American Vacanza

breaking the speed record (or, it feels like it) • madison

"All right, Siena," I told her,  "Take out that little pink piece of paper and call the number on it." It's time.

It felt so exciting. It felt so intense. Like I was in a war movie, and I was giving someone the nuclear launch codes. Like I was delivering the big, climactic twist that would change the plot of my life. And it was true; if this trip was a movie, or a book, we'd just about be getting to the climax right now.

"All right," she replied, pulling out her phone and the sheet of paper. With each time she tapped the screen, I felt a little shock go through my body. This was it. Tomorrow, we'd be relaxing in sunny Capri, maybe drinking a lemonade or eating some gelato.

"Oh, and put it on speaker!" I add.

Her phone rang and rang, until I was scared that the pilot, Jake, wasn't going to pick up, but he picked up on the last ring. "Girls!" he said. "You made it, huh?"

"That we did, Jake," I replied. "We're in New Jersey now. Do you think you could come prep the plane?"

His voice dropped an octave. "Uh, I don't know if I can do that for you girls. I've been up all day and a redeye flight might be impossible for me right now. I'll tell you what. I've got a friend, Moe, who does these all the time. I'll call the crew and tell them to get the jet ready, and I'll give you Moe's number. If he doesn't say yes, I'll do it."

"All right," I said. "Thanks, Jake."

"You got it." He hung up.

"Here's Moe's number," Siena said. "He texted it to me." With a swift tap, we were calling Moe, a man we'd never met before, to ask him to fly us to Italy.

The phone rang and rang until a gruff, sandpapery voice picked up. "Hello?"

"Hi," I said, using my most sophisticated voice. "I'm looking for a Moe...?"

"Hartmann," Siena added, looking at the text from Jake.

"Hartmann? Moe Hartmann?" I chirp into the reciever.

"This is he," he confirmed.

"Hi, my name is Madison Ray. I got your name from Jake Rodriguez. You're a pilot, correct?"

"A friend of Jake's?" His voice seemed to get a little lighter. "Well, any friend of Jake's is a friend of mine. Tell me, Madelyn, what can I do for you?"

Normally, I would've corrected him, but we needed a favor. "So, we have plans to fly to Italy in two hours on my dad's jet, which is at the Kennedy airport. Jake was originally going to fly us, but he said that he wasn't counting on it being overnight. He's tired, and it wouldn't be safe, so he told us to call you."

"Your dad's jet? Well. Jake certainly knows who to call. I specialize in private jets, especially redeye flights. Why, just last week I shuttled Beyonce to her penthouse in Paris. Where in Italy are ya lookin' to go today, young lady?"

"Capri, but we're flying into Naples," I told him.

"Wonderful. What gate is your plane at?"

"Does it say it on the note?" I whispered to Siena. She flipped the note over, and there were all the details of how to find the plane.

"Well, it's in the private sector, gate G17," I read.

"Perfect!" he replied. "I'll have to get authorization and everything from Jake, but I'll get over there, and it'll be ready in about three, four hours. That good?"

I looked over at Siena and mouthed, wow.

"That's awesome. We're almosy through New Jersey, so we'll be there in a half hour or so. We won't be in your way, though. Thanks so much for doing this on such short notice."