A column of whiskers. He has cookie neck at one stage in travel. At other stages smileyguy, fussbucket commander, spittoon, calendar baby, google eye monster. All kinds of names in our pockets. The waitress in Detroit told us how fast it goes and a couple with a five month old traveling to Vienna congratulated us. The bags tagged pink with his seat and stroller. His head in the spotlight pulsing. The pushback a suggestion and we laid him on the floor in the nursing room so he could catch the flourescence and a hint at memory to snatch in the future. Ladybug jangling, bandana bib soaked through. There’s a system to game with seating. We place the belts where we’re asked. We unclip him like a lion when the ship begins to move, learning the reason for this feeling unsafe. If something. We’re to happen. Winglight and a bank on physics. To take us back to the greygreen and the crisp leaves not yet turned. How he looked at the windows for their pattern and maybe out past them to the light that was scattering through cloud. Machines lifting through the air. The air lifting too in us.