It was 12:35 p.m., lunch had
been served, drinks had
been served and the jet
liner steadied through mid-
air and the movie came on:
"The Dream of the Dancer." a nice
slight plot of a film featuring a junket
of third rate actors. It was a Miami to
L.A. flight, #654 on a Thursday in
March, almost clear skies, not much
doing. The biggest problem was a
back-up at the restrooms, small lines
forming, but that was standard after
lunch and drinks. The passengers
were an admixture of male and
female, none of them exceptional,
unusual or desperate except for
three: Kikid, Nurmo and Dak. They
had three seats, right, side, middle.
They had been observing the others
and speaking quietly. Then as a
stewardess walked by, Kikid nodded
and Dak jumped up with the length
of wrapping twine which was formed
into a noose. He trailed behind her,
then dropped the twine over her
head and tightened it, held her there.

"Quiet, bitch, or you die!"
Most of the passengers were aware
of the proceedings but they just
stared like cows or they acted as if
they were watching a movie which
had nothing to do with them.
Nurmo and Kikid jumped up. They
were all small young men, dark, thin,
nervous.
"Take her up to the captain and
begin proceedings." Kikid said to
Dak.
The passengers watched as Dak
pushed the stewardess toward the
pilot's compartment. A heavy-set
young man further up the aisle from
Kikid and Nurmo turned on his seat
and said to them. "Listen, you'd better
change your minds about this thing,
this is a very serious thing."

"Listen, man." Kikid said, "you stay
out of this!"
"Yeah, man." said Nurmo, "you stay
the fuck out of this!"
The heavy-set young man, who
might have been a football player,
continued: "I'm just warning you for
your own good."

She had a beautiful
behind, so full and
young, a truly
maddening rump.

"Listen, man I'll give the warnings
around here!" Kikid responded.
"I just want to repeat." continued
the young man. "that...."
"God damn you! What did I tell
you? What the god damn hell did I tell
you?"
Kikid ran up to where the young
man was sitting. The young man saw
him coming and started to rise but he
had to undo his seat belt first. It cost
him. Kikid grabbed him by the collar.
then something flashed in his hand-
it was a metal can opener. He
gouged the pointed end into one of
the young man's eyes and twisted.
The scream of pain almost shook the
aircraft. The young man held both of
his hands to his head where the eye
had been. The eye was on the floor.
Kikid looked down, saw it, stepped on
it with his shoe, crushing it like a snail.
"Now." he said, "you want to keep
your other eye, you keep your fuck-
ing face shut!"
Just then the captain's voice came
on over the intercom: "THIS IS CAP-
TAIN EVANS. I'M SORRY TO INFORM
YOU BUT THIS PLANE HAS BEEN
HIJACKED. WE HAVE NOW CHANGED
COURSE TO HAVANA, CUBA. PLEASE
COOPERATE WITH THE HIJACKERS.
DO NOTHING TO CAUSE HARM TO
YOURSELF OR ANY OF THE OTHER
PASSENGERS. THANK YOU."
"All right." said Kikid, "now I want
everybody to stay in your seats."
"Yeah." said Nurmo, "stay in...