My seatmate on the plane looks like Stephen King. With white hair and sport dress; blue t-shirt, gray sweatpants, red sneakers, black fanny pack, and mountain sunglasses. And although from time to time he glances at this computer screen where I type, he hardly imagines that it is part of an article that will be published in La Vanguardia on May 17, 2022. If he stops me, if he questions me, if he reads these lines and laughs , or complain or ask for a more careful or sweetened portrait of your character, I will modify it according to your wishes.
The screens, in general, have something magnetic, hypnotic about them. They shine and move on their own. The screens of others add curiosity to these elements, the look through the lock of a door, the little hole in the wall through which to briefly spy on the interests, the conversations, the lives of others. Who hasn't briefly followed someone else's WhatsApp conversation or watched a part of a series on a stranger's mobile?
Precisely on the screens of the planes a message appears that says to take into account the people who sit next to you, and that if you see something that may offend them, look at something else.
On one of the flights I've been on lately I saw Spencer. Movie where a spectacular Kristen Stewart plays the role of Diana of Wales. And she vomits often. At a certain point, I realized that while I was watching a vomiting scene, the man next to me was eating. And I could have felt bad, or I could have changed the movie, if it weren't for the fact that this American gentleman was convinced that, although we had paid the same for our seats, he was entitled to considerably more space, and was earning the illustrious recognition as the worst airline seatmate I've ever had.
A few days later, on another flight, in the middle of a movie with some sex scenes, I noticed that my new seatmate, who was much nicer but must have been seven years old, was looking at my screen more than his movie The Avengers. .
I think that today I can be calm with my neighbor, who is grateful for the equitable distribution of space. On the one hand, it is obvious that he does not read Spanish. On the other hand, I'm sure King's stomach, or his counterpart, would take any movie. And finally, because when the cabin lights went down, he fell asleep.
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