Under Normal Circumstances

Family Affair

"Who thought flights that long were ok?!" I griped loudly as I arched my back and stretched.

Mr Randa was limping a little bit too after sitting that long, and Houston and San looked really tired too.

Too tired and sore to care about how I looked to them, I bent over and touched my toes and put my palms on the floor to stretch me out. I rolled my neck around and swung my arms, stretching them. I hated running but I felt like running now just because I could.

We were all spilling out onto this strip of asphalt and sticking to it in the heat. We had landed in the middle of nowhere, at least I thought so because there were no buildings or city lights that I could see except for the control tower. The sun was just beginning to set and it was a wonderful palette of purples, reds and oranges. As I stood stretching and admiring it, I heard the now familiar rumble of an army jeep.

"Oh no, don't make me sit down again!" I whined to myself mostly when I turned and saw a small fleet of the vehicles coming toward us.

Houston heard me though and shrugged in his response.
"Get it in while you can," He said and suddenly set down his bags and ran at me.

I let out a startled but playful scream as I dropped my stuff and ran away from him. San joined us as we all ran haphazardly around the tarmac in an insane game of tag.

"Throw in some jumping jacks!" One of the soldiers yelled at us as they loaded all the equipment from the plane onto the trucks.

We all complied and soon looked like a bunch hyper active starfish hopping around.

"Lunges!" Another soldier called and we complied again.

"Push ups!"

"I can't do those," I yelled back, stopping and putting my hands on my hips, sucking wind.

Mr Randa stood there shaking his head at the three of us with an amused smirk.
"Alright, kindergartners, load it up," He called, beckoning us over with his hand.

"Beat you to the jeep!" I yelled as I took off first.

"No fair!" Houston hollered.

I'm not sure what exactly had gotten into me to make me act this way, but it was refreshing. I was probably just so gosh darn tired of being on that airplane I wasn't thinking straight. I grabbed by bag and suitcase from where I had dropped them. Houston was on my heels and headed for his stuff. I gave his rolling suitcase a little shove out of his way so I could regain my lead.

"You dirty cheater!" He laughed.

I was too out of breath to laugh but I did have a huge grin on my face.

San and I were in the same vehicle together and helped each other freshen up a bit, sharing a compact mirror, brush, and flash light. I wanted to make sure I didn't look like garbage when I saw Jack and met his superiors. I wanted to make a good impression. After putting on a fresh face and trading my braids for a pony tail, I felt better. Somehow I actually managed to fall asleep, as if I hadn't done enough of that on the plane. I can't tell how long it was until the bumpy lullaby of the jeep came to a stop, but I woke to the smell of the ocean.

Singapore had a smell of its own compared to America, but the ocean was the same. we had driven onto this dock area with boats to our left and and a bustling market to our right. I couldn't tell exactly what was going down in this place. San and I got out of the jeep, trying to adjust to our new location with the sleep still on our brains. We got out luggage and looked around at the various soldiers and men in blue jackets. Houston and Mr Randa walked over to us.