Act of God

carrying around for a week. “Was this the woman?”
    Jorgensen looked at it. “I don’t think so. The hair is wrong, and she’s—this woman’s too young. The passenger had sunglasses on, but she dressed and... she was just older.”
    I took the photo back. “Did you speak to her?”
    “A little.”
    “Do you remember what she said?”
    “Just introduced herself, thanked me for helping her.”
    “Introduced herself?”
    “Told me her name, said she really appreciated the help because she was going to D.C. to see the Wall.”
    “The Vietnam Memorial?”
    “Yes.”
    “Do you remember her name?”
    “She said it was ‘Hool.’ I made a mental note, thinking ‘Heated Pool.’ Word association, you know, ‘H’ for ‘Heated’ with ‘Pool’ is Mrs. Hool.”
    “Why did you do that?”
    “In case she might need anything on the flight. You keep a little more track of the people who preboard.”
    “Why the ‘Mrs.’?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Why did you say ‘Mrs.’ Houle?”
    “Oh. Her wedding rings. I didn’t ask her about it, though-Thought it might have been her husband.”
    “Her husband?”
    Jorgensen looked at me. “You know... on ‘the Wall?’ ”
    “I understand. Anything else?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Did Mrs. Houle say anything else to you?”
    “I don’t think so. She seemed to be in pretty good shape, except for the limp.”
    “How do you mean?”
    “Well, when I took her arm, it seemed pretty strong under her clothes. Toned, you know?”
    “But she didn’t say anything else?”
    “Not then.”
    “Then?”
    “Not as I found her window seat for her. Just later.”
    “Later?”
    “After the aisle seat arrived. We were only about two-thirds full, so there was going to be an empty middle one between them, but this Mrs. Hool said she had to change her seat.”
    “Why?”
    “She didn’t say. A lot of people with disabilities like an aisle seat, but just as many go for the window, since you don’t have to get up to let other people out all the time. This time, though, when the woman who had the aisle seat arrived—kind of late, just barely made the flight—we’re about to shut the door when Mrs. Hool told me she had to change her seat.”
    “But she didn’t say why.”
    “No. And the way she was, I didn’t ask her.”
    “The way she was?”
    “Kind of weepy and all, tissues in her hand, rubbing under
    her eyes.”
    “The way she’d been as you boarded her?”
    “Yes, only... more so? I guess she was thinking about the Wall.”
    “Then what?”
    “Well, I got Mrs. Hool out of that row and then aft maybe ten, twelve rows. That made the difference.”
    “The difference?”
    “Yes. The way we... hit, she probably would have been okay, because I think the fat lady walked away without a scratch.”
    “The fat lady?”
    “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t say that. The aisle seat, she was pretty heavy.”
    “The woman who would have been next to Mrs. Houle.”
    “Right. Well, a seat away, like I said.”
    “Because of the middle one being open.”
    “Right.”
    I thought about it. “The seat that Mrs. Houle changed to, was that a window seat, too?”
    “No. No, it was a middle seat. I was afraid the other people in her new row would give me a hard time, too. You know, you figure, the doors are sealed, you’ve got that middle seat free, but they saw her limp and the aisle seat in the new row got up so Mrs. Hool could get in the middle.”
    “You know the name of the heavy woman?”
    “No.”
    “Her seat number?”
    “Well, it was the row just forward of...” Jorgensen closed her eyes. “On that aircraft, it would have been ‘13,’ and ‘C’ for the aisle.” She opened her eyes. “That’s what’s so ironic.”
    “The number, you mean?”
    “Yeah. Mrs. Hool stays in 13A, she’s probably okay, because the fat—sorry, the heavyset one, like I said, I think she walked away. Or ran away, like everybody else did.”
    “Except for you.”
    Jorgensen swung her head toward the windshield. “All the good it did.”
    “Your going back into that plane gave the little girl a chance.”
    “Not enough of one.”
    “The only one she had.”
    Jorgensen said, “It’s the tall building in this mall.”
    I pulled into the parking area for a strip of eight stores with a four-story professional building at the far end of it. “Any way I can find out the name of the woman in 13C?”
    “Not airline policy to release that.”
    “Could you find it out