‘I don’t know, Sullivan, sorry.’ She was swallowing hard. Her heart was racing. All the flight attendants were now sitting down. The plane was moving faster. She really did want to be sick. Beside her, Judith had drunk all the brandy. The tissue was a crumpled ball in her lap.

‘Would it help if we all held hands?’ Sullivan asked.

Eliza and Judith turned to him. ‘What?’ they said.

He shrugged. ‘Sometimes it helps to feel human touch when you’re scared.’

‘You are a very odd little boy,’ Judith said.

‘You’re not the first person to say that,’ Sullivan said. He held out his right hand.

Eliza hesitated, then took it in her left. She held out her own right hand for Judith. She winced as the older woman squeezed it tightly. As the plane gathered even more speed, she shut her eyes.

‘It’s best to open your eyes, Eliza,’ Sullivan said. ‘Your imagination will make it worse. You’ll picture us crashing into another plane, for example. Look outside. We’ve got the runway all to ourselves.’

Judith moaned softly and crunched Eliza’s hand more tightly.

Eliza kept her eyes shut, ignoring Sullivan’s advice. She was now extremely queasy. Her breathing was too fast. She felt beads of sweat on her forehead. She wanted to be in her flat, getting ready for work or ironing her clothes, or talking to Rose on the phone or doing anything but being on this plane —

‘We’re aloft!’ Sullivan said. ‘Well done, Eliza,’ he whispered as she opened her eyes. ‘That was kind of you not to show Judith how bad you were feeling.’

Judith looked over at them both, eyes wide. ‘What are you whispering about? Is something wrong?’

‘Nothing at all,’ Sullivan said. ‘It was a textbook take-off, as far as I can tell. We’ll feel a bit odd for a little while, until the plane levels off. And don’t worry about odd noises either, like the wheels retracting. That’s normal too. So, have either of you had a chance to look at the films on offer?’

Eliza shook her head. She was slowly starting to breathe more normally. She’d been so terrified of the take-off, worried it would spark an embarrassing panic attack. But there hadn’t been time to think about a panic attack, let alone have one, between Sullivan’s chatter and Judith’s nerves.

‘We can let each other’s hands go now,’ Sullivan said. ‘If you’re both feeling less anxious.’

‘Both?’ Judith turned to Eliza. ‘Is this your first flight too?’

Eliza shook her head. ‘But I haven’t flown for a few years.’

‘Why? Did something put you off? Did you once nearly have a crash?’

‘I’ve been too busy at work to go travelling,’ she lied.

‘Really?’ Sullivan said. ‘What do you do that keeps you so busy, Eliza? Let me guess. Guessing games are good on flights. Shall we play a game? We can watch films later.’

Eliza didn’t have a choice. Judith and Sullivan took turns trying to guess her occupation. Nurse. Doctor. Lecturer. Teacher. Lawyer. Astronomer. They finally gave up.