The businessman across the aisle sat upright.
The Black woman slowly looked at the hand that had struck her phone.
Then at the older woman.
“You should not have done that.”
The older passenger gave a short laugh.
“What are you going to do?”
The Black woman reached down, recovered the phone, and inspected the screen.
No crack.
The photograph had saved.
So had the short video she had accidentally begun recording when the older woman slapped it.
She placed the phone on the tray table.
Then she pressed the call button above her seat.
The older woman looked amused.
“Calling the babysitter?”
The Black woman ignored her.
A flight attendant appeared less than a minute later.
He was in his early thirties, professional, alert, his expression instantly changing when he saw the soaked trousers.
“Ma’am, are you all right?”
The Black woman nodded.
“I’m not injured.”
The older woman interrupted.
“Turbulence.”
The flight attendant looked toward her.
She gestured casually with the empty glass.
“Plane moved.”
“The wine spilled.”
The businessman across the aisle spoke before the attendant could answer.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
He folded his newspaper.
“The plane wasn’t moving.”
The elderly woman’s smile disappeared.
The businessman pointed toward the glass.
“I watched you tip it.”
The cabin became very quiet.
The flight attendant looked from him to the elderly passenger.
“Sir, you saw the incident?”
“Yes.”
“Clearly?”
“Yes.”
“She poured it on purpose.”
The elderly passenger scoffed.
“That is ridiculous.”
The businessman shrugged.
“It happened three feet from me.”
“You should mind your own business.”
“You poured wine on another passenger.”
“That made it my business.”
The flight attendant crouched slightly beside the aisle.
“Ma’am,” he said to the Black woman, “would you like to move seats?”
She looked around the first-class cabin.
Nearly full.
A few passengers had already stopped pretending not to listen.
“No.”
The attendant nodded.
“What would you like me to do?”
“Document it.”
The elderly woman laughed.
“Oh, please.”
The Black woman continued as though she had not spoken.
“Photograph the seat.”
“Take the witness’s statement.”
“Record the fact that she touched my phone after I began documenting the spill.”
The flight attendant hesitated.
That wording was precise.
Unusually precise.
He looked at her more carefully.
She continued.
“And please note that she claimed turbulence caused the spill after the seat-belt sign had been extinguished and the aircraft had remained level.”
The elderly woman rolled her eyes.
“What are you, a lawyer?”