wrath of the Sea Queen (18 page)

C
a
eli smiled politely at the boy and waved across the aisle.  He
returned the
wave
with his tiny hand
. 
She
leaned her head back against a small, white pillow and
closed her eyes to relax
, comforted by the air
blowing
on her
from the overhead vent
.  It reminded her of Vin
, and her thoughts turned pleasantly in that direction
as her arm rested across her stomach
. 
A few minutes later,
C
a
eli
was
startled
by a slight tug on her hair.  A
tiny
, tanned hand reached out and stroked her long hair, unintentionally snagging it in the process.

"
Ow!
"
she whispered as she jumped slightly
, reflexively reaching up to grab her hair where it had been pulled
.  C
a
eli quickly realized that it was the young boy, now standing in the aisle beside her seat.  She
did
not
intend
to scare him with
her
sudden reaction, but
it
was too late.  He quickly pulled his hand back and dashed over to his own seat.  He placed both of his hands between his knees and pressed his legs together,
then ducked his head,
refusing to look up at her.

"
I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to scare you.  You just startled me
.
"
C
a
eli tried to reassure the boy that she wasn't mad at him. 
             
"
Honest
, you didn't hurt me.  My hair gets full of tangles sometimes.
"
  She tried her best smile, but
it was lost on
t
he
boy
as he con
tinued to stare at his knees. 

"
Well, ok then.  If you won't talk to me, I
wi
ll be so bored.  I
suppose I
wi
ll
fall
sleep.
"

C
a
eli closed her eyes and leaned her head back, but th
is time she listened carefully. 
In a few minutes, she heard him
moving
.  He scooted out of his chair and worked his way forward until he
managed to obtain a
new location in the seat directly in front of her, which
was
previously unoccupied
.  C
a
eli
was
good with kids and loved to play games. 
Children seemed to sense her kindness and often found themselves drawn to her. 
She kn
e
w right away that this little guy was
already
bored on such a long flight.  Unlike most adults
,
who didn't like to be bothered by someone else's
kid
, C
a
eli did
n
o
t mind entertaining the boy for a while. 

She opened her eyes a little bit and
watched
him sitting backward in the seat with his hands holding onto the top.  He was peeking over
the edge
with those b
right
, green eyes and a small smile that she could barely see.  C
a
eli opened her eyes suddenly and wiggled her fingers at him without making a sound.  He giggled happily and popped a little further up in the chair.

"
Hello
,
pretty L
ady.  You're funny,
"
the boy said a little too loudly.

C
a
eli placed her finger over her lips.

"
Shh.  Use a quiet voice.  We don't want to wake the others.
"

"
No, Papa wouldn't like that.
  Can you teach me how to use a secret voice like you did
with your friend
?
  Then nobody would hear," t
he boy whispered as he looked over at the man
still sleeping next to his former seat
.

Then he turned back to C
a
eli and tilted his head
in an exaggerated extension
to look
over
at Salma sleeping in he
r
seat. 
The young child did not notice the stunned look on C
a
eli's face.  How could he
possibly
have heard us?  C
a
eli wondered to herself.  Before she
could
respond to
his
request
, the boy continued with his
own
question.

"
She is almost as pretty as you.  Is she a Mama, too?
"

At first, C
a
eli was confused by the
inquiry
.  Then she thought she understood what the boy was
incorrectly asking
.

"
N
o.  She is not my Mama.  She is my
a
unt
, and s
he's a doctor.
"

At this, the young boy scrunched up his face and leaned away. 

"
What
's
the matter?  Don't you like doctors?
"
  C
a
eli asked.

"
No.  They always give me shots.  They say it won't hurt, but it always does.  And the doctor said he would make my Mama better, but he didn't
,
"
the boy answered seriously.

"
Well, my Aunt Salma is a very good doctor.  She hasn't given me a shot yet that has hurt
more than she said it would
. 
I
f she tells you she is going to do something, she will do it.  You can count on it.  I think you would
like
doctors i
f
she was your doctor," C
a
eli explained.

The boy seemed to think about
that
for a minute. 

"
Maybe
; s
he is pretty.
"

"
She is p
retty
, but that
has nothing to do with it.  She is
very
smart
and
a very
good
doctor
.
"

"
You are pretty
,
too,
L
ady.
  Is it time for lunch yet?
"

C
a
eli just shook her head, which turned out to be a bad idea as it
generated
a strong wave of nausea.

             
"
Vin, I need to tell you soon.  I won't be able to keep this a secret much longer
if
this
keeps up
.  I didn't expect it to be this bad. 
Then again, m
aybe I am sick after all
.
"

Of course
,
she was certain that Vin could not hear her at this distance.
 
And, i
f Vin were on the plane, she would have
thought
that he put the kid up to this
playful
banter
.  Vin knew she would be embarrassed
at the
flatter
y
, and he would do it just to see C
a
eli's face turn red.

"
No.  It is not lunchtime quite yet. 
What's your name?
"
  C
a
eli asked to change the subject.

"
I'm Max
, pretty Lady,
and that's my Papa over there.
"
  The boy pulled himself as far up in the chair as he could
while sitting on his knees
and extended his hand
over the top of the seat
so that C
a
eli could shake it.

She obliged him with an introductory handshake.

"
Well, Max, my name is C
a
eli.  If you want to
continue our
talk, you are going to have to use my name, ok?
"

"
Ok, pretty C
a
eli
.
"

C
a
eli couldn't help laughing at the innocence of the response.  Obviously, someone
the boy thought was
pretty, probably his mother, made quite an impression on
him
.  Now it seemed that was how
Max
assessed people.  Apparently, there would be no avoiding it.