A pleasant turnaround

As soon as I boarded the plane, I knew this was going to be a long flight. My seat was cramped, the air conditioning was barely working.

It was a warm summer day and a packed commercial flight that was en route from New York to Los Angeles. The plane was filled with travelers of all ages, some of whom were on their way to important business meetings while others were heading to sunny California for a vacation.

The guy sitting next to me snored before we took off. I settled in with a book, hoping to pass the time quickly. I tried reading but the discomfort I was in, made it difficult for me to concentrate so I dropped the book and decided to close my eyes and try to sleep, the loud snoring noise from the guy beside me made that impossible, so I shifted in my seat, hoping to find a more comfortable position, not much was achieved with that.

However, as the plane reached its cruising altitude, a commotion broke out near the back of the cabin.

A passenger, a middle-aged man, began to shout and wave his arms wildly, alarming those around him. The flight attendants quickly rushed over to the man, trying to calm him down and figure out what was causing his outburst.

It soon became apparent that the man was suffering from a panic attack. He had a fear of flying and had taken a sedative to calm his nerves before the flight, but it had not been effective. As the plane continued its journey, the man's fear escalated, and he had become increasingly agitated.

The flight attendants tried to reassure the man, offering him water and trying to get him to breathe deeply. However, their efforts were in vain, and the man's panic continued to grow. Passengers around him began to get nervous, and some even started to cry, unsure of what was happening.

A woman across the aisle offered to sit beside the man, an offer that the passenger seating next to the anxious man readily accepted.

After the exchange of seats, the woman pulled out a deck of cards and started shuffling them with lightning speed. Before I knew it, she had drawn a crowd of passengers who were watching her with rapt attention including the man who was suffering from a panic attack.

As it turned out, this woman was a professional card magician, and she proceeded to put on a show that rivaled anything I had ever seen on TV. She made cards appear out of thin air, guessed the exact card someone was thinking of, and even managed to make an entire deck of cards vanish and reappear in someone's pocket.

The whole plane was buzzing with excitement as she finished her final trick, and I realized that I had completely forgotten about my cramped seat and the snoring guy next to me. For the rest of the flight, I struck up conversations with my fellow passengers, some of whom were fellow travelers while others were part of the magician's entourage.

The man who had a panic attack at the beginning of the flight was also relaxed and was contributing to all conversations around him, it turned out he had a very good sense of humor.

As the plane started its descent, the magician came over to me and handed me a card. "Thanks for being such a great audience," she said with a smile. "I hope you enjoyed the show."

I noticed that the man seated beside her also got a card and was so excited about it, I looked down at the card in my hand and saw that it was a personalized business card with her name and contact information. Who knew that a flight which started on such an uncomfortable and panic-loaded note could turn out to be such an unexpected and magical experience?