Convincing Amy (Amy, #1)

Chapter 03: Take Flight

Chapter Three 
TAKE FLIGHT

The airport was busy and the air was cold and bitter as Amy Carter arrived in a yellow taxi one Tuesday morning of late August. The sun had barely risen in the southern sky and already, Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport was bustling with life. Business men and women alike entered through the airport entrances confidently as they spoke loudly on their blutooth mobile phones, briefcases full of important documents firmly in hand. Families - both young and old - were present also. These everyday civilians looked less familiar with the airport atmosphere as they searched through the expanses wide-eyed, wheeling their multiple suitcases of luggage behind them.

"Dat vill be ifty-doo dolla," announced Amy's Indian taxi driver. He checked the yellow cab's toll to confirm his statement.

"Yeah..." Amy mumbled, trailing off as she searched her handbag for her purse.

She eventually handed the man sitting at her left a large, gold fifty-dollar note and a small, golden two-dollar coin. The foreign man then proceeded to add the money to his small till.

"Thank you," Amy said, desperate to get out of the yellow cab: the interior was of black leather, but most was ripped and scrathed. The dashboard was filthy and the whole car smelt of tobacco and another drug that was unknown to Amy. She didn't even want to begin guessing what it was.

"Yah," the taxi driver repilied with a false smile, "Ave a ood fly." He sounded fractious, but attempted to enjoy the atmosphere in which he so evidentially loathed.

Amy nodded, not completely sure what the Indian man had just said: his accent was strong and his attempted English words tumbled out in a mess extraordinarily fast. She opened the door to her right and was greeted by a strong gust of freezing winter air and a mumbled blur of words from surrounding people. The gust of wind seemed to have triggered her memory.

"I need my suitcase from the boot," she told the man who was preparing to drive away.

He sighed loudly before hastily opening his door and walking around to the back of the car. He opened the boot of the car up, exposing lots of dusty rags and dirty miscellaneous objects. Amy's large, dark purple suitcase was among them.

The taxi driver then proceeded to lift Amy's lone suitcase out of the boot, slam the hood down, and all but throw Amy's luggage at her feet. "Anyting else?" he asked in anger.

"No, that's alright," Amy said in a small voice, wide-eyed in caution as she slowly raised the handle of her luggage, "I'll take it from here."

Slowly, Amy moved herself and her suitcase onto the footpath and off the road whilst the taxi driver raced back to his cab and sped away. Amy felt he was incredibly rude. She then proceeded into the busy airport that was Tullamarine.

Hundreds of people filled the floor space, their luggage too. Children were sleepy in their parents' arms and young adults looked hyped for their journeys to wherever their destinations would lead them. Announcements were made over the intercom speakers, but none of these concerned Amy's northerly flight to Brisbane.

What impacted Amy the most was the tearful goodbyes that she took witness to. Mothers gave tearful farewells to their daughters and sons whilst husbands and boyfriends gave teary departure kisses to their much-loved partners.

This was the reason Amy had insisted on taking a cab into Melbourne this early moring: to avoid a teary goodbye from her mother, her sister, and her future brother-in-law. Tears were a watery nuisance that Amy hated to her core. Tears meant separation, goodbyes and the missing presence of another: something Amy had experienced too many times.