marijuana:
dried leaves of "marijuana" plant; people smoke this to make themselves feel good; illegal in most places

handcuffs:
joined metal rings used to tie a prisoner's wrists together

Donald McQuarrie (easy version)

When Donald McQuarrie was fifty-three years old, he retired from his teaching job at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. He and his wife decided to go on a holiday.

Donald and his wife often drank a lot and they also smoked marijuana. The night before they went on their holiday, they smoked and drank twelve bottles of beer. The next morning, at the airport, they had three more beers.

Soon after the plane took off, Donald went to the washroom. While he was in the washroom, he made a lot of noise by hitting the walls and the door. After he went back to his seat, he suddenly shouted, “We are all going to die! The plane is going to crash!”

When the pilot found out what was happening, he quickly came back into the cabin. When he got there, Donald was lying on the floor. The pilot got Donald back into his seat and left him there. But a few minutes later, Donald jumped up and ran toward the front of the plane, shouting “I want off this plane.“

The pilot came back. Donald fought with him and kicked him in the chest. Some of the people on the plane helped the pilot to put handcuffs on Donald. When the plane landed in Detroit, in the United States, police came and arrested Donald. Before they could get him off the plane, he kicked them and tried to bite them.

When he went to court two weeks later Daniel explained that in the washroom he had had two more big drinks from bottle he was carrying. Then he had seen a flash of light and he thought the plane was going to crash.

Later, Donald told a newspaper reporter that didn't think he would ever have another drink. He also said that, in the future, he was going to live a slower and quieter life. He said that since he had been arrested, he had had a lot of time to think, and he had realized that everyone should spend part of their life trying to understand themselves.

- information from "The Toronto Star," 01.01.03