I was quite taken by an item I read last week which centres on that Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared. Jestingly, the writer suggested a brief scenario that would lead to a man being incarcerated in his girlfriend’s flat forever. Now, for some readers, that may not sound like the worst fate the universe has to offer. You don’t have to be scintillatingly imaginative to devise your own scenarios for your list of the ten worst fates that could befall a person.
As a digression, I have to say that I find the proliferation of lists of the 10 or the 100 or even the 1000 whatevers you have to see/hear/read/visit/do before you die, utterly nauseating. I mean, in this neck of the woods, the idea of getting some individuals to read one book before they die would be a Herculean task. I also find the idea that some other dude is going to tell me what to read, what to listen to, where to visit, or anything else about how I should run my life, impertinent and arrogant. These lists take into account neither individual taste nor individual intelligence, which says a good deal about the compiler’s taste and intelligence – or lack of both.
Anyway, I want to add flesh to the young man’s skeletal scenario. It goes like this: Let us suppose that a male passenger from another city is booked on the flight for a business trip to China. Then let us suppose the flight is merely a ruse to convince his wife that he will be away on business. Meanwhile, the truth is he has no intention of undertaking the trip, despite the ticket, but is planning to spend that time with his long-distance girlfriend, who, conveniently, lives in the same town as the airport. He mingles at the airport to be seen, then heads to the girlfriend’s place. Meanwhile, the plane takes off … He learns the plane’s disappeared on his girlfriend’s television while they’re snuggling up together. Now, he’s missing, presumed dead. And he might as well be! Such a delicious dilemma.
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