Miss Graham was in the other block at the very back of the plane, with Tom on the aisle next to her. Boarding was almost finished now, and she turned to Tom and said, “Can I make a confession?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it, but he made a show of looking interested and she smiled, a little embarrassed, before saying, “I’m kind of scared of flying. Always have been. Turbulence—that’s the worst.”

“So why did you come?”

She shrugged, as if to ask what other choice she’d had.

Barney, on the other aisle seat, who was the same age as the rest of them but looked smaller and younger, said, “You know, Miss Graham, it’s almost impossible for a large aircraft to be brought down by turbulence.”

She turned to him and said, “Really, is that true?”

“Absolutely. The structure’s never compromised and pilots really don’t have a problem with it.”

“Oh. But how come planes crash then?”

“They don’t, statistically. I mean, yes, of course planes crash, but it’s so statistically improbable that your plane will crash, it’s really not worth thinking about. I mean, you don’t go to sleep every night worrying your house will burn down, but it’s more likely you’ll die in a house fire than in a plane crash.”

“How interesting.” She turned back to Tom. “Did you hear that, Tom?”

He nodded. He was actually thinking that the statistics probably weren’t much comfort to people sitting on a plane that was hurtling in a ball of fire toward the earth. But he was saved from having to say anything because a girl named Olivia stood up a few rows ahead of them and looked at Miss Graham.

“Miss Graham, can you tell Chris to stop annoying us?”

Miss Graham gave a knowing look to Tom, as if they were both adults, a look he actually mistrusted in some way, and then she said, “I’ll be back in a minute.”

He let her pass and as he sat again, Barney said quietly, “I think Miss Graham has the hots for you.” Tom looked at him, and Barney added defensively, “It does happen. You see it in the news all the time.”

“Do you have a statistic for it?”

Barney wasn’t sure how to react, but settled for saying again, “It happens, that’s all I’m saying.”

Tom noticed movement up ahead and, although he didn’t believe Barney was right about Miss Graham, he was fairly relieved to see she’d decided the best course was to swap seats with the oafish and apparently annoying Chris Davies.

He came clumsily down the plane and said, “Graham said I have to sit here. Can I have the aisle seat?”

“No.” Tom got up to let him in, then sat down again.