Perhaps it was the drawing beside her.
Perhaps it was the birthday she had spent trying not to think about.
Or perhaps she was finally beginning to understand that a meaningful life did not always announce itself through the milestones people expected.
Sometimes, it arrived on a paper napkin.
“Captain?” Marcus said.
Elena turned back to the instruments.
“Go ahead.”
“Everything remains stable. We’ll review the arrival information shortly.”
“Sounds good.”
He glanced at her.
“You all right?”
She hesitated, then smiled.
“Yes. Just thinking.”
“About the drawing?”
“That obvious?”
“You’ve looked at it six times.”
“Seven,” she admitted.
Marcus laughed.
Elena folded the napkin carefully and slipped it into the inside pocket of her flight bag.
Then she did something she hadn’t done in months.
She took out her phone during an appropriate break before the next phase of flight and opened a draft she had started writing the night before.
