Continued from
“Well it’s something I can tell my kids I did once”
Freezing cold
No one has seen us
The young American man waited for the vehicle to leave. He didn’t want to risk its driver noticing movement and then sending people over to ask a bunch of questions, and then what? It was the third time the truck drove out onto the runway. It must have been some sort of sweeper-truck, but the young man couldn’t tell despite the full moon. Thank G-d for that. Earlier there were clouds coming in. Rain clouds, and that would have been terrible. The young man whispered a little payer and the clouds departed in no time. But it was another thing that worried him. The full moon meant more light. However the young man had checked. They really were somewhat invisible on the side of the hill. Still, he wouldn’t risk it and waited for the truck to disappear before he emerged from underneath his sleeping back to adjust his blanket.
The truck was gone and he quickly sat up to shift things around before it came back. Now that he was no longer under the covers the cold, cold air quickly seeped into his clothes. It was so cold that the smallest breeze was acutely felt on his face. Now his whole body was again cold and not just his feet. It was no problem though. He’d warm right back up, but his feet, oh, they just wouldn’t! They were so cold and there seemed to be no fixing it! He could hardly feel them!
He whirled around. He could have sworn he heard someone. There was no one. The control tower was directly ahead, but that had shut down hours ago. The lights on the runway continued to blink in sequence though it was completely useless. All else was dead aside for that truck.
Vrrrmmmm
The young man flipped the covers over himself to hide
He wasn’t even sure he’d get in trouble
Or if they’d even care
It really wasn’t worth risking it
Mm! So cold!
How did he get in this situation?
………………
Twelve hours earlier
They had just arrived at the bus station. They davened Mincha and left their bags safely in the station office. It was time to go out and get some nosh. They had a lot of time to kill. Their flight wasn’t until 7:00 AM. It’d be twelve hours of munching on candy, reading and sleeping.
They made their way down the
“I told you a bottle a coke would be the first thing I’d get when we got here.”
They crossed the carpark and sat on a ledge overlooking an alley type thing. They munched on bananas and chips and were lovin’ it.
They were on their way back when the young man spotted a magazine/newspaper store. “Hold up guys, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for. The key to spending twelve hours.” They crossed the street and entered the store. The young man found a shelf with discount books and bought a WWII novel that seemed interesting and certainly large enough to keep him occupied the entire night.
………………
Nine hours fifteen minutes earlier
“We’re closin’ up now. He’ll come around and pick you up across the street.” It was annoying. Ideally the station shouldn’t have closed for another quarter hour, and they were watching M*A*S*H*, but it wouldn’t make sense since there were no buses coming anyway. Inconvenient it was, but the end of the world it wasn’t. It just meant they’d have to wait outside for half an hour for their ride to show up.
They gathered up their things and migrated across the road. The young man settled under a street light and continued learning the maamer he brought along. He chuckled. Here he was, on the side of some random road in some overlooked island, closer to
“Seriously, who could have seen this a year ago?”
The van arrived. On time. Actually it arrived on time to the minute. Very impressive for Australian standards. They hopped in and drove off to the airport. They chatted w/ the driver, told him their flight was in the morning, but they had reading material and nosh to pass the time. They arrived at the airport shortly where they shuffled their things to get the weight just right. The young man propped himself up against the bags and opened up his book.
………………
Seven hours earlier
“He said the place closes in an hour.” The young man looked at him blankly, processing the information, questioning the possibility of it being a real fact. “An hour.” He said back. An hour. Indeed, it was rumored that the airport closed, but no one in all of
It could be
The young man immediately began to scheme through their options. There weren’t many. He gazed into his cup of coffee in thought, turning the cup around in his hand. It felt warm. It reminded him that outside, it wasn’t warm.
Still, it seemed to preposterous. This sort of thing happens to other people. It couldn’t really happen to him! He walked over to the girl at the coffee counter. She was in the middle of wiping everything off. “Excuse me,” he said, “is it true that the airport actually closes?” “Yep, right after the last flight comes in.” she replied. Realizing the predicament the young man was in, she went to get information on the nearby hotel.
$99 a night
The three travelers convened. They had already spent enough money. A hundred more dollars was not what they wanted. The young man suddenly, perhaps it was a genuine realization, perhaps it was simple acceptance of the circumstances, but he gave a very simple suggestion.
Boy that is crazy
Not much of a choice
One night
Not many can say they did that
Heck, I’ll do it
The young man went into the bathroom with his bag. He took out his jacket, thermals, gloves, beanie, and put them all on. He exited, all suited up and ready.
They strapped on their packs, grabbed the huge black bag w/ their stuff, and set out into the night, toward the black hill, where few would be able to see them. They laid down on the hill beneath the control tower, overlooking the runway. The young man rolled over on his stomach wearing his pack for warmth, folded his arms against his chest, crossed his legs, and conserved his own body heat quite comfortably.
And so they would spend the night
………………
Five hours earlier
The control tower shut down.
The young man is feeling cold
He breaks out another jacket for his legs
………………
Four hours earlier
Now it’s freezing
The young man took out his sleeping bag
All is warm, except his feet
………………
The present
Sleeping on the side of a hill
In the middle of
Next to an airport runway
Hiding from authority under a sleeping bag…
…Now that is something to tell the kids one day
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