"O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?"

It was a familiar story. A nice person like me with much work to do, trapped on a four hour flight from Denver to Durham, cornered like a caged animal, seated next to a person who is determined to set me straight before we land. Where does American Airlines get these people?

Hardly had our wheels left the ground than she informed me that she was returning home from a ''Wellness Convention."

''You dig wells?" I asked cutely.

That was my big mistake. I was informed that she was totally in touch with her body, that she had, this year alone, added at least six years to her life by getting off red meat and on to lentil casseroles. When the steward brought us our in-flight meal, she refused both the chicken almandine and the beef …