourite movie?"

"Nah," she said, "I just kinda felt like it. You know the one. The man who loved his sled, Rosebud, and he-"

"Wait!" I said, interrupting her, "Rosebud was the name of his sled? Thanks a lot! I haven't seen it before!"

"Seriously, dude?" she said, looking at me unimpressed, "You're getting mad at me for spoiling a movie that's, like, 80 years old at this point? If anything, it's your fault for not taking the time to watch it! What did you think Rosebud was, nuh uh?"

"I don't know," I said sheepishly, "his wife?"

"He had two wives: Emily and Susan. Besides, what kind of a name is 'Rosebud' anyways, nuh uh?"

"Well, it still sucks that you spoiled it..." When are the flight attendants going to come by with the drinks? I wonder what their cheapest bottle of wine is? I'm going to need it... I pulled out my visual novel; Canberra looked at me.

"Whatcha playing? Is it multiplayer? A visual novel? Can I watch you? I played this game before! Are you at the part where-"

I shut it off before she could spoil that too. I ended up pulling out my iPod, trying to drown her out. She saw me.

"Oh, cool! You still have an iPod! Watcha listening to, nuh uh?"

I begrudgingly showed her my iPod, thinking that I had nothing left to lose at this point.

"Whoa!", she said surprised, "You have emo on here? I used to be such the scene kid back in the day, nuh uh!"

"Really?" I asked, intrigued.

"Yeah! I uploaded all kinds of pictures to MySpace and me and my friends spent all of our free time loitering in the mall and going to Hot Topic! I'm clean now, though! I guess my mom was right when she said it was just a phase, nuh uh..."

I laughed, and I told her about my favourite bands and how much I love the 2000s. Surprisingly, I made a friend. Even Sheldon joined in! (Even though all he talked about was elliptical machines, kickboxing, ab rolling, kettlebells, and Wii Fit...) Hmm, this might be alright!