One

She couldn't remember a day when she hadn't wanted to fly.

It had all started when she had been very young. Instead of being interested in dolls and dresses, she'd always looked at the toy planes in the shop windows. There wasn't a day when she wasn't flying a toy plane around the house, pretending the crew were on a mission to rescue refugees in the third world, or perhaps they were ferrying cargo to Europe. Sometimes she'd grab her Barbie dolls and pretend the planes were merely carrying passengers to Barbados, or some other exotic hot climate island.

When she was older, her father, seeing how fascinated she was by the sight of an aeroplane, took her to plane-spot in the nearby airport car park. She was entranced immediately by the jumbo jets, and every week, whether accompanied or not, she would take her books with her, and sit on the grassy verge of the motorway by the runway, and watch the planes coming in to land, or taking off on their journey.

Many years passed for the young girl, until in her early twenties she decided she wanted a career in the airport. To be so close to the planes every day, meet the crew members, and make money at the same time – she couldn't think of anything better suited to her.

Within several months, after completing her initial application and interview successfully, followed by rigorous training and tests, not all of which went smoothly, she was finally allocated a place on the check in staff for the Japanese Airline, JAL.

She was so glad to be behind that desk at last. Although she spoke no Japanese, she was what the airline recruiters seemed to be looking for – polite and pretty, with an innocent face, and immaculate clothes and nails. She was also of slim build, but her red hair, which she thought may have been a problem, didn't seem to faze anyone on the panel. The whole process had been difficult, but her perseverance had definitely paid off.

Although her nerves struck her almost wordless on her first day, within a few weeks she was able to talk to her colleagues, take on passenger problems, and generally enjoy her job. Of course there was the odd time when a customer was angry, but she always had the support of the management team within the airport, who were very good with dealing with passengers about any problems that arose.

With this, she settled into her job, went about her daily life, and on her breaks for lunch, she would get in her car, and drive to the grassy verge she had visited so often as a child, and lose herself in fantasies of flight all over again.