Sent to the Sticks

(5) SENT TO THE STICKS ~ Arrival

The flight was torture, even in first class. I've always hated flying, it just didn't agree with me, I was never actually sick but I had horrific claustrophobia that really kicked in on planes. As I stepped out onto the runway I pulled my hair loose from its tie and shook it out, before looking around me. My first thoughts were, 'this place is a dump' but I shook that from my mind and mentally chastised myself as I walked into the terminal building to collect my bags. I was stood around for literally hours, all the other passengers from my flight had left already, and for goodness sake this place was tiny! It shouldn't be taking this long. I walked over to the desk that had a small irritable woman sat behind it. She looked in her 50's with dark hair that had silver streaked through it pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck, and the navy blue airport uniform on.

"Excuse me ma'am, I'm sorry but I've been waiting for my bags for a really long time and they've not come through yet" I said as apologetically as I could but under the circumstances it was understandable why I was pissed off.

The woman looked unhappily up from the rag-mag she had been reading and muttered something like 'stupid American' under her breath in Russian, before plastering a fake smile on her face and replying, "All bags come through the conveyer belt when processed" in a heavily accented voice.

"Would it be easier if I addressed you in your native tongue?" I asked in shaky Russian, "I'm not very good but please I have been waiting for a long time and someone is supposed to meet me and I'm already late as the plane got held up in LAX" the woman's mouth popped open and formed a small 'o' shape with her thin lips.

"What is the name on the bags?" she asked, a little more warmed up to me now.

"Ellison," I replied, "Tiffany-Rae Ellison" she picked up the phone sitting next to her and made a few calls, eventually she looked back up and with a genuine smile on her face said, "I'm sorry Miss Ellison there was a mistake with your bags they will be coming through momentarily"

With that I thanked her and turned back to the luggage collection area and sure enough in about 2 minutes I had my bags loaded onto my trolley and was on my way through the double doors into the arrivals collection area. Waiting for me there was a young woman who looked to be about in her mid 30's, who was speaking on the phone in a frustrated voice, as I drew nearer I heard the tail end of her conversation, "She's not here! I told you someone should have escorted her onto the plane, I've heard about that girl from Jessica and from what I know she would never willingly come here!" and with that she snapped the phone shut with a frustrated growl.

"Hello" I asked timidly, after hearing that I felt more than a little nervous, "Sarah?"

Sarah looked up and suddenly was gripping me into a vice like hug, "Oh my lord," she crossed herself once she had loosened her hold, "you look exactly like your mother" and quickly she was blinking back tears and grabbing me up into another hug. Once we had got the hellos out of the way we started walking to her car, and when I saw it I stopped dead in my tracks, a 1964 cherry red mustang convertible, with red and white interior, in fantastic condition. I may have been a snob but I loved old cars, I would have had one too, only it was more fashionable to have the latest Ferrari, or Porsche.

"You like it?" Sarah asked, and I nodded dumbfounded, "good, because it's yours" she said with a smile handing me the keys. I was in utter shock; I turned to her and hugged her even tighter than she had hugged me,

"Thank you so much!" I said sincerely "It's beautiful, I love it" I pulled away and began trailing my fingers along the hood, while Sarah put my bags in the back seat. Once everything was in we got in ourselves and I drove getting directions from Sarah, the town was about an hour's drive from the airport and I was so excited from the car I could hardly concentrate on driving. We were at the town boundaries when Sarah spoke again,

"Look I'm going to show you the house but then if you could drop me at the garage I would really appreciate it, you can do what you like from there; explore the town, take your car out for a spin, or even come to the garage with me, as long as your back for dinner which is at 7, no sooner no later OK?" she asked. I nodded and thought happily of what I could do. My plans were brought to a halt when I realised that I didn't know anyone so I resolved that I would go with Sarah to the garage.

We pulled to a stop by a medium sized, two story, yellow wooden panelled house on Peach Lane; it had white trimming and a porch that wrapped around the whole of the lower floor, it looked really small town and was nothing like I was used to. Inside there were a number of mismatched furniture that shouldn't have gone, but in a strange way did. Everywhere was colourful and bright and my room on the 2nd floor across from the bathroom that was Sarah's was a bright mix of one Purple wall, one orange, one green and one yellow, there was a double bed that had a white metal frame that was moulded into intricate patterns, and a white wooden desk sprayed artfully with other bright colours, the wardrobes were built into one of the walls either side of the desk. There was a chest of draws that looked antique and bookcases set up with a TV balanced on top. I took all of this in before my eyes finally rested on Sarah's worried face.

"If you don't like it it's ok, we can repaint or even redesign the whole room if you really want to." She said her brow furrowed. I calmed her with a smile; wait. A smile? I actually smiled.

"I love it Sarah don't worry nothing will be changed thank you, I really mean that, for everything, it means a lot to me" I said.

"It's Ok my dear, now" she said blowing her breath out in a gust, "do you want to stay and unpack or what?" she asked, "oh and by the way you can call me auntie, or aunt Sarah, or really anything you like"

"Aunt Sarah," I said, "I like it, well if you don't mind can I come out to the garage with you?"

She looked shocked, "Are you sure your Tiffany?" she asked with a chuckle, "and sure you can do what you like, I'll be right back I'm just going to change and then we can head off"

"Great" I said, "Oh and Auntie?" "Yes?" "Can you call me Rae, please?" I asked, I had been toying with the idea on the flight to take my mind off the journey.

"Of course dear" and with that she disappeared into her room.