plane neighbors

on the ride to seattle, i sat next to an odd fellow. he stacked pillows on the seat then proceeded to stand in the aisle. people scooted around him and the stewardesses told him it was time to sit on 3 occasions. he sat but then as soon as he was legally able...he stood again. i expected a nice flight. i had an exit seat, which means more leg room. but this buffooon kept standing right in front of me, so im having to look slightly to the left or right to avoid staring at his crotch or ass. i hated this man. i hated him for f-ing up my flight. he then sat down and kept fidgeting with his back or pockets. i wasnt sure if he was scratching himself or what.

finally i said, "hey man are you alright? you seem like somethings wrong." he says, "its my syatic nerve in my back it makes sitting really uncomfortable." he continued, "in fact at some point during the flight im probably going to have to lay on the floor with my feet in the chair to get relief."

and about an hour into the 5 hour flight, he did just that. people would walk down the aisle and see him and then do a double take. people looked past me at him and looked shocked. 1 guy goes, "well thats unusual". most made a "what a weirdo" grimace. and here i am sitting next to him. some probably thought we were gay lovers.

after being in his floored position for an hour he taps my leg and motions with his head that i need to move so he can get up. i do and he returns to his seat. he then fiddles with the bottle of some pills and goes "oh no!".

then he says, "please, very, very gingerly move your right foot a smidge to the right...i dropped a pill that is very important to me and you almost stepped on it". i move my foot and sure enough theres a lil pink pill under it. i reach over pick it up and hand it to him.

the guy was weird to say the least. the lady who sat on the other side of him would shoot me a look from time to time that said she was thinking the same thing i was thinking. namely, "what the frig is wrong with this guy". on a couple of occasions we almost broke into laughter when he would go to the restroom.

when he came back i asked him what he did for a living. "im a high school teacher. i teach world religions." this opened up talk about religion and he tells me that he is a messianic jew. raised as a jew and converted to Christianity. he stated that there is a big movement to convert to Christianity in Israel. he told me about how his faith made sense to him and how he believed in a jewish jesus. he talked about the nuances of religion and how he understood the differences of the different religions.

the man transformed before my eyes from a buffoon, to an eccentric, to an ailing soul, to an intellectual, to a man of faith. dont judge a book by its cover or a man by his odd behavior.