The engineer
An old piece of bread
Shortly after landing at JFK I rummaged in the pocket of my pants in search of my cell phone.
It must have slipped out of my pocket while I was sleeping, typing or eating. I looked under my chair. Nothing. I removed the cushion of my chair, which can be used as a floatation device. I noticed that other passengers were staring at me while I was holding this floatation device.
To avoid misunderstandings I called the stewardess and explained the situation to her.
I was flying business class and the chair could be transformed into something that resembles a small bed.
The stewardess looked under the chair, in the chair, in my pockets, and then she said: “I have to call the engineer.”
The engineer came in very quickly and he started dismantling the chair. The stewardess said to me: “You are sure it’s not in your pocket or in your bag? If we do all this work for nothing we will kill you.”
Many things were found inside this magic chair: A small bottle of perfume, a toothbrush, something that resembled an old piece of bread, part of a napkin, a very old newspaper.
I left the plane without my phone.
The first thing I did in my apartment was listen to the messages on my voice mail.
The chair had been completely dismantled and a woman said: “We found your phone. At least I hope it’s yours. We found many things.”
I took a cab back to JFK.
To Arnon
Are you attached to your mobile phone?To Pjötr
If he was attached to it, it wouldn't have slipped inside the belly of this whale chair....Dahl
Lovely storyOff course the first question would be: did you eventually got your phone back?
Second: is it just me, or does it seem odd that the engineer of this chair happens to be on the plane, or nearby the airport? Or is there an engineer on every plane, sitting in the business class area?
This reminds me of a friend who had an old boeing-chair (also business class) in his study room. You could move and change just about any part of it, and it wasn't after ten years that the armrest broke and he had to get rid of it. This made him grief for months; he said the chair made him feel like Roald Dahl.
As it happens, he became quiet an engineer later on in life.
To N. Anderson
The worl of homonyms is not fictional.To N. Anderson
Of course you are entitled to an answer not bearing any typos.The world of homonyms is not fictional.
Kevino
My thoughts exactly: why is there an engineer on board of the plane? Or was there someone sitting in business class who happened to be an engineer and came to the rescue, just as you sometimes see with doctors. Is there an engineer on the plane?Or they just called in an engineer from the staff at the airport.
Sandy
Exactly.Sandy
Funny, it seems to me just the other way round.Aren't words such as mechanic, repairman and assembler typically American?
Kevino / Sandy
I consider myself an engineer. In the nearly fifteen years that I have been in NY I never heard the word "assembler".In the building where I live everything is fixed by the super.
The guy who dismantled my chair yesterday could very well have been an engineer, in other words he didnt't come across as an ordinary repairman.
