John decided: F*** it. He was going to go to the wedding
early. He’s get off work at noon, pack, pick up Carolyn at her sister’s, head
to the airport. He was looking forward to the flight to Martha’s Vineyard at
dusk, such a beautiful time to be in the sky. Since he was fairly new to
piloting, he’d still not gotten used to the stunning vistas of the Atlantic
from the cockpit. Beautiful and peaceful.
He called Carolyn at work to tell her about the change in
plans. As he rang her office, he smiled, thinking about how excited she’d be
about getting there a day early. Well, a night early, anyway.
“Let’s head up to the Vineyard tonight, surprise Rory, “John
said, smiling on his end of the line. Perfect planning. He couldn’t wait.
“What? Don’t you remember we’re meeting Calvin tonight for
drinks? John, we’ve had this on the calendar for weeks…” Carolyn pouted.
John blew out a long breath. “Oh, shit…you’re right…I did
forget. Is it that important? It couldn’t wait? Picture Rory’s face when we get
there tonight…” John wasn’t letting this go. He really could picture the whole
scene: Rory, her fiancé, and her extended family, whom John thought of as his
brothers and sisters, not the cousins they were.
John lost the argument that night, if you’d call it an
argument. Carolyn, John, and Calvin met for drinks at 7 at The Palm, then headed
to Calvin’s favorite speakeasy in Midtown Manhattan, just blocks away from the
Palm. A beautiful July night in the city. And Friday nights in July in
Manhattan were pretty low key, as everyone was already out of town.
On a different Friday night three years later, also in July,
John and Carolyn welcomed a petite baby girl. They named their first daughter
Janet, after Jackie’s mother. John maybe would have chosen Rose, but his sister
Caroline had already scooped that choice up. And, ironically, Rose Schlossberg
looked like Jackie. The way these things turned out…you couldn’t predict it,
couldn’t plan it. Later on, Elizabeth was born, making their family complete.
The girls were front and center when their dad announced his
run for the presidency in 2015 at the Democratic national convention in—again—July.
Their mother didn’t like the attention, couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel
and relax, but Janet and Liz ate it up. And how Liz was Carolyn’s mini-me, and
Janet truly resembled the great-grandmother she was named after…well, the press
ate THAT up.
The water rushed in
fast, filling the cockpit quickly. There was no one to notice, no one alive to
marvel at the shock of it all; all three passengers were dead on impact. Truly,
their collective consciousness didn’t absorb it, couldn’t process it, for their
brains were one step behind the trauma of it.
As the water covered
their bodies, John came to rest on Carolyn, with Carolyn’s sister Lauren
resting against the back window. Nothing disturbed this tableau until the
divers discovered the twisted plane a week later. By then, these stunningly
beautiful people were no longer beautiful; in fact, they no longer resembled
people.
Those moments that didn’t happen…how grateful we are, we’ll
never know.
