Just like college...

I don’t think I’ve done this since college. I feel alive tonight. Well, come to think of it, I did catch flight on a whim like this about 4 or 5 years ago, but this one seems like it’s going to be better. In college I would do stuff like this all the time. I’ve got no money and no real business flying all the way across the country, but I do have miles to burn and a place to crash. It’ll be great to see my boy in his
element, especially since his marriage has been on the rocks and sounds like he just needs to see a familiar face. The goal is to not spend money on anything unnecessary. I think I’m up for the task.

There are so many people here tonight. Gate 32 looks like a street bazaar in a crowded exotic metropolis. It’s been a long time since I have flown on a Friday night redeye, but I can’t remember them being like this. This is the way the airport usually looks after several flights have been canceled and folks are just hanging around and being miserable, hoping upon hope that they will soon depart. Not surprisingly, there are no shortage of short tempers . Shortly after making my way to seat 4F, I started to witness some of them up close. A short little whisp of a man with round spectacles expressed his extreme displeasure at finding someone already sitting in his first class seat, 3E right in front of me. With all of the indignance of The Church Lady (Dana Carvey, circa 1980-something), he stood there with arms crossed in front of the rather cool and collected Sir Laurence Olivier look-a-like already seated there.

“This is my seat!” snapped The Church Lady.

One of the male flight attendants quickly appeared on the scene to keep the peace, asking both men to produce boarding passes.

“They took mine!” the Church Lady whined.

“They didn’t give you a copy?”asked the flight attendant.

“I would be glad to show you mine,” said Sir Laurence. The flight attendant promptly left and got the gate agent that was taking tickets at the entrance to the jetway. The gate agent returned and asked to speak to Sir Laurence outside. It seemed so dramatic. It looked like Sir Laurence were going to be bumped yet again (I overheard him say something about having been a standby passenger). At last, he re-emerged, looking none too pleased. Church Lady had nestled in and got comfortable as soon as Sir Laurence stood up to go to the principal’s office, even though Sir Laurence had left all of this things there. Do you think that the Church Lady got out of the way to let Sir Laurence collect his things? Yeah, of course he didn’t, hardly allowing his-knightship to have any dignity as he gathered his stuff and promptly moved back to 4B. Yes, that’s right. I said 4B. All of that drama to move a guy one row back. Who needs television when I’ve got this gripping drama right here?