“I teach that too.”
Good.
The company adopted the phrase.
RESPECT IS NOT AN UPGRADE.
Posters.
Training portals.
Employee cards.
Isaiah hated slogans.
This one survived.
Evelyn received lifetime first-class travel automatically because of her son.
She rarely used it.
“I prefer trains.”
Isaiah stared.
“You are personally insulting my business.”
“Trains have scenery.”
“So do airplanes.”
“Clouds.”
“Beautiful clouds.”
“They all look alike.”
Impossible woman.
At eighty-four, Evelyn took another Bennett Meridian flight alone.
Isaiah offered an assistant.
“No.”
Driver to airport.
“Yes.
At least.
She wore blue this time.
Not yellow.
The gate agent recognized her immediately.
Evelyn noticed.
“Don’t.”
The agent froze.
“Ma’am?”
“Treat me normally.”
“I am.”
“You’re terrified.”
The agent laughed nervously.
Evelyn smiled.
“Better.”
Onboard, a young attendant scanned her pass.
“Seat 3A.”
“Thank you.”
No fuss.
No special announcement.
Evelyn sat.
Across the aisle was a young Black man in paint-stained work pants.
He looked uncomfortable.
The attendant approached.
“Mr. Lewis?”
“Yes.”
“Welcome.”
She checked his pass.
“3C.”
He looked surprised.
“That’s it?”
The attendant smiled.
“That’s it.”
Evelyn looked out the window.
She did not tell Isaiah about that moment until months later.
When she did, he became quiet.
“You think the training worked?”
She shrugged.
“For one passenger.”
“That’s all any system ever does at one time.”
Isaiah remembered that.
Years passed.
His mother grew slower.
The yellow hat remained.
She wore it to her eighty-seventh birthday lunch.
Isaiah brought flowers.
She complained.
“You know I prefer plants.”
“I know.”
“So why flowers?”
“Because they’re beautiful.”
“They’ll die.”
“So will we.”
Evelyn stared.
“That’s a terrible birthday message.”
Isaiah laughed.
She did too.
Later she asked:
“Do people still talk about that flight?”
“Sometimes.”
“What do they say?”
“That Vale picked the wrong passengers.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes.
“They still don’t understand.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Do you?”
Isaiah smiled.
“I’m learning.”
“Good answer.”