Panic on a Plane

I leaned in my seat, trying to free my seatbelt from somewhere underneath me.

My slight shift on such a crowded, intrastate flight brushed me against a man passing down the aisle. It brushed me close enough to catch my hair on a clasp on his backpack.

As I flailed, gracefully and silently, I tried to determine whether to smack wherever I could reach or spend my instant of opportunity to attempt to free my…