Graham Walzer

All was well as we took off. I was enamored by the plane, its large turbines glinting in the light. Everyone was excited to go to Hawaii. A mythical island in the middle of the ocean. We flew over the ocean for hours and hours. I couldn't figure it out. If we had to land, where would we go? Occasionally I thought I saw a ship but I'm sure I was dreaming, we were thirty thousand feet up. I fell asleep as the excitement and five hour flight wore me out. I woke up to the fasten seat belt and the garbled pilot voice announcing our decent. That's when it happened. While my sister and mom happily titled about our tropical events, I started to feel a pressure in my ear. Every foot we dropped towards the tarmac felt like asphalt was being pressed into my brain through my ear canal. I began whimpering. My family's chattering stopped. More altitude loss meant more pressure and more head splitting pain. The whimper turned into a wail. I was screaming in hopes the pain driven into my ear would leave through my mouth. My mom was trying to console me. "Its gonna be okay. You just need to pop your ears hunny." Mother's intuition, she knew. She was clutching my hands with a pleading look in her eyes. The screams of pain began to get the attention of the whole cast of tourists on the 747. My dad looked stunned, my sister petrified. They had never hear my cry so hard, like I was sacrificing these tears in exchange for my life. "Give him a piece of gum, he just need to release the pressure in his ears." Fifth row back, third seat over chimes in. I was grabbing the side of my head rocking back and forth with blinding pain at my ear. They give me gum. I chew more furiously than any other child in history. I chomped on that stick of Juicy Fruit like my life depended on it. And that's how it felt. But this wasn't enough. "Explain him how to pop his ears." How do you give directions in ear popping? I was told to open my mouth as wide as possible and swallow as hard as I could. No, I didn't have to chew the flavorless yellow stick anymore. Finally, as I saw my life flashing before my eyes, we come into contact with the ground. My ears making a little clicking side inside my head. The pressure evaporates, the pain with it.I open my eyes, struck with relief, the last tears dribbling down my cheek. I still can't stop opening my mouth and swallowing. I can't comprehend how this little motion took the pain of the world off my brain. People stumble off the plane to more beautiful tan Hawaiian woman than a eight year old has ever seen. Placing lays around our necks, kissing our faces and purring aloha softly into our ears.