9781422284995

1 AIRPLANES M ei sat back in her seat as the airplane taxied down the runway. She could see the lights from the airport terminal flickering in the distance as they made their final lap before take off. She looked over at her younger brother, Hayato, sitting next to her. “Looking forward to going home?” Hayato looked up from his phone, where he was playing a game. “Not really. I had a great time in Japan. And this is basically the end of summer vacation. Back to school.” He frowned as he turned his attention back to his game. Mei settled into her seat as the plane began to pick up speed. Her parents were seated a few rows ahead of them and her mom turned around to give them the thumbs up sign. Mei and Hayato looked out the window as the plane sped down the runway, then lifted up off the ground and rose steadily into the air. A couple of minutes later, they heard the wheels be- ing retracted into the bottom of the plane and they released a breath that they didn’t even realize they were holding. Grabbing the magazine in the seat pocket, Mei said, “Let’s see if we can find out a little

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