She wasn’t a great flyer at the best of times, even on wide-bodied jumbos, and this tiny plane quite terrified her. If she dared open her eyes she could see right over the pilot’s shoulder into the cockpit, and before they’d taken off, the co-pilot had had to redistribute the sixteen passengers around the plane to ensure their weight was even. Every small air current tossed them up and down as if they were on a roller coaster. How far away was Burlington, anyway, if the only planes that flew there from New York were puddle-jumpers like this? Nell reached across the narrow aisle and tapped her hand. ‘Mum! Look out the window! I think we’re over Vermont now. It’s so pretty, and so green!’ ‘How nice,’ she said faintly, her eyes tightly shut. ‘Come on. You can see all the little towns so clearly from up here. Look at the church spires, and the red barns – it’s just like a postcard!’ Steeling herself, she peeked out of the window.
