Glide slope.
That wasn't passenger talk. That wasn't even standard traveler jargon. That was cockpit language—the vertical guidance path an instrument system uses to bring a jetliner down safely onto a runway in zero-visibility fog.
"Thank you, ma'am," I whispered, stepping back.
"Oh, please!" Vanessa’s voice cut through the air, dripping with theatrical nausea. "Now she’s dispensing life advice from the discount bin. Nathan, bring me another wine before you sit down. A full glass. And make sure it’s actually cold this time."
"Ms. Sterling, the captain has instructed all crew to take our jumpseats immediately due to turbulence," I said firmly. "I will be happy to assist you once the seatbelt sign is turned off."
"It's a tiny bump!" she snapped, waving her hand dismissively. "Do your job. I am not sitting here for fifteen minutes dry because the pilots are afraid of a breeze."
"I cannot violate flight deck safety directives, ma'am," I replied, holding my ground.
Vanessa’s face turned an ugly, mottled red.
She looked from me to the woman in 2A, who was calmly holding her porcelain cup with both hands, watching the clouds drift past the wingtip outside.
Something in that quiet woman’s total indifference seemed to snap whatever thin thread of composure Vanessa had left.
"You think you're better than me, don't you?" Vanessa hissed, leaning completely over the wide shared armrest until her face was barely twelve inches from 2A's shoulder.
The quiet woman didn't turn.
"I asked you a question, old woman," Vanessa snarled, her voice dropping into a vicious, venomous whisper. "You sit there in your thrift-store rags, ignoring me like you’re royalty. You're nothing. You're a charity case on a standby seat. People like you shouldn't even be allowed to look at people like me."
The quiet woman took one slow, deliberate sip of her lemon water.
"Child," she said, her voice barely louder than the air vents overhead, yet vibrating with an authority so heavy it made the air feel suddenly dense, "you have confused the price of your ticket with the value of your character. It is an expensive mistake. And you are going to pay for it shortly."
Vanessa gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief that this woman had dared to speak back to her.