“Yes, I’ll be glad to.”
Vicki turned to a young couple who looked like honeymooners. Their faces shone, and the girl wore flowers. “Welcome aboard,” Vicki said to them, and nearly added, “Congratulations.” She suggested the forward cabin compartment which was smaller and more private.
Most of the passengers, many of them businessmen with brief cases, found seats by themselves in the large main cabin and, beyond the buffet area, in the aft cabin. For several minutes the wide aisle swarmed with people.
“Please be seated,” Vicki said to them as they passed her, “and then I’ll hang up your coats.”
A white-haired, well-dressed couple came very slowly down the aisle. They must be in their mid-sixties, Vicki thought. The elderly woman looked pleasant, but the heavy-set man was scowling and grumbling about something. He had a look of authority, of command.
Vicki went forward to help them. “Good afternoon. Would you like to sit here?”
The man nodded curtly. He helped his wife into the window seat, then placed her hatbox up on the luggage rack.
“If you don’t mind, sir,” said Vicki, “may I put that hatbox in the closet? It might bounce off the rack during flight, and the sharp corners might hurt somebody.”
The elderly man sat down as if he had not heard her. Then he remarked, “The hatbox can stay where it is.”
Vicki gulped, and said with her sweetest smile, “Yes, of course, if you prefer.” The man’s wife half smiled at her as if to say, “You mustn’t mind.”