Dear Edward

The plane flies through an unusually high rainstorm. Benjamin remembers having a fight with Gavin on their base two weeks before an enemy shot him. Gavin accused him of sighing, and Benjamin, frustrated, attacked him. When he had Gavin pinned on the ground, though, he felt the urge to touch Gavin’s cheek or kiss him. Other soldiers noticed.

In first class, Crispin talks to another businessman—presumably Mark—about his previous rounds as a lecturer. Mark looks up to Crispin, but Crispin realizes that his old age has left him lonely.

In coach, Jordan realizes that Edward has been holding his hands to the window “for exactly twenty seconds, then pulled it away for ten” (127). Jordan is jealous of Edward’s musical talent, to which he attributes the perfect timing. Jordan considers telling Edward about Mahira, but instead “He and his brother pull apart, and he knows the division, however slight, hurts them both” (128). There is a growing rift between Edward and Jordan even before the crash.

Edward wears Jordan’s clothes on the first day of 2014. He learns that he will receive five million dollars on his 21st birthday from insurance companies, something that NTSB members will discuss in a hearing he has chosen to attend.