Captive Audience

Peter King of Sports Illustrated had an interesting flight last week, as reported in his Monday Morning Quarterback column

On my Continental puddle-jumper from Newark to Providence last week to do a Patriots story for HBO, the man in front of me passed gas uncontrollably, constantly, and without any shame throughout the flight. After about 15 minutes of this, the man across the aisle looked at the Wall Street Journal-reading fellow and said: "Do you think you might be able to control that?''

"Control what?'' Mr. Fart said.

"The farting,'' Mr. Across-the-Aisle-But-Speaking-for-Everyone said.

"Jesus,'' Mr. Fart said, sounding apologetic. "I'm sorry.''

But he couldn't stop, and we suffered with the acrid fumes for most of the 47-minute flight.