{"id":397,"date":"2016-11-04T01:50:25","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T01:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldkaren.com\/?p=397"},"modified":"2016-11-04T01:50:25","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T01:50:25","slug":"accused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/?p=397","title":{"rendered":"Accused"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hope of having the seat to myself was dashed when the couple boarded just before the flight attendant closed the airplane door. I got up from my usual aisle position to let them in, the man next to the window, woman beside me. I could immediately tell why they were late boarding\u2014they reeked of cigarette smoke. Great<\/em>, I thought, as I directed my air vent full-force on my face in an effort to divert the odor.<\/p>\n

I had noticed the couple while we awaited our flight. The woman fawned over every movement the man made and every word he spoke, while he loudly expressed opinions on a variety of topics as if everyone should benefit from his wisdom. I would have moved to a distant seat except that their voices were so loud it would have been impossible to escape their conversation. It was going to be a long three hours if he talked on the plane like he did at the gate. Fortunately, he soon immersed himself in a movie, his wife slept, and I quietly read my book or dozed.<\/p>\n

Midway through the flight, the woman told me they needed to use the restroom and that they would go at the same time so as to only disturb me once. I was pleased and surprised by their thoughtfulness and reminded of the need to not relegate people to my first impression. I sat quietly with my eyes closed while they were gone, waking only to let them back in their seats. That\u2019s when things went downhill.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy ear buds are gone,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you take them to the bathroom?\u201d the woman asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo! I left them attached right here!\u201d His voice was loud as he pulled his video machine from the pocket in front of his seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been stolen!\u201d he swore. \u201cAnd there\u2019s only one person who could have done it!\u201d<\/p>\n

I kept my eyes closed, but my stomach lurched. Could he be referring to me? <\/em>I wondered. Even I had to admit I was the most likely suspect. I\u2019ve never stolen anything in my life, <\/em>I thought. Why would I start now? <\/em>I think of myself as a sweet little old lady, but maybe I don\u2019t look as innocent as I presume.<\/p>\n

The two searched their seats, the floor, their bags. Nothing. The man was furious and cursing heavily.<\/p>\n

Lord, please let him find them so he\u2019ll stop yelling!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDid you see anyone mess with our things?\u201d the woman asked me.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I didn\u2019t,\u201d I said, while wondering if I should help them look. But I was afraid to say or do anything since they seemed to have already decided my guilt. I could have used some chocolate about that time, but I was immobilized by fear and couldn\u2019t get to my purse under the seat in front of me. I expected the man to start screaming in my face any second. Anger takes me back to childhood when I cowered from my dad\u2019s explosive temper and it\u2019s why I go to extremes to not upset people.<\/p>\n

God has not given me a spirit of fear, <\/em>I reminded myself. And then I began to wonder how I was supposed to show the love of Christ to unpleasant people who were making false assumptions. Please tell me, Lord. I am listening.<\/em><\/p>\n

As the man\u2019s voice grew louder, I became so anxious I nearly threw up. He was using the f-word over and over again, ignoring the small child sitting across from us. Surely he knew she could hear, as could everyone on the aircraft. One of my goals in life is to avoid drawing attention to myself, but at that moment, a couple hundred people couldn\u2019t help but be focused on the passengers in row twenty.<\/p>\n

Dear God, please. Help. Should I speak up? Remain quiet? Start searching with them?<\/em><\/p>\n

Plane rides frighten me enough. I didn\u2019t need the emotions this unruly passenger was creating in me.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you ask her?\u201d he barked at his wife, apparently referring to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she said. \u201cShe says<\/em> she didn\u2019t see anything.\u201d She obviously didn\u2019t believe me.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t move a muscle and continued to keep my eyes closed.<\/p>\n

The man leaned forward in his seat then and seemed to be directing his next comment to the father and son sitting in front. \u201cI hope you guys enjoy them! They won\u2019t fit, though, since they\u2019re custom made!\u201d<\/p>\n

So now someone else was his scapegoat?<\/p>\n

The couple finally grew quiet and I tried to relax, though I was dreading what would happen when we reached Salt Lake City. I had visions of missing my connection while these people had airport security search me for the ear buds. Would I be handcuffed? Taken to some secure area and patted down, my purse dumped?<\/p>\n

I jumped slightly when the flight attendant said, \u201cHow can I help you?\u201d He stood beside my seat in the aisle, apparently summoned by my neighbor.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have a lost and found?\u201d my seatmate asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he said. \u201cHave you lost something?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot lost,\u201d she said. \u201cStolen. Custom-made $450 ear buds. We went to the bathroom and when we came back, they were gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think they were stolen?\u201d The flight attendant sounded surprised. \u201cDid you look on the floor?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWould you like for me to look?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she said. As I got up and the flight attendant stepped back to make room for me, he felt something under his foot, reached down and picked up\u2026guess what? A set of ear buds.\u00a0\u00a0 They had apparently been snagged by the man\u2019s own clothing and fallen to the floor as he made his way to the restroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre these yours?\u201d he asked the lady.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes! Praise God!\u201d she said. \u201cI was praying they would show up!\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s odd. All I heard were curse words<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I was relieved, but still surprised these people considered me a suspect. As soon as we landed and the Fasten Seat Belt<\/em> sign was off, I practically ran down the aisle to get away from them. Best to leave this ugliness in the past.<\/p>\n

Later, when I shared the incident with my children, they all had the same reaction: I must have taken the ear buds, then thrown them to the floor when it appeared I was about to get caught. And, of course, the fact that I exited the airplane quickly confirmed everyone\u2019s suspicions.<\/p>\n

So even my children think I\u2019m guilty?<\/p>\n

But they were just kidding. Weren\u2019t they?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The hope of having the seat to myself was dashed when the couple boarded just before the flight attendant closed the airplane door. I got up from my usual aisle position to let them in, the man next to the window, woman beside me. I could immediately tell why they were late boarding\u2014they reeked of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions\/398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}