Flight: A Novel

When Zits next opens his eyes, he’s flying. He’s in a small airplane and flying the plane alone, which is ironic, given Zits’ fear of flying. In his own life, he’s only been on two flights—one to visit New York with the Seattle-based philanthropist, and another when his mother was pregnant with him. He believes that he remembers being on the latter flight, though no one would ever believe that. He has a photograph of his mother sitting on the plane, a commercial jet, during that flight; he thinks his father took the picture. He recalls the image of his mother looking into the camera and smiling. He misses her and figures that he’s now in the body of a pilot because the last time he thinks his mother was happy was when she was on that plane. Zits wonders if he’s now flying to meet his mother.

Meanwhile, in his current body, he begins to assume the pilot’s memories. He remembers the face of “a brown-skinned man” (101). He sees more of this man in his mind’s eye: he’s short, “thin but muscular” and “wore a black shirt and blue jeans […] every day that [the pilot] knew him” (101).