Here One Moment
by Liane Moriarty
Contents
Chapter 22
Overview
As the plane prepares to land, Allegra and the crew finally manage to guide the fortune-telling woman back to her seat after she issues several more predictions to passengers. Ellie discovers that telling the woman she has "completed her task" effectively ends the episode. In a final, deeply personal moment, the woman predicts Allegra will die of self-harm at age twenty-eight, a prediction that triggers a disturbing visceral response and childhood memory in the flight attendant.
Summary
As the flight prepares for landing, flight attendant Allegra struggles to manage the chaotic situation. The captain announces cabin preparation, but Allegra is stuck in the middle of the plane dealing with the fortune-telling woman, who is still making her way through the cabin issuing predictions. Fellow crew member Kim handles the cockpit acknowledgment from the front of the plane.
Allegra spots Ellie finally emerging from the galley and is frustrated to learn that Ellie had been tending to Anders, who fainted due to intermittent fasting. When Ellie encountered the older woman, she didn't realize the situation—the woman told Ellie she had bladder cancer and was eighty-eight, and Ellie simply offered sympathy. Once Allegra explains the woman is upsetting passengers, they both move to intervene.
The woman continues issuing predictions as Allegra tries to stop her: she tells a curly-haired woman she'll die of heart failure at ninety-five (the woman is delighted), points at a man in AirPods and predicts road injury at sixty-four (he doesn't hear), tells a chip-eating woman about smoke inhalation from a house fire at fifty-nine, and predicts kidney disease at ninety-three for a large man Allegra thinks of as "superhero." The superhero physically blocks the woman's path, helping the crew.
Ellie finds the key to stopping the woman by telling her she has "completed her task"—words that seem to act as a trigger. The woman accepts this, asks for ice water, and allows herself to be led back to her seat. The atmosphere on the plane is hushed and tense, like a classroom after a teacher's outburst.
Once seated and drinking her water, the woman turns to Allegra and begins one final prediction: she points at Allegra's forehead and says she expects "self-harm" at age twenty-eight. The phrase deeply unsettles Allegra, triggering a visceral childhood memory of feeling crushed in a small mustard-colored room. The woman's eyes close briefly, then she opens them to confirm the age—twenty-eight—just as the pilot calls for the cabin crew to be seated for landing.
Who Appears
- AllegraLead flight attendant struggling to manage the chaos; receives a disturbing prediction of self-harm at age 28.
- The lady (fortune teller)Elderly woman (88, claims bladder cancer) who completes her predictions before being guided back to her seat.
- EllieFlight attendant who finds the key phrase to stop the woman and helps manage the situation.
- AndersFlight attendant who fainted from intermittent fasting but recovered after eating.
- KimBusiness-class flight attendant who handles cockpit communication on Allegra's behalf.
- SuperheroLarge male passenger who physically blocks the woman's path, predicted kidney disease at 93.