The journey, part two
She looked around again after the second call for a doctor, but she didn't see any response in the cabin. It didn't look good for her neighbour passenger and she could not concentrate on the movie anymore. She kept checking her watch.
5 minutes passed since the second call
10 minutes passed since the second call
30 minutes passed since the second call
When the steward walked by again, she could hold it anymore and got up to him.
"What is happening to my neighbour, where is he?"
She was whispering as she expected very negative news. She whispered as to warn the steward not to speek up , not to warn other passengers who were still oblivious to the disappearence of the passenger.
"oh he is getting much better, don't you worry, he'll return to his seat soon".
Half an hour later that was indeed the case. The man that she had feared dead, walked briskly back and seemed totally fine at first. But at a closer look his left arm was 3 times the size of his right arm as if it didn't belong to him anymore. Some unknown allergic reaction to the food so it seemed for which he got some standard first aid pills and afterwards some pills out of the private supply that some doctor did have on board. Her worries shifted to pity when looking at the bestrangered arm towards envy when the pills clearly had a strong sleeping effect. The next hours she was trapped next to a snoring thick armed man and she desperately wanted some of those pills too so that she'd be able to sleep a bit as well. How slow can time pass anyway?
Her stress levels were slowly rising again when they approached Vancouver. This time she needed to get her Visa because there is no Canadian embassy in Belgium anymore so her visa would be handed into her passport at the moment of arrival, so the letter from Paris had stated. But what if something had gone wrong, what if there had been a misunderstanding and she didn't get her visa? Would she be sent back? She didn't trust it entirely.
And she needed to get her luggage and check it in again as the local destination she was going to had been unknown for the Brussels computers. And all of that in only 2 hours in an unknown airport. Her host parents had a long drive to the airport, so it would be difficult to warn them if she'd miss her flight because they would already have left home. She remembered her promise to herself to ask help as much as possible, so she asked the stewardess more info about the building at Vancouver airport and what to do in which order. The stewardess wrote down that there was a passenger on board who needed 'special attention'.
When unboarding the plane, a tiny little Asian woman was waiting for her, nodding briefly. She felt a giant next to this lady.
"Do you need assistance?" she asked abruptly.
"Yes please, I don't know where to go and I have little time, but I need my luggage and my Visa and I need to go ..."
"Follow me" and the little woman trippled away through hallway to the huge zigzag lineup in front of the immegration services.
The Asian lady left her there at the end of the line. A line that did not seem to haven an end. After half an hour she was still miles away from the desks. Too much time to worry that something could have gone wrong with the assignment of a visa. Too much time to worry about missing the connecting flight. Too much time to see another man of her flight becoming nervous and bribing some people to skip a flew places in the line, only to still miss his next flight after which he made a huge scene.
Damn, it really can take that long that you miss the connecting flight! The nod in her stomac was back. She had no idea how long it would still need take, neither where she had to go after the immigration services.
After 75 min it was finally her turn and her visa was swiftly stamped in her passport. She could enter Canada and study there during one year. Pheeewww so far so good.
She almost ran through the glass doors where she found her luggage next to a conveyer belt and then she rushed to the next doors. The check-in hall had many Air Canada check in desks, only with hundreds of people in endless lineups in front of them. Everyone just seemed to carry 5 suitcases along. Tears welled up in her eyes while she ran further looking for a desk with a smaller line-up. Another long wait and her boarding time was marked in 15 min. There was only one flight a day and she'd need a miracle to catch it. What could she do???....
....to be continued
If you want to read more soap opera stories, check out Brillig or walking kateastrophe, to find other participants.
Comments
BTW... the incident in my story was totally true ;-) I just wanted to make sure I changed the names, etc., and my memories, as you can imagine, have changed, exaggerated, etc., over time.
In all seriousness though, having made incredible friends through the Rotary exchange program as well as becoming a host parent for a Rotary student, I admire your bravery to take on such an adventure. An adventure of the unknown and having to blind trust the people to whom you have been put into care with.
Like, FA, I'm hoping for a happy ending!
'Gosh Anno makes quite a jump in the story all of a sudden' I thought, not thinking of any other meaning for the word heroine at all. I didn't know interpid either, so it didn't help until I looked it up.
Ah ok, now I get your comment...yes "she" is the heroine of the story, isn't she :p. No illegal drugs involved though in the next part! Just other worries.
Didn't mean to worry you. I would never expect the heroine of your blog to be mixed up with heroin. No way!