I’ve just turned fourteen, and as a delightful surprise, my family is taking me on a trip to London. With a highly anticipated game set to be released on May 12th, I’m aiming to achieve 100% completion on its predecessor before it hits the shelves, so I bring along my trusty Switch.
The plane is about to take off, and I’ve settled into my seat with my sister sitting in the middle, quietly reading. My parents are seated up front, and the way the seats are arranged leaves wide gaps between them. I notice a young child, around seven or eight years old, staring at me through the gaps. I give him a friendly smile, but his attention is firmly fixed on the screen in front of him, so I return to my gaming session.
Mid-flight, the child taps me on the shoulder, looking at me with excitement.
Child: “You play [Game], too?”
Me: “Uh, yeah.”
The child starts chatting animatedly about the game, sharing all the things he’s done. I learn that he used to visit his best friend’s house all the time, but they moved shortly after he won, and how frustrated he is that he won’t be able to play the sequel until Christmas.
He falls silent for a while, and I resume my gaming. My sister has now drifted off to sleep.
I gently set my Switch inside my bag to avoid waking her up, and instead, I browse through some of the books I brought. My backpack is an older one from school, and it has a padded strap area where you usually put a computer or tablet. The strap has broken off, so we’ve added a knot-like thing that’s notoriously difficult to open. It’s extra padded, so I place my Switch inside and go about my business.
You can probably guess what’s about to happen.
I suddenly feel my backpack being snatched out from under my feet, and I whirl around to try to figure out where it’s gone. A middle-aged woman is angrily trying to tear open the strap, while the child is glued to the in-flight TVs.
Me: “What the heck?”
The woman ignores me and continues to struggle with the strap. So, I reach in and grab my backpack.
Woman: “HELP! THIS LADY IS TRYING TO STEAL MY BACKPACK!”
A flight attendant quickly rushes over. My sister wakes up with a frown on her face.
The flight attendant takes one look at the woman forcefully wrenching the strap, the lavender purple backpack with hand sanitizer keychains and a hooked-on Squishmallow, and me trying to reclaim my bag.
Me: “That’s my bag! She’s trying to steal my Switch!”
The woman has now pulled out a large pair of plastic scissors, the kind you’d give to a young kid for a craft project. The flight attendant starts blowing a whistle to get everyone’s attention.
Woman: “STOP THAT! YOU’RE SCARING [CHILD]!”
The child in question looked rather defeated and annoyed, if anything.
Multiple larger staff members came over and restrained the woman for having a weapon, though unfortunately, there was no duct tape. We landed, and the police quickly arrived to escort her off the plane while she was screaming about how “her dear baby needs his console” and still tugging on my bag.
It took a good twenty minutes to get my bag back, but thankfully, nothing was damaged. A man and a woman arrived with another young boy in tow, and the child from the plane ran over with a loud call of, “DAD!”
Turns out the “best friend” was actually his stepbrother. The dad had moved away with his family because the mom was stalking him after she cheated and they divorced. They had joint custody, but this was apparently the mother’s last chance, and she was trying to leave on a vacation – which she wasn’t allowed to do with the child – probably to try to escape since she was at the end of her rope.
My sister ended up playing with them while we sorted things out, and my mom and the child’s stepmom are now in touch for playdate purposes. The father now has full custody.
