I was in the Northeast for Christmas where we were given a generous helping of snow on Christmas day. Mother Nature had not given such a cold and bounteous Christmas gift since weather records were first kept in the late 1800’s. The roads cleared up the next day and by Saturday the runway in Manchester was clear and dry.

During the flight home I was treated to the full sound of DTS (Distressed Toddler’s Shrieks). I assume there were so many because during the holiday season young families take their children to visit the grandparents. One of the aforementioned children was in the aisle seat of my row. When the woman sitting in the middle seat got off the plane, he crawled over to the vacated seat and began a deluge of questions. He asked a question every 0.16 seconds for the rest of the trip. The 8-year-old interrogator even asked if he was asking too many questions. I said yes, thinking he might stop. He persisted.

I attempted to read the book I had, but soon realized that he was not slowing down. Plus, it wasn’t worth trying to read. I had been on the same paragraph since the inquiry began, rereading the first sentence after each question distracted me. He finally asked if I wanted to play cards, and I consented. If nothing else, it slowed the rate of queries.

When I arrived at the gate in Atlanta, I learned that my flight would not go directly to Salt Lake City. Instead I had to fly from Atlanta to Tulsa, from Tulsa to Oklahoma City and finally from there to Salt Lake. The flight from Tulsa to Oklahoma City was so short that when the flight attendant got on the intercom after our takeoff, it was to inform us that we had been cleared to land. The rest of the flights were uneventful.

It was a nice vacation and I enjoyed the snow on Christmas day, but it was also nice to be home. Oh, and please, no more questions.