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- May 11, 2006
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Ok, so I left work at 4:40, knowing the Max's flight - due to arrive in Logan at 5:19 p.m., delayed from the original 4:45 pm arrival. Ok, a small delay, I expected that, brought a paperback (Second Glance by Jody Picoult - great book!) and off I went, only getting lost once trying to find the South Cargo area of the airport.
After finding my way out of the car rental area,
I found the right place. I walked in - my adrenaline was a-pumping, I tell you
- and was immediately shocked and dismayed to learn that Max didn't get off the ground in Raleigh when he was scheduled to.
In fact, he wound up on a completely different, later flight.
I found myself faced with at least 2 1/2 hours to kill - which ran into 3 hours, as it turned out. I started to panic, not knowing how I could BEAR having to be PATIENT for so long - the book wouldn't do it for me, I couldn't focus...
They said they called me - my home number, not my cell.
But there was no message on my machine at home
- not that this would have helped, seeing as I left straight from work. *sigh*
Anyhoo, the cargo chick (she was really cool, named Roberta
) hooked me up with directions to a good restaurant in East Boston, and her office phone # to check on the flight (at that point Max wasn't even at Newark yet, and it was 6 p.m.!)
Off I went with my paperback to this Italian restaurant, in the only area of East Boston that I recognize - because I'd been lost there before in the same spot and found my way back home. The adorable waiter sat me in the back at a two-seater against the wall, and I ordered the steak tips and a margherita on the rocks
because I figured I needed it to get me through the wait, and enjoyed my salad as I read my book.
Salad finished, a suit at the next table started asking about the book, which led to chitchat about New England, which led to Halloween in Salem, and suddenly the elderly couple to my right started chiming in, and I enjoyed a lengthy conversation with them (they had a cat, female calico with red patches; they stole her from an owner who didn't care about her, gave her 8 good years before she passed to RB.)
Next thing I know, time is flying by, and it's close to 8 p.m., so I call and check in, and he's landed in Newark, and on board ready to head to Boston. So I finish my drink, chat a bit more with my fellow diners (who says New Englanders aren't friendly?
)
Then I pay, and say my goodbyes, after getting directions back to where I needed to get to from the blue collar guy to my left: he was eating with his elderly mom, poor woman had an oxygen tube stuck in her face.
(They had replaced the suits that had been asking me about New England.)
So...now it's 8:30-ish. I find my way back to South Cargo, park in front and as I'm running in, a smoker with a safety vest on asks me if I'm picking up an animal, because he's just brought in a few. I hurried in, and sure enough, a certain little someone was meowing up a storm in there!!!!
Phew - this is long, I know, but we are getting there! On with my Friday night adventure: I signed for the carrier, took my new boy out to my truck, and he meowed a bit until we got going.
I talked to him all the way home, with some singing to the radio thrown in (I can carry a bit of a tune
) and he relaxed and was mostly quiet all the way, meowing again just once we pulled into the driveway and announced, "Max, we're home now!"
continued...
After finding my way out of the car rental area,
I found myself faced with at least 2 1/2 hours to kill - which ran into 3 hours, as it turned out. I started to panic, not knowing how I could BEAR having to be PATIENT for so long - the book wouldn't do it for me, I couldn't focus...
They said they called me - my home number, not my cell.
Anyhoo, the cargo chick (she was really cool, named Roberta
Off I went with my paperback to this Italian restaurant, in the only area of East Boston that I recognize - because I'd been lost there before in the same spot and found my way back home. The adorable waiter sat me in the back at a two-seater against the wall, and I ordered the steak tips and a margherita on the rocks
Salad finished, a suit at the next table started asking about the book, which led to chitchat about New England, which led to Halloween in Salem, and suddenly the elderly couple to my right started chiming in, and I enjoyed a lengthy conversation with them (they had a cat, female calico with red patches; they stole her from an owner who didn't care about her, gave her 8 good years before she passed to RB.)
Next thing I know, time is flying by, and it's close to 8 p.m., so I call and check in, and he's landed in Newark, and on board ready to head to Boston. So I finish my drink, chat a bit more with my fellow diners (who says New Englanders aren't friendly?
Then I pay, and say my goodbyes, after getting directions back to where I needed to get to from the blue collar guy to my left: he was eating with his elderly mom, poor woman had an oxygen tube stuck in her face.
So...now it's 8:30-ish. I find my way back to South Cargo, park in front and as I'm running in, a smoker with a safety vest on asks me if I'm picking up an animal, because he's just brought in a few. I hurried in, and sure enough, a certain little someone was meowing up a storm in there!!!!
Phew - this is long, I know, but we are getting there! On with my Friday night adventure: I signed for the carrier, took my new boy out to my truck, and he meowed a bit until we got going.
I talked to him all the way home, with some singing to the radio thrown in (I can carry a bit of a tune
continued...