I was waiting on line in San Francisco to board my plane back to the East Coast after visiting the Runaway Bunny (my daughter) when the agent announced the boarding order. First Lifetime Platinum Plus, then Platinum, then Gold, then Silver, then Priority Plus, then Priority, then Ordinary People, then Losers, then Ugly People, then Those with Not Enough Money to Buy a Big Smelly Panini for the plane.

I’m kidding, of course, about the last part, but the first part is the gospel. I stood there as all these privileged flyers moved to the head of the line, sweeping past me and my pathetic Group Three coach boarding pass. Did a disproportionate number of them have blond hair and blue eyes, or was I just imagining? For sure, their hand luggage was classier than my Whole Foods canvas bag stuffed with my dirty laundry. As the high flyers passed before me, I felt my self-esteem draining. Eventually I moved into the plane, couldn’t find any overhead space and flew for six and a half hours with my satchel at my feet.

When I sat down, I was seized by a coughing fit. “Can I have some water?” I choked. 

“I’m sorry,” the flight attendant said. “We only have bottles of water for first class and we aren’t serving yet in coach.”

“In that case, can you do the Heimlich?” I croaked. He found some water.

The amazing coincidence was that in my bag, I had the novel I’m preparing for a discussion group this week, Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart. 

In the book, as on the airplane boarding line yesterday, people are basically divided into two groups of citizens: HNWI (high net worth individuals) or LNWI (low net worth individuals). Of course, the HNWIs get the good jobs, the best housing, the choice food, the luxury travel and the high-tech toys. 

Mr. Shteyngart envisions a society in which there’s only one political party, ironically known as the Bipartisan Party, which is, in reality, a rigid, militaristic dictatorship. He imagines groups of LNWIs starting to occupy local parks in protest against the economic inequities in society. Sound familiar? 

It all came together for me yesterday at the San Francisco airport. I was studying this novel about what our country will look like in 2018. Standing on line at the airport, I felt like a LNWI, being swept aside as the future rushed in.

Adapted from a column in the Herald newspapers in Nassau County.