Airport Page #5

for Continental Flight 221 to Denver

please report

to the Continental ticket counter

to arrange for a complimentary dinner.

Of course, if it's not crowded, I...

Here's the ticket. It's Flight 103.

Thank you.

No, you don't.

My, she has a suspicious nature.

Go on. You were saying that you prefer

the flights that aren't direct.

Yes. That's why your Flight 86

is my favorite.

St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago.

But I should think that they check

at all the intermediate stops.

I pretend to be asleep.

Usually they don't disturb me.

But this time they caught you.

It was that man sitting next to me.

I confided in him

and he betrayed me

to the stewardess.

He was a policeman from San Diego.

I think they should make them

always wear their uniforms.

Otherwise, how's a person to know?

Hi, Mel. I was just

gonna have you paged.

I had to go out on the field.

We got trouble.

I was talked to the lawyer

for the Meadowood people.

He says unless we stop planes

from taking off over

their houses by midnight

he's starting a damage suit

first thing in the morning,

for $10 million.

That's a nice, round figure,

but he hasn't got a prayer.

He might not win, but he can sue.

And any legal action will only make

our public relations

worse than they already are.

And that's something

the other commissioners and I

don't want to risk.

What do you propose to do?

There's only one answer.

Shut down runway two-two and cut out

the noise over Meadowood.

With two-niner out, that closes

down the airport completely.

Only until morning.

After all you've promised them

dozens of times

you wouldn't disturb their sleep.

I promised them we wouldn't take off

over their houses

unless there was an emergency

and I promised them something else.

In the foreseeable future

the noise problem

would not get any better.

If you don't want to spend

a couple of months in court

you'd better start

conning them a little.

You think lying to them is the answer?

Mel.

There's your answer.

A modern, expanded airport

big and efficient enough

to take anything the designers

can throw at us.

That means buying up Meadowood

and rezoning it for industrial use

so the noise won't make

any difference.

I didn't come here to talk about

the future of aviation.

You better start.

And you better start looking

ahead a few years.

What are we gonna do about

these jumbos that seat 500 passengers?

How will we get the people

to and from the airport?

Save that for the women's clubs

and the Rotary luncheons.

We've got to be practical.

Sure, sure. Ignore it.

Don't stick your neck out.

It's about time that you

and the other commissioners

began fighting for a bond issue

to finance this kind of an airport

instead of running around checking

to see if the toilets flush.

I don't think insulting me

will solve anything

so why don't we get back

to our immediate problem?

We've got to make

a decision about tonight.

I've made it.

The airport's staying open.

Stop being so bull-headed.

Think of the consequences.

Don't talk to me about consequences.

When Congress voted

to cut airport appropriations

you never even sent in

a letter of protest.

Where were you when the airlines

and the pilots and the rest of us

were pleading for more airports

and better traffic control?

You were picking out

the colors in the ladies' lounge.

So now you've got your consequences,

congested air traffic

where Sunday pilots hold up airliners

with thousands of people aboard

and force us to stack up planes bound

for New York as far away as Denver.

When it comes to politics,

you're a child.

Two of our councilmen

live in Meadowood.

Think what they can do to us downtown.

I'm thinking of those pilots

upstairs waiting to land

flying blind in that muck

and circling in holding patterns

and praying to God

that some tired, overworked

underpaid controller in the tower

doesn't have another plane

on the same course.

You can call it pigheaded,

call it anything you want.

But as long as we're not below

FAA minimums, we're not closing down.

All right, if that's

the way you want it.

I'm calling the other commissioners

and I'll let you know

what our decision is within an hour.

That's your privilege.

You hired me. You've got

the right to fire me.

But until you do,

this airport is staying open.

Do you wish to make a reservation?

No, I don't.

Could you please tell me

if there's a flight to Rome tonight?

Yes. Our Golden Argosy, Flight Two.

It departs at 10:00 p.m.

Only tonight, it's delayed one hour

due to weather conditions.

Could you... It's very

important to me to find out

if somebody's on that flight.

His name is D.O. Guerrero.

I'm terribly sorry. We're not allowed

to give out that information.

You don't understand.

The person I'm asking

about is my husband.

Well, I'm sorry,

but it's a company rule.

You might go out to the airport

if you can get there before

they board the flight

you could see your husband

if he's there.

I see.

That's the only way, I suppose.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for calling Trans Global.

Why didn't you tell me this before?

I tried.

But we were in a hurry, and...

You're sure?

Do you mean am I sure I'm pregnant

or am I sure you're the father?

Come on, Gwen. I didn't...

The answer to both questions is yes.

You know I wasn't asking...

You have a perfect right to.

I want you to know something, Vern.

That there hasn't been

anyone else but you.

You see, there couldn't be.

I happen to love you.

I'm afraid I was careless.

I stopped taking the pills

because they were

making me gain weight.

So instead of being plump,

I'm pregnant.

Stop twisting your wedding ring.

I know you've got a wife.

I know you can't marry me.

I knew it in the beginning.

I won't make things difficult for you.

I'll work it out myself.

Don't be ridiculous.

You don't think I'd walk out

and ignore the whole thing?

I'll take care of you.

I'll make sure you don't go

to some butcher

two flights up over a drugstore.

I hear Sweden's the best place.

Good doctors, good hospitals,

medically safe.

It's very quick, very simple.

One minute you have it,

next minute you don't.

There's no danger of complications.

That is, no physical complications.

I'm not so sure about the moral ones.

You have religious scruples?

No. No...

But the strangest thing

happened to me today

when the doctor told me.

I mean, I've known other girls

in the same situation

toss it off with bad jokes like,

"I've got a bun in the oven"

or "Captain, we've got an

extra passenger on board".

I knew I'd react the same way.

Very modern, very sophisticated.

But I certainly didn't.

I was suddenly filled

with a sense of wonder and awe.

I don't want to sound

mystical or anything

but I am carrying someone

who's part of us.

I'm not so sure I want to lose it.

And if you have the baby, then what?

Well, I suppose adoption

would be the answer.

They're very careful nowadays.

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