a man sat next to jordan castro and i on a plane to cleveland, ohio from chicago, illinois
the man was wearing timberlands with tan pants and a jacket with a lot of pockets
he said something like 'hi how y'all doin'' then said he was just released from the army to visit home for christmas
the man said his name was sergeant ellis and held out his hand to jordan then me
jordan sneezed and sergeant ellis looked at him
he said 'aw no you sick and you don't got that vitamin c?'
jordan expressed that he had eaten many oranges recently
sergeant ellis said 'but you don't got one now!' while opening his eyes really wide
he pointed at me and said 'see she got that vitamin c' while moving his head up and down
i laughed
jordan and sergeant ellis talked while i looked out the window
sergeant ellis said he hadn't been around his family for christmas in 8 years
i asked if he felt nervous and he said no
the plane started moving really fast and my body was pushed into the seat
sergeant ellis looked at jordan and said he looked like an actor
'brett... brett huston?'
the plane was in the air
jordan said he didn't know who that was and that he wasn't an actor
sergeant ellis asked where we go to college
jordan said 'we are still in high school'
sergeant ellis leaned forward in his seat and said 'what! you lyin! i'm done talkin' to you...no. i am done talkin' to you 'cause you lyin''
jordan said 'i have my ID i can show you'
sergeant ellis held up his hand and looked into the aisle and said 'no don't show me no ID you lyin''
he shook his head while smiling and said 'high school...'
he looked at jordan without turning his head
he mentioned how he didn't' have a woman and jordan did while pointing at me
sergeant ellis and jordan talked while i looked out the window
i heard sergeant ellis say something about that when men gain weight they gain muscle, but with women they get 'j-lo bu*ts'
he said that if i get a j-lo bu*t jordan should 'just feel on it'
sergeant ellis said to not get me pregnant and to not to tell me how much money he's got in the bank
sergeant ellis laughed and said 'i'm just playin' i'm just a black man just tryina have fun'
he leaned over jordan and pointed at me
'and she so innocent looking! you! you look like you cook muffins all day!'
my hands were on my lap on top of my winter coat
i touched my hands
sergeant ellis pointed at my coat with his whole hand and said 'she old! she sittin' with her coat on her lap playin' with her hands! see i told you she old!''
he looked at jordan and shook his head
'she foolin' you...'
he then began to tell jordan that i was fooling him
he said 'she play it up like she don't got no bracelets, or rings, or necklaces, or nails did, or earrins'
while he said this he was pointing to the related body parts on me
he rocked in his seat while laughing and said 'i'm just foolin''
i looked out the window more
sergeant ellis was quiet then said something about how when jordan takes me to the grocery store, i take my book bag and steal all the vegetables
he said 'she got a knife down there in her book bag, she foolin' you. she got a knife in there with the vegetables'
we laughed then i stared out the window
someone in a seat in front of us turned and looked at us then quickly turned around again
sergeant ellis said 'shooo anything can be a weapon! this here can be a weapon!' while slamming down the tray attached to the back of the seat in front of us
he said 'i can slam your head down and close this up' excitedly while looking at us with his eyebrows raised and really wide eyes
i felt panicked and said that we are on a plane and you can't say things like that
we looked around
we saw a flight attendant walking down the aisle with a cart pouring drinks
sergeant ellis asked a tall female flight attendant a question then looked at jordan and smirked while she walked away
eventually the drink cart was next to us
sergeant ellis asked for 'a bud' then offered to buy us drinks
jordan and i said 'no thank you'
jordan asked the flight attendant for an orange juice and sergeant ellis said he would pay
the flight attendant told him non-alcoholic drinks were free
sergeant ellis continued to fumble with his money
she poured the drinks and walked away
sergeant ellis opened his drink and put it on his tray
i pretended to be asleep
sergeant ellis lectured jordan about women in a whisper voice
jordan would laugh a little then say 'ok' or 'alright' then sergeant ellis would start talking again
at one point sergeant ellis was talking for a longer amount of time and i heard him 'she prolly ain't even sleepin!'
i waited a minute before adjusting my position and opened my eyes a little and saw his dark face smiling at me
he said 'see! see! nah but i'm jus playin' you go back to sleep'