Blame the dog

Just as Barbara squatted down, she heard a noise from nearby, causing her to jump a little. Looking to her left, she spotted a kennel where a dog was panting and barking at her. As she questioned how she missed that before, an idea popped into her head...

"Well, at least the workers won't ask questions." Barbara said as she got to her feet and walked over to the kennel as she heard the plane's engine start up.

On the other plane, Emily closed the door to the bathroom, unable to leave the plane before it took off. Pulling the walkie out of her pocket, the woman stared down at it with a sigh.

"She's gonna kill me for this, but she has to know before we lose signal with each other." Emily said as she turned to channel two on the radio.

"Ah, sweet relief..." Barbara sighed, her bladder now emptied as she stood up again and walked away from the puddle in front of the confused poodle's cage. "Sorry, Buddy. It was either this or getting caught."

"Barb. Barb! Are you there?!"

Barbara turned towards the crate and sprinted back towards it, climbing back in and slipping the lid back in place before picking the radio back up. "Here, Em. I just had to take care of my situation."

"Ew! How am I supposed to explain that when they open the crate?!"

"Not like that!" Emily snapped, blushing furiously. "I did it in front of a dog kennel so the workers in Paris will think that was the dog, and be none the wiser about me."

"Wow. That's actually kinda clev- What am I saying?!" Emily shouted, trying to get back on track. "Look, I've got a slight situation now, too."

"You do have a ticket to Paris, right?"

"Uh... Yes and no."

"'Yes and no'?!" Barbara asked in confusion, arching an eyebrow. "That was a 'Yes' or 'No' question. How can you have an 'And' in there?"

"Heh... Fun fact: Did you know there's a Paris, Texas?"

"YOU'RE GOING FREAKING WHERE?!"

"Look, this one wasn't my fault!" Emily said defensively, "The old bat at the ticket counter thought I wanted a pair of pants when I asked her the first time! As soon as I land in Texas, I'll buy a ticket to Paris - The French one, and get you out of this mess. You know that a Greene always keeps their promises!"

"But by the time you get there, I'll mo-" BZZT! "-ly b-" BZZT! "dis-"

"Crap! I'm losing you!" Emily said, "I'll see you in Paris, and we'll get this worked out!"

"What did you say? I think we're breaking up." Barbara said as the radio went static. "Hello? Em?! Hello?!"

Barbara groaned as she put the radio down and sighed. Taking a deep breath, the saw nothing else better to do than close her eyes and go to sleep. It was a ten hour flight, after all.

Emily left the bathroom and headed back to her seat, not believing that her plan had gone this far south. As she sat down, the Asian woman from before looked over to her.

"Talking with your friend in Paris?" She asked, getting a brief nod in return. "Not that it's any of my concern, but I am just curious as to what happened that you had to try to get on a plane and fly half way around the world for."

"Look, Ms. ..."

"Oh, my friends call me Mei."

"Look, Mei." Emily said, "Even if I did tell you, you wouldn't believe a single word of it."

"Humor me." Mei replied with a shrug.

Emily sighed, knowing that this woman was most likely not going to let up. Looking around, she leaned in close to Mei and whispered, "Okay, so it all happened earlier tonight when my best friend Barbara Meyers, who is the security guard at the art gallery, accidentally broke my statue..."

"I can't sleep." Cora moaned, "Every time I close my eyes, I keep seeing that uncanny statue."

"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Kali groaned, "It's a hunk of clay and other junk, Lady Macbeth!"

"Lady Macbeth is Scottish. I'm Irish, ya silly arse!" Cora snapped.

"Point is, you are letting you're irrational fears get the best of you." Kali said as she laid back and closed her eyes. "And you can't let your silly superstitions get in the way of our profession."

"Wait, do ya mean us being movers, security guards, or art th-"

Kali shot right back up and placed a hand over her coworkers' mouth, chuckling sheepishly as a stewart walked past with a confused look. When he was gone, the Indian woman removed her hand and glared at Cora.

"Wanna announce that to the whole world, you idiot?!" Kali hissed softly. "You're just lucky it was me who heard you almost say that and not the boss!"

"Sorry."

"Just don't think about that stupid thing and go to sleep."

"So, your friend was accidentally shipped off to Paris, France after being bought by The Louvre and now you're trying to get to Paris to switch her with the real statue?" Mei asked as Emily finished retelling the story.

"See, it sounds crazy when you say it." Emily replied as she leaned back in her seat. "Now, I need to get some sleep so I can take another plane tomorrow."

"Good night then." Mei said as she placed some headphones on her head turned on the TV on her tray.