Carl sank into his seat on the crowded airplane and closed his eyes, eager for the long flight ahead to be over as soon as possible. Just as the cabin doors were closing and the attendants began final checks, he felt a sudden jolt against the back of his seat. He turned around to see a young boy, no more than six or seven, sitting in the row behind him. The boy had a playful grin on his face as he lightly kicked Carl’s seat again.
“Hey there, can you please stop kicking my seat?” Carl asked in a friendly tone, trying to get the boy to stop before things escalated. The boy’s mother sat next to him, completely absorbed in her magazine. Not noticing her son’s behavior, she did not look up or intervene. The boy smiled again and tapped the seat once more with his foot.
Carl clenched his jaw in frustration. This was not how he wanted to spend the next five hours. He considered asking the mother directly, but hesitated to cause a scene. The plane accelerated down the runway, and the repeated kicks continued, each one nudging Carl’s seat slightly forward. He took a deep breath and braced himself for the next bump, realizing this was going to be a very long and uncomfortable flight…