Someone unexpected just sat down next to you on an airplane. Who is it, and what have you always wanted to say to them?
The airline oversold the flight. I wasn’t the unlucky bastard who got selected to not fly, but who does this on a holiday week? We’re all just trying to get somewhere to visit family, you know? At least I got in on the first call to general seating, and my carry-on was small, so I got to my seat and settled long before the plane filled. Keep a low profile, but walk like you own the world, that’s my travel motto.
They came down the aisle and asked the guy next to me to give up his seat. I thought he was going to fight them, but they offered him a nice sum of money and he said, “What the hell.”
The young man who took his place excused himself as he squeezed by me for the middle seat. Dark complexioned, well-groomed, professional. Looked like he could afford a first class seat, but here he was in 20B. We didn’t speak until after take-off and the plane leveled out. I opened my e-reader and he opened his lap top.
I didn’t mean to see his name or the subject of the email. Khaled Hosseini. The Khaled Hosseini. You know: author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, And the Mountains Echoed? THAT author.
He didn’t stay on his email, but moved to a website -his website- and started answering fan mail. Me, I flipped out of the book I was reading and scanned through my e-reader. I found A Thousand Splendid Suns and reached for my courage. I held up my reader and said to him, “This book changed my life.”
He smiled. “I am glad to hear that. How did it change your life? Tell me about it.”
The flight passed quickly. We stood to disembark and he turned to me, “Thank you for telling me your story. I only want to tell the stories from my homeland, and yet they seem to resound with so many people. If you have a chance, I have a charity to help the people of Afghanistan. But if you will only encourage others to read my books to understand my people, it will be worth it to me.”
Then he reached into his briefcase and pulled out a copy of his newest book, signed it, and handed it to me. “It has been my pleasure.”
Truly a fantasy. š
Jaci Dawn 
Excellent, it did not read like a fantasy. It had a ring of truth.