“Always are,” Rebecca said. “Watch! We won’t even get to cruising altitude before there’s an issue.”
Simone’s eyes filled with tears. Naomi put her arm around her. “Don’t let them see you cry. Hold your head up. Remember what mama said.” Jeffrey Davidson pulled out his phone, opened his voice memo app, and hit Record.
The plane reached cruising altitude. Rebecca began the beverage service. She was professional and polite until she reached Row 24. She stopped. The smile vanished.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” Simone whispered.
Rebecca didn’t acknowledge her.
“Ma’am, may we please have three apple juices, please?” Naomi asked respectfully.
Rebecca’s laugh was cruel and mocking. “Apple juice. Do you have money to pay for that? Complimentary for paying passengers. Are you paying passengers or are you on some kind of assistance program?”
“Our mother purchased our tickets, ma’am. We’re flying to meet her in New York,” Naomi said, her voice shaking but steady.
“Oh, your mother. I see. And where exactly is your mother right now? Or did social services book these tickets for you?” Rebecca’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “Most children traveling alone are on charity programs. Troubled kids, system kids, kids whose parents can’t afford them, so they get passed around. Is that what you are? Are you girls getting passed around because nobody wants you?”
Simone burst into open tears. Rebecca grabbed three small bottles of apple juice from the cart and dropped them hard onto their tray tables. Simone, shaking from crying, fumbled. The bottle slipped, and juice exploded all over her purple dress.
“My dress, Mama’s dress. I ruined it!” Simone cried in horror.
“Maybe you should be more careful,” Rebecca said, her voice ice cold. “Some of us have to work for what we have. We can’t just replace everything whenever we break it. But I guess you wouldn’t know about that, would you?” She pushed the cart away, leaving Simone sobbing and Naomi frantically trying to clean the stain.
Jeffrey Davidson started a new voice recording, detailing the harassment, the racist assumptions, and the deliberate mishandling of the beverage service.
Devon cornered Rebecca in the galley. “Beck, you humiliated them! That child is 8 years old! You deliberately…”
“I didn’t do anything,” Rebecca cut him off. “She spilled her own drink. She’s clumsy.”