Chapter 3 Tanya Livingston

In Tanya's office a young girl in the uniform of a Trans America

ticket agent was crying noisily.

Tanya made her sit down, and told her: 'Make yourself

comfortable. We can talk later.'

For a while there was no sound in the room except the girl's

crying.

Patsy Smith was about twenty. Tanya was nearer forty. Looking

at the girl, she felt that the difference in their ages was even

greater than that. Perhaps it was because she had been married

and Patsy had not.

It was the second time that Tanya had thought about her age

today. This morning she had noticed grey hairs among the red. It

reminded her that she was getting older, and that by now she

should know what she was doing with her life. Her own

daughter was growing up.

Patsy Smith began to speak, finding the words with difficulty.

Her eyes were red from crying.

'Why are some passengers so rude? I was doing my best. We all

were.'

'Tell me what happened,'Tanya said.

It was a familiar story. A man had missed his flight, and it had

been difficult to find him a place on another. When Patsy at last

succeeded in finding him a place, he complained that he didn't

want to see the film that was going to be shown on that flight,

and told her that she was slow and didn't know how to do her

job properly. In the end she had been unable to bear his insults

any more, and she had thrown a book at him.

'Well, I hope it hit him hard,' Tanya said. 'I know how rude

some people can be. Now I'm going to send you home to have a

good rest.'

The girl looked up in surprise.

'Oh, I understand,' Tanya told her, 'but this mustn't happen

again, Patsy, or you'll be in trouble.'

Patsy smiled weakly. 'It won't happen again, I promise.'

'Let me tell you something,'Tanya said. 'After you left, another

man came and told me that he had seen what happened. He said

you weren't to blame. He told me that he had a daughter the

same age as you, and that he would hit anyone who spoke to her

like that man spoke to you. So you see, there are some nice

people in the world, after all.'

Dealing with the public could be terribly difficult, Tanya

knew. It was hard to be polite when so many people were rude to

you.

As Patsy was leaving the office, Mel came in.

'Have a good night's rest, and we'll expect you back

tomorrow,' called out Tanya.

'I'm tired too,' Mel said. 'Will you send me home to rest?'

Tanya looked hard at him and he noticed her clear blue eyes

and short red hair. She looked good in her blue uniform.

'Will you let me send you to my apartment to rest?' she asked.

'I'll cook you a good dinner.'

'I wish I could say yes, but I can't. Can I buy you a cup of

coffee?'

'All right,' Tanya said, 'but I must be quick. I'm on duty for

another two hours.'

As they walked towards the coffee shop, Mel said: 'Can I come

to dinner some other night,Tanya? I'd like to.'

Her sudden invitation had surprised him. She had never asked

him to visit her apartment before. He wondered if this could be

leading to a love affair, and knew that that would be a serious

matter for both of them.

'Come to dinner on Sunday,' she said.

'Thank you. I will.' Could he leave his family on a Sunday?

Well, Cindy often did.

They had never seen the coffee shop so full of people before.

As they went to sit down, Mel almost fell, and seized Tanya's

arm. I suppose people will talk about that, she thought.

'What crowds!' she remarked.

'We'll be seeing bigger and bigger crowds in the future,' Mel

told her. 'We should be building bigger airports, but we're not.

Some people just refuse to understand what is needed.'

He liked talking about airports and airlines to Tanya, because

he knew that she was interested.

'We'll see some changes soon,' he said. 'Carrying goods by air

is going to become more important than carrying passengers.'

'Oh dear,' said Tanya. 'Perhaps I'm old-fashioned, but I prefer

to work with passengers.'

Mel continued to talk until a waiter came to take their order.

'Sorry, Tanya,' he said,'I was beginning to make a speech.'

'You ought to make more speeches.'

They had first become friendly after he had made a speech to

the Airport Operators' Council. Tanya had thought it a

wonderful speech, and had told him so. But recently he had not

been speaking in public so much.

'How did you know about the Snow Committee report?' he

asked her.

'It was typed in the Trans America Office,'Tanya replied. 'I saw

it there. Tell me, why does Captain Demerest dislike you so

much?'

'I suppose he knows I dislike him.'

'If you want to, you can tell him that now.'

Mel turned and saw a tall, good-looking man. He was not in

uniform, but he had a commanding manner. He saw Mel and

Tanya, but he did not smile or speak to them.

'He's taking Flight Two to Rome tonight,'Tanya said.

Only the most experienced pilots flew Flight Two, which was

called the Golden Argosy. Everyone knew that Vernon Demerest

was a fine pilot, but few people liked him.

Mel was just thinking how attractive Tanya looked in her

uniform, when she said: 'I may be out of uniform soon. I'm

looking for a better post.'

'I'm sure you'll be successful,' Mel told her. 'You could get to

the top in aviation if you wanted to.'

'I'm not sure if I want to,' she said slowly.

'Would you prefer to get married again?'

'How could I? Who wants a divorced woman with a child?'

Tanya's marriage had been a terrible failure. Her husband had

left her before her daughter had been born.

Before they left the coffee shop, Mel phoned the Snow Desk.

Danny told him that the Aéreo-Mexican plane was still stuck

across the runway. Aéreo-Mexican had asked TWA for help, and

TWA had sent for Joe Patroni. He was driving to the airport

from his home now.

'I'm glad they sent for Patroni,' Mel said. 'If he can't move the

plane, nobody can.'

There was more news. The lost truck had been found and the

driver was alive and going to be all right.

'Good,' said Mel. 'I'm going out on the airfield myself in a

minute.'

'Be careful,' Danny told him. 'I hear it's a bit cold out there.'

As they left the coffee shop, someone came with a message for

Tanya. A stowaway had been found on a flight from Los Angeles.

'Is that all?' she said. 'That often happens.'

'Yes, but this is a very unusual kind of stowaway.'

'That might be interesting,' Mel said,'It will give me an excuse

to come and see you again later.'

Tanya touched his hand. 'Do you need an excuse?' she asked.

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