Not Into Her

XIX - The Connecting Flight

The news about the Graduation Day and the medals came in Washington, D.C. where my Aunt Brenda worked and lived for thirteen years. They sent me a letter, congratulating me for my success, and they asked me if where I wished to go for college. The letter also said that they're happy to have them in Washington and they're very expecting a good response from their letter. Aunt Brenda and her family also wished a good consideration from my father about this matter and, if so he refused, they can arrange a flight to Washington, D.C.

Aunt Brenda Mendez is my aunt from my father's side. She's the fourth child of my grandparents' children and Father is their seventh child. Since I was still six, Aunt Brenda always cared for me and, whenever she visited our house, she always asked about me. She also gives me money and she always takes care of me whenever I was on their house.

Now, my Aunt Brenda is in Washington, D.C. She's working as a pediatrician, assigned in a prestigious hospital in D.C. She married an American doctor who worked as a surgeon at the same hospital where Aunt Brenda worked and got three daughters, my cousins Linda, Marilyn and  Mary Kate, the twins.

Linda, now, is twenty-three while Marilyn and Mary Kate are on my age. Linda is currently working in a college university in Utah and the twins are still studying. They're all beautiful, just like their mother, and deceived by many students around their campus. They're also smart and active in sports in their schools and Linda became a cheerleader when she's still in University of Phoenix in Washington, D.C.

Now, back to the story. The letter has been sent three weeks after the graduation day. I was so excited about my first letter that has been given to me and never thought that the first letter for me came from my Aunt Brenda. Since graduation day, I haven't heard some greetings from my father nor my sister nor everyone else from my family, except for Aunt Brenda.

So I replied the letter. I replied the letter with positive and agreeable reason why I haven't heard some greetings from anyone else here in Davao and why I feel like I was alone. I was thinking of asking Father about Aunt Brenda's offer for me to study college in America but he always refused. So I just replied to Aunt Brenda that Father refused her offer and reasoned that he's never gonna sacrifice his only son in flying on an airplane.

So when Aunt Brenda's letter came for about a week later, I was surprised that the letter is also encased with an itinerary ticket, a flight to Washington in a week, at twelve-thirty. I kept the ticket, hid it on my drawer and secretly kept it on myself. I didn't tell my father and my sister about the ticket and never talk about the ticket. I just told them that the letter is fine and smiled when I said to them about the contents of the letter. I also didn't tell about Aunt Brenda's decision on taking me college.

Then the day came and it was the luckiest day of my life. Father told me about a meeting at twelve in the afternoon and he can't go home at that time before he goes to work that day. I looked at my itinerary ticket and noticed my flight is at twelve-fifty. I took a quick bath, wore my sweater, my white shirt and my maong pants and took my baggage under my two-deck bed. Then I walked out from the room, took my baggage and hailed a taxi cab.

Then I walked inside after I put my bags on the trunk of the cab and the cab driver drove the car. He looked at me on his rear-view mirror and smiled.

"Where to, sir?" he asked.

"Airport." I replied, looking at the driver on his rear-view mirror.

The driver drove the cab out from the village and headed south, to Sasa. Then he took the shortcut at Km. 10 to never get involved on the traffic at Panacan Highway. He drove upwards to the the nearest route and head to our left, to the direction where Davao International Airport is located. The road of Panacan Highway is like a roller coaster, it came up and down and up and down.

I looked at my wrist watch and noticed it's almost 10:45 in the morning. I looked at the road and noticed I was already in the airport, I just looked at my left and noticed the school of Jose Maria College. I already knew the location of the airport, the airport is just behind the school.

The driver drove the cab inside the airport's gates and drove inside the airport. It was a sunny day and sunlight came to my eyes, from the cab's front. The cab driver stopped the cab at the nearest drop point, at the front of the Departure Area. I took my wallet full of my savings from school and paid the cab bill. I walked out, the cab driver helped me take my bags from the trunk and put them on the sidewalk.

I walked inside the airport and took my bags for inspection. Then I walked to the ticketing booth, presented my itinerary ticket and the counter cashier encoded the ticket into a flight ticket and she gave the itinerary ticket back to me. I took the ticket from the cashier, also took the actual ticket from the cashier and walked to the steel chairs at the front of the counters. I looked at the clock and noticed it's almost eleven. I had my hand-carry bag with me and the others are on that conveyor belt, waiting for the plane to walk in.

So I walked to the inclined escalator and walked through the terminal. I paid the terminal fee and had myself check with the scanner inside the terminal. Then I took my things, had them again around myself and walked inside. I looked around and noticed the magazine vendors on the side, restaurants on a corner, some delicacy shops on one side and a sky full of sun rays on my top.

Then I looked at the wrist watch again and noticed it's twelve noon. I felt hungry so I walked inside of a restaurant and had some lunch. I ordered a bowl of Beef Soup, a piece of sausage, a cup of fried rice, a piece of sunny-side up egg and a piece of a meatball. Then I paid the bill and walked to the available table and ate my lunch. After eating, I took a piece of toothpick from the cup at the center of the table and took the stuck-up piece of chunk in my teeth.

Then I walked out of the restaurant at twelve-fifteen, fifteen minutes before my flight. I walked inside the waiting area and sat on the chairs. The plane is already in the runway and was going back to the airport. Then it rotated and landed the passengers on the airport itself. Then the plane stopped at the port and its tunnel attached to the gate. The plane has been refueled and been cleaned a bit, preparing the plane for the next set of passengers.

After a few minutes, the plane is cleaned and the gates for the plane are heading to their respected seats with numbers. I walked inside the gate and the tunnel before I reach the plane's interior. I walked to the seat with the letter F on their head. I opened the upper compartment, opened my bag to reach out my headphones, closed the bag and put my bag to the compartment. Then I closed the compartment, slipped myself to the window seat and sat on the seat.

I put my head to the backrest, looking at the airport through the window, and waited for the airplane to be board with passengers. After a couple of minutes of waiting, the airplane suddenly circled around the runway and flew in the air. The plane flew in the air, as high as the tallest building around the city. Clouds shone on the sunny afternoon as the plane flew straight. The plane continue to fly in the sky.

I looked at the bottom of the clouds and noticed the islands of Mindanao. After a few minutes, the sky looked very clear and I can see the islands of Palawan, Cebu, Bohol, and the other islands of Visayas. And the plane continued heading north, towards the island of Luzon. An hour later, the plane reached Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 in Manila, basically in Pasay City.

When the plane landed on NAIA Terminal 2, all passengers immediately head down the airport and immediately walked to their destination. I was going out from the airport and took my baggage from the conveyor belt inside the airport. After getting, I walked to the counter of the airport and took the tickets going to Washington D.C. After taking the tickets from the counter and having my baggage checked in, I walked to the benches and looked at the ticket. I read the ticket and noticed the time for my departure to Washington, D.C. is 1:45 in the afternoon, fifteen minutes after my arrival in Manila.