The man seated in the middle of row twenty-three had bad breath. But that wasn't the problem. He also had agoraphobia, which made it absolutely impossible for him to sit on the isle, with all the rushing carts and babies. And he had vertigo, which made it out of the question for him to sit by the window and look out at the billowing clouds. So the man in the middle separated Helene Masterson from Alexis Worth on their first ever transatlantic flight.