20160103 (airportica-2)

There is no way to sleep in an airport. Chairs, couches, benches just don't allow it.

When boarding passes roll off 

Your printer the prospect of flight 

Is rendered one step more real. 

I haven’t a smartphone to make

It easier yet. A ticket in my hand

Like a check seems more real 

Than an electronic funds transfer.

I’d yet to experience flight

Cancellation. It used to take

Several days for a check to bounce.

I didn’t realize the ticket’s

Power could evaporate as

Instantaneously as it had appeared.

As I was checking my bag the

Self-service terminal said my 

Papers were worthless, rebook you

Lost soul, or you’ll live in this

Airport till your money runs out.

I promptly rebooked the only

Flights which could get me home

But thirteen hours later. Since I’d just 

Spent the last hour in a taxi from

Olympia, and didn’t want to

Return there only to come back

Again, I opted for being cheerful

For at least the nine hours until

The first flight. Read the book

Nat had given me the first hour.

Then tried to sleep in the most 

Comfortable position sitting up

Allowed. For breakfast, a jalapeño and

Egg everything bagel that disappeared

Too quickly. Then I watched passengers

Of other flights come and go. One

Attractive but slightly heavy blond

In a black mini combo burst into

Tears, texted furiously, crying silently,

For half an hour. Bust-up I guessed.

Anybody who’d break it off via 

Text was a schnook. Was she flying

To him or away? Then there was

The guy who stopped in front of 

The waiting area and audibly 

Spoke at the screen every half hour.

Lunch was mu shoo pork and

Noodles, not at all bad for airport

Fare but half the volume for

The price. What did I expect? 

Three and a half other flights 

Arrived and departed before

My flight was scheduled for 

Boarding. The last plane did 

Not depart. It was the plane 

For my scheduled flight.

People suddenly wandered by

Checking on the screen which

Had quietly revised the departure

Time to “Now leaving at 4:30 PM.”

They’d been notified by the United 

Apps on their smartphones. I

Had a four hour layover in SFO.

Even with the delay I could

Make the connection 

And get home.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016