The woman said: she threw it at me.
Rose said: I had juice and then I didn’t have it anymore. You know how turbulence can be.
She said turbulence with the pronunciation of someone who has not said the word very many times but who has prepared it.
The flight attendant looked at me.
I looked at my grandmother.
Rose was looking straight ahead.
The profile of a small eighty-six-year-old woman in a blue blouse with white flowers at the collar who has never done anything to hurt another person in her life.
The flight attendant said, to the woman: I’m so sorry. Let me get you some paper towels.
She went.
The woman was a shade of red that I had not seen on a human face before.
She said: she did that on purpose.
Rose said: I had juice.
The woman said: you absolutely did that on purpose.
Rose turned and looked at her.
She said: I’ve been flying for the very first time and I’ve been trying to enjoy the experience despite not having the space I paid for. I had a small cup of juice because my blood sugar was getting low. The rest is between you and your conscience.
She said this with the complete dignity of someone who believes every word of it.
She said it with the specific dignity of someone who has been being dignified for eighty-six years and who has it exactly right.
The woman stared at her.
Rose turned back to the front.
She reached into her small bag and produced a package of crackers.
She opened the crackers.
She began eating them.
The woman, still red, said: you are unbelievable.
Rose said, to her crackers: I’m going to see the ocean for the first time in my life.
She said it without looking at the woman.
She said it the way you state a fact that is self-evidently more important than whatever else is being discussed.
She said: I’ve waited eighty-six years for this trip. I’m not going to let one rude person ruin it.
She said it to the crackers.
She said it like I had not been the one to say those words.
She said it like she had arrived at them herself.
The woman was silent.
The flight attendant came back with paper towels.
She helped the woman.
She looked at Rose again.
