Prologue

Samuel hated flying.  He wasn’t so much scared of the concept , although he certainly didn’t feel safe up there, it was more the event ; getting to the airport, the queuing for check in, the five hour walk around duty free because your flight was delayed, then paying over the odds for a dried up sandwich and thimble of coke in the two-star-if-your-lucky restaurant you felt compelled to buy because ‘you’re on your holidays’.  Sam had faced all of this today as well as a twenty minute grilling by passport control who wanted to know where he was going, why he was going alone and where he would be staying.  When Sam asked if he wanted to know what kind of under wear he had on the guard didn’t find it remotely funny and advised him that any more lip would result in an anal search so thorough he would be feeling Sam’s heart through his arse.  He decided to stay quiet, for a change.  All these things would normally make him angry but the worst part was sitting in the worlds smallest chair, wedged in like a battery hen for several hours while a bunch of jumped up waitresses try to force feed you boil in the bag cat sick and push duty free down your neck. 

So there he is sat.  Seat F row 34, his home for the next eight or so hours.  After the trauma of the airport he was now calm and relaxed and incredibly excited, not only because the in flight meal was chicken (and not a curry), or because the film was one he hadn’t seen before but because he was on his way to spend his life with his one true love and the thought made him happier then he ever thought he could be.