So my mom was telling me that her and A were on their way back from Las Vegas. They went to get in their seats on the plane, and there was a little boy stretched out in the three seats.
“You can’t sit here,” he said.
“These are our seats.”
“Well you can’t sit here,” he says again. The flight attendant asked what’s wrong and mom and A said that this boy says they can’t sit there. The flight attendant said that he’s traveling alone, but.. those are their assigned seats, so its ok.
They sit down, and the boy starts to cry. Mom tries to console and distract him and asks where he’s going. He tells her that he is going to live with his grandma in North Carolina and that he was living with his mom. Then he clarified it and said she’s not his REAL mom, but his Aunt. Soon, he’s crying again and saying he wants to get off the plane. The flight attendants remove him, then bring him back, still sniffling but obviously knowing that he had to go.
Mom and A talk to the boy, who is 9 years old. He tells her his name is Elisia and mom says that that’s what she wanted to name me (its true). He tells her he used to have hair down to the bottom of his back, and that one time he was locked in a car until the middle of the night, but he was able to reach a pocket knife and cut through his seatbelt (booster seat?) and get out. Mom and A suspected that was the reason he had been living with his aunt and not his mother.
He told them that one time he got $100 for something. She asked what he did with it and he said he bought clothes for him and his 3 brothers and sisters… 1 of which was already at his grandmas, and the other 2 were coming soon.
Mom and A had a great time with the boy, who adopted them as his parents for the duration of the 5 hour flight.
At the end, the flight attendants were thanking them for all that they did to ease this boy’s trip. Mom got a piece of paper and wrote a note to the boy’s granda, saying what a wonderful boy he is and wishing her well. She included $100 and said it was a gift from one grandma to another.
I love my mom.