Falling

by T.J. Newman

People didn’t dress like that anymore. It harkened back to a time when air travel was a rare privilege, a major event. Purposefully unchanged, the uniform kept a certain antiquated mystique alive. It elicited respect. Trust. It proclaimed a sense of duty.

“Ma’am, you’re taking a risk either way. But only one option ends with people dying.”

“What truth?” “The truth that people are only as good as the world lets them be. You’re not inherently good and I’m not inherently bad. We’re just working through the cards life dealt us. So putting you in this position, dealing you these cards—what does a good guy do now? It’s not about the crash, Bill. It’s about the choice. It’s about good people seeing they’re no different from bad people.” He looked from Bill to Carrie. “You’ve just always had the luxury of choosing to be good.”

“I don’t have many regrets when it comes to my father. But I do regret never asking what he thought about God. I always assumed he never talked about it because he didn’t care. But the older I get and the more I look at his life choices—I wonder if he actually didn’t have quite a bit to say about it.”

‘You don’t think everyone actually lives, do you? Most people just exist and roam around. It’s a choice, to actually live.’ ”