Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Airport drama continues.......Will they get back to Lithuania?

I can't believe I left you hanging at the airport all this time:) Guess I got a bit busy living life...

Soooo the man who checked our baggage was a big husky black man and fortunate for us he was in a good mood. Just the type to be a willing recipient of a high five.
After he took our baggage he asked us to wait until the supervisor came to check our passports and finish us off. I guessed they were trying out a new tag team kind of check in so we said no problem.

Now that our bags were checked and we were waiting the girls began to get restless and I was searching for something to keep them occupied. Where was that passport checker anyway? What to do, what to do? Ah, it had been a while since I weighed myself and if those baggage scales could handle the luggage weight surely it could handle me. I got Hevenlee and Sonshyne's attention and they watched with glee as I sat myself on the scale and......oh, not as light as I thought I was.....must take up jogging when we get home......The girls eagerly popped onto the scale one at a time and were delighted to see how much they weighed. I do believe they could have done this for the remainder of the day. After weighing their whole bodies, they wanted to see how much they weighed together (my goal weight). Then they wanted to see how much only a hand or foot weighed and so on. I was the look out to make sure no one official was coming and would yell at us because I wasn't sure what they'd think about our chosen activity and didn't want to find out.

It seemed like forever but the passport checker came and we checked out and were sent on our way to wait at our gate. Now it was time to go to the bathroom, get a closer look at Hevenlee's wound and get a bite to eat before take off. We still had plenty of time.

We found a bathroom and in it was a long counter. Perfect for laying a child on to look under her chin. I put Hevenlee up on the counter and removed the bandage. The bleeding had stopped but it was definitely an open wound. I would have to do the best I could to close it back up with the other bandage I had. I was so happy I had had the good sense to get several bandages from the first aid man and to cut them to the right size while I still had access to scissors.

As I laided her down to work on her chin several women in the room commented on how perfect that counter was for what I was doing and wished me luck in bandaging her up. It was so comforted to get some verbal support. I really needed it. As they left I resumed my work on my daughter. I did my best to close the skin and apply the sticky bandage bit over the wound and cover the whole thing with another bandage. Hevenlee had long stopped complaining about her chin and this didn't even faze her at all. She didn't seem to be experiencing any pain. I was relieved.
Now that that was done, it was time to get some food into us. I had been given a McDonald's gift card and now was the perfect time to use it! I remember there being a McDonald's in this airport somewhere....
We managed to find food and get to our gate without any further mishaps. I was still a bit anxious about whether or not we were at the right gate. My confidence in being able to read things right was shaken. I would be able to relax when we were on board and in our seats.

It was while we waited to board the plane that it dawned on me that the last contact I had made with my friend Kim was of some urgency and now I knew I needed to borrow some one's phone to relieve her mind. The kid next to me had a blackberry.........a blackberry! My goodness, he couldn't have been more than a young teenager. What the heck does he need a blackberry for? I guess I have a lot to learn about American teens these days. I asked him if I could use it and he said yes and I was happy the kid had a blackberry:) I called Kim and updated her and she was grateful. I could hear the urgency in her voice fade to normal again. We said goodbye quickly because the airlines looked as if they were beginning to board the plane and I didn't want to be too far behind in the line since they don't really do preboarding anymore.

We got to the front of the line and showed our passports for the um-teenth time and moved down the hall toward the plane. We slowly made our way on the plan and down the isle, snagging our carry-ons on the seats as the row narrowed substantially from first class to economy. We were a slow moving little group. People who were already sitting smiled at us as we made our way past them. I was glad for the kind looks as most people don't seem to be too thrilled to see children boarding a long flight. This seems like a nice crowd. It's a good thing because we were going to share a small space for the next 10 hours.

We came to our seats and packed most of our things in the overhead compartment. We took up a whole space on our own so I shut it. I got the girls seated. We had two seats right by the window and one in the middle isle. I sat the girls together and chose the seat across the isle from them for myself.

A woman with 2 boys sat in the center isle. This was looking promising since there were 5 seats in the middle and it left us with one in between us. I was so hoping that it would remain open so we could use it to spread out a bit. I immediately shoved some things into the empty seat to lay claim to it. The woman looked at the empty seat in between us but said nothing. I made a few gestures about sharing the seat. I could see she was speaking another language with the boys , but she didn't' seem interested in making small talk with me so I just chalked it up to not speaking English.

We got all belted in and began take off and the seat was still empty. Hurray! I did feel awkward though. The woman who sat on the other side of the empty seat looked at me and then looked at the seat on occasion as if she were thinking something. I couldn't quite pinpoint it.

After we were in the air I got the girls settled with an activity and popped my feet into the empty seat next to me and settled in for a little rest before reading a few chapters in my book. The woman looked at me again, but said nothing. I decided to ignore her looks and just enjoy feeling comfortable and took a nap.

Normal things transpired during the duration of the 10 hour flight......food, drinks, movies etc. An uneventful flight so far. So happy about that! Half way through the flight the girls began to nod off. Sonshyne moved into the empty seat by me and Hevenlee layed down on the 2 seats next to the window to sleep. We were like that for some time. Though I was still getting a weird vibe from the woman and her 2 boys next to us. All of them kept taking turns looking in our direction and talking. What were they up to? Probably nothing, just my imagination I told myself.

Hevenlee stirred so I got up to sit with her for a bit. I put Sonshyne in my seat on the isle for some reason and took my things out of the empty seat. I guess I felt a little obligated to share the empty seat a bit in case they wanted to stretch out and I said so. We could both use it, but they made not move to stretch out. I sat with Hevenlee for a bit to get her back to sleep. I was there for a while and still the empty seat remained empty. I guess they were not interested in using it. I decided to stretch my legs. I left the sleeping girls and walked around the plane. I made my way to the back of the plane and got a drink of water and did some stretching.

As I was making my way back to our seats coming up from behind, I noticed the head of the woman was now right next to Sonshyne. Could it be? They scooted over while I was gone and now the empty seat was on the complete other side? That seemed incredibly sneaky to me. I was incensed and by now the adrenaline of patience had long since left my body. I could feel the heat of injustice flood through me. I got to the seats and looked the woman straight in the face and said,"that was pretty sneaky of you to move over while I was gone." "So you have to have the seat all to your self?" Well, she did speak English after all and she replied Cooley," Yes, my boys may want to use it." The seat was currently untouched. I retorted,"Well, that's nice of you to make a baby sit up and sleep so your boys could have more room."

Fury pulsed its way through my body. I felt like I could explode at any minute. I needed to do something to alleviate the madness within. I felt invaded. I could see now that the looks and whispering were not my imagination but what I sensed was the plot to steal the empty seat for themselves. I couldn't believe I was so enraged over a stupid empty seat, but I was..........

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh my stars, of all the nerve!

Christine said...

Seriously Sophi! How long is this story going to be?? I guess I'll just check back in 6 months when you post the last part. I am glad to know that you are posting these from Lithuania and from wheat I know you aren't in prison for assaulting this woman, so I know there will be a happy ending.