Rushing Waters Read Online Free

destination tonight. We’ll have some chop going in, but we’ll be fine.”
    “It must be the hurricane,” Charles Williams muttered to Ellen. “I hope they don’t have another monster one like five years ago.” He looked panicked.
    “Actually, this is pretty common at this time of year, and except for Sandy, it’s usually nothing. This is probably just a late summer storm.”
    “Well, I don’t like it,” he said firmly.
    “We’ll be there in about forty minutes,” Ellen said in a comforting voice, and Charles Williams kept up a steady stream of conversation thereafter, as though to keep his mind off his own conviction that they would crash on landing, if not before.
    “My wife left me for someone else,” he said out of the blue a few minutes later. “She was trying to be an actress, and did some modeling. He’s a photographer. They live in New York now, with my daughters. I suppose eventually they’ll get married.” He was clearly worried about that too.
    “That must be hard for you, being so far from your children.” He nodded, then asked Ellen, “Do you have children?”
    “No, I don’t,” she said quietly, trying to resist the feeling of failure that always washed over her when people asked her. She noticed the turbulence getting considerably worse then, and so did he.
    “What do you do?” He seemed desperate for conversation on any subject.
    “I’m an interior designer. My husband is a barrister.”
    “I’m an investment banker,” he said, as they heard the landing gear come down, and a moment later, the pilot instructed the cabin crew to take their seats in the turbulence, which by then was pretty nasty. “I’ve got business in New York, and I’m hoping to see my children this weekend, if they’re not too busy.” He looked sad as he said it, but at least it kept his mind off crashing. “Are you frightened?” he whispered to her.
    “No, I’m okay. I don’t love bouncing around like this, but we’ll be down in a few minutes.”
    “If we don’t crash first,” he said miserably. “We shouldn’t have come with the hurricane hanging around. But at least I’ll be here with my children. Are you here on business?” She nodded.
    “And to see my mother. She lives in New York.”
    “Thank you for talking to me,” he said gratefully with a mournful expression. “If you weren’t, I’d probably be running down the aisle, screaming.” He had a self-deprecating way about him, and made no secret of his fear, which made him seem very human. She laughed at what he said, and they hit several hard bumps on the way down, as the plane lost altitude in sharp stages. Charles was clutching her arm by then, and didn’t seem to notice, and Ellen was beginning to hope they’d land before he broke her arm or fainted, but she didn’t say anything to him.
    And then suddenly, as they came in over the water, they hit the runway hard, and continued at a great speed, while the pilot fought the high winds to keep the plane steady. She was sure Charles Williams didn’t think so, but it had been a masterful landing, and as she glanced out the window, she noticed emergency vehicles on the runway with their lights flashing. It was unnerving to see them, and it was a first for her, but with seemingly enormous effort, the flight crew slowed the enormous plane, and they stopped for a few minutes before heading for the gate. Charles looked near tears, with a panicked glance at her.
    “Sorry for the rough landing,” the captain apologized. “We had some very strong winds up there tonight. It looks like New York will be meeting Hurricane Ophelia before too long. Welcome to JFK, and thank you for flying with us.”
    “Were those for us?” Charles asked Ellen in a shocked whisper as he noticed the lights flashing on the emergency vehicles next to them, and he suddenly realized he’d been squeezing her arm, and she had let him. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize,” he said as he released