Page 7 of The Next Person You Meet in Heaven
Life is much the same. One change blows in another. After the flat tire, the balloonist named Tolbert, concerned about driving on a spare, changed his plans and went home instead of to work, as he normally did this early on weekends. He called his assistant pilot and said, “Handle things until noon, OK?”
That assistant, a bearded young man named Teddy, changed his plans as he groggily replied, “No problem.” He made coffee and got dressed.
Annie and Paulo, having shed their wedding clothes and shared a bed for the first time as a married couple, changed their plans as the sun began its rise through their hotel curtains. Annie stroked Paulo’s hair as Paulo pushed into the pillow.
“Oh, man, I am beat!”
But Annie did not want things to end.
“If we don’t go to sleep, technically it’s still our wedding night, right?”
“I guess.”
“In that case...”
She leaned over him and swiped a business card off the nightstand.
“A balloon ride!” Annie said.
“Noooo—”
“Yessss—”
“No-no-no—”
“Yes-yes-yes—”
“Annie—so impetuous!”
“I know. It’s not like me. But I saw a balloon as we were saying our vows. Maybe it was a sign. The card says ‘sunrise trips.’”
“Yeah, but—”
“Pleeeease...”
“Ohh... kay.” Paulo squeezed his eyes shut, then popped them open. “Yes!”
Annie grabbed the phone. Her last call before dying began with, “Hi, are you flying today?”
***
Five hours left. Wearing light jackets against the morning chill, Annie and Paulo held hands near a large passenger basket in the middle of a grassy field. It all seemed so serendipitous: a business card, a phone call, a pilot named Teddy, a launching spot not far from their hotel.What a wonderful future story to tell, Annie thought.A wedding night that ended in the clouds.
A small crew ran propane burners to heat the air inside the balloon. Within minutes, it began to rise, like a yawning giant waking from its sleep. As the envelope filled to a massive pear-like form, Annie and Paulo leaned easily into each other, marveling at this silent airship that would lift them to the skies.
At that moment, they could not have known certain things: that Teddy was only a novice pilot, eager to prove himself; that he had agreed to take them up, despite a less-than-perfect weather report, because they were newlyweds; that newlyweds were a lucrative type of customer in the balloon world; that Teddy figured if these newlyweds told other newlyweds, it could be good for business.
And good for business was good for him.
“Ready to depart?” Teddy said.
He ushered Annie and Paulo into the basket. He shutthe door behind them and, with the cables detached, let loose a stream of fire from the burner.
The balloon lifted from the ground.
***
“Oh, my God,” Annie marveled forty minutes later, as they glided over vast, empty pastures. “This is unbelievable.”
