The Celebrants by Steven Rowley

Author:Steven Rowley [Rowley, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

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Once they hit cruising altitude, Naomi was living a waking dream. The horizon was a stunning blue that didn’t look real, and the only clouds visible were perfect puffs of spun sugar candy sparsely dotting the passing sky; it was almost like she could reach out and touch them. Their aircraft was a tight squeeze of a hug, so warm and sturdy that the idea of jumping from its safe environs was comical. Naomi sat on her hands to contain her excitement and to give herself that extra half inch of a boost to see everything out the window more clearly. When she turned to Jordan, she didn’t even realize what she was saying until it was already out of her mouth. “I want to fly the plane!” She had to shout to be heard over the noise.

“YOU WANT TO WHAT?”

“I WANT TO FLY THE PLANE!”

Jordan recoiled. He didn’t think that was a good idea. Naomi indicated the pilot. Tell him.

No.

Naomi bit her lip. TELL HIM.

NO FUCKING WAY.

Marielle leaned into Craig and spoke loudly into his ear. “Are we really doing this?” It almost seemed inescapable now, like they had passed some point of no return. And yet the real moment would come when they opened the plane’s door, so there was still plenty of time to back out.

“Beats me!” Craig hollered. He looked to Jordy and raised an eyebrow. Jordy bobbed his head so slightly in return it could have just been the plane’s vibrations. Not knowing what else to say, Craig yelled, “I’m not the one calling the shots!” He gave a thumbs-up to his diving partner, Mateo, who clasped his hands around Craig’s fist.

Witnessing this, Diego shouted, “CARPE DIEM!”; it didn’t need translation.

“Mine speaks Latin!” Jordy boasted to Jordan. He responded by high-fiving Diego, and their hands remained clasped as they held intense eye contact.

“I can see you, you know!” Jordan shouted, looking at his love holding hands with another man.

“Isn’t he great?” Jordy shouted back, undeterred, a smile spread across his whole face.

Jordan turned to his own partner in this mess, Yolonda. She reminded him of a lesbian poet they once knew in the West Village who uncomfortably referred to her bathing suit area as a flower bed. He smiled, but not anywhere nearly as wide as Jordy had; she responded by tightening his harness until he couldn’t easily breathe.

Naomi tugged on the pilot’s sleeve. After a beat he turned to face her. She mimicked driving a car, wildly turning an imaginary steering wheel back and forth, as if she were racing the Autobahn, and then when she felt that was clear, she stuck out her thumb and pointed to herself. “Me. Avión.”

“YOU JUST SAID YOU ARE A PLANE,” Jordan hollered.

Naomi smiled at the pilot undeterred. “Fly a plane! I want to fly the plane.”

“PLEASE. I’M BEGGING YOU. STOP.”

Naomi put her hands on the controls in front of her, even though she was quite sure they weren’t engaged. The pilot flicked on the autopilot and removed the cans over his ears.

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