RETURNED Part Two

My Return To Love

I wonder how this could have happened, when I called to verify I was coming in on Sunday?.why didn?t he tell me they closed at 2pm. We would not have been out joy riding along the lake front.

I pick up the phone and call my partner again?.the train is just starting to leave the station?.beginning the pulling apart ? the certainty I will not take that train ride with him is complete?Our last days together, instead of looming in the near future, are now a part of the past.

I sit in the car, numb, and then I begin to think?.my hand is reaching for my phone and it rings, I must call my good friend and tell her what has happened. I pick up the phone and it is she calling me. ?Hello,? I say. She says, ?I was just sitting here working and I kept getting this message to call you and tell you to breath.?

I start laughing and tell her what has occurred??.he is leaving and my bags he didn?t check onto the train are sitting in the VIP lounge at the Viper station, or otherwise known as Union Station. If you need to do any transferring in Chicago avoid the Union Station. The energy sucks and everyone pushes and hisses at each other?.buses honking at cabs, cabs honking at everyone and people angry because it is such a pit.

Anyway she tells me to come and get her and she will go in and get my bags and then I shall go back to her place for the night and figure out what to do next.

You see there is no place to park near the station?requires cab and walking?.the cab I can do and the walking can be a challenge for me?..so she is my savior.

I pick her up and drop her off right were I dropped off my partner?.hope she doesn?t get lost also. I had gone around four times and she calls saying she is up out of the pit and ready for me to get her. I pull up and wiggle in to get as close as I can and then a bus pulls up beside me and a car pulls right behind the bus?.I am blocked totally.

I inch up a bit hoping the woman standing in front of me will pull back and give me room to move through?.my god her attitude was so bad I just sat there looking at her set jaw knowing I was not moving that way at all. My friend says don?t hit her she will sue to the end of time and I can see her just asking me to touch her. At that moment the car behind moved and I backed up and got out of there?.I never want to see that place again.

My friend took me back to her office, a very posh 24^th floor office with beautiful views of Chicago and the river. So I spent the afternoon making phone calls and looking out the windows at the beauty of Chicago. It is a wonderful city?and I got a few good shots I will try and get on the computer soon.

After she finished we drove back to her place?..I couldn?t figure out what to do. The thought of driving the car back to Spokane enticed me?.I had friends to see along the way. If I couldn?t have the last few romantic days with my partner then I would treat myself to a week of getting home and seeing everyone and everything I hadn?t seen in many years.

We are both very good cooks so our dinner was delightful and relaxing. All though I kept thinking about what to do no definitive answer comes. We talk and I have to say that this time we spent together brought us closer then we had been with Spiritual connections that reach across all the miles?.my heart was filled and I slept well that night.

In the morning my friends prays and she and I prayed for an answer?.as soon as we finished the answer popped into my head. Catch a flight and meet my partner in LAX. We can exchange clothing and I can get my bag and we can have at least a dinner together before I have to leave.

So I call for a ticket for the next day and I am set to fly to Salt Lake City and then to LAX??my friend and I take the day and go up to her other home to drop off some things and pick up a few others?lovely drive and a very interesting time together?that is another story?..of the house with the whirling vortex?.you walk in and confusion takes over. I found myself going unconscious, putting things down and not remembering where I placed them. Beautiful country and farms so the day was enjoyed and we finally got back to my friends place in Chicago and had another enjoyable dinner and evening.

Didn?t sleep as well that night, when I have someplace to go early in the morning I have a tendency not to sleep well the night before. So up at 4:3oAM, shower, coffee and packing. By six I am ready to drive to the airport and turn in the car.

They wanted to give me 106.00 off my bill and I told the manager that when I visit hell I get more pay then that?.so I am in process of dealing with them about the bill?will let you know how that goes.

Get to the terminal and I am checking in?.well what do you know I am one of those that has been selected to be frisked?must be my crinkle cloth full skirt, or what? So the woman guard comes over and I hold my arms out palms up and she pats me down?I wonder if she is going to pick up my belly and look under it?..were I would hide something I was trying to get through?.nope no belly checks.

Now I am through the check in and my friend has gone?.not to long and the plane is boarded and we start our taxi and we taxi and taxi ?. We taxied so long that when I got to Salt Lake City the door to my connection was closed and they would not open it to let me on. Again?.I try to keep the tears back and they slid down my face?.I am calling my partner to tell him this isn?t working at all. I will not be able to meet him at LAX.

The kind people at the desk took pity on me and they told me they would put me back on the plane to Orange county, the one I had just gotten off. Then they would shuttle me from John Wayne airport to LAX. I should be able to meet my partner, get my bags, give him his clean clothes I had and then we could go out for a nice dinner as our last time together.

I sit down in the seat I had vacated just a bit ago and the captain comes on and says?.?we can not take off right away, there is something wrong with the hydraulic system and we are in process of fixing the problem.?

When we landed and they put the hydraulic system down and then we landed my mind had said there is something wrong with this plane. I had totally forgotten about that thought until the captains announcement? how did I know. I know nothing about planes?.spooky.

So we sit and sit?.and hour passes and they have fixed the problem the captain is saying, but what they fixed didn?t fix the problem. So they are going to plan B as soon as they know what plan B will be. In that moment I decided to fly home?.I have had enough. I ask the stewardess about flights to Spokane and she comes back and tells me the 2:30pm flight is full and the next one is at 7:30pm.

So I figure I might as well stick with my original plan and fly to LAX ? eventually. Pretty soon the captain informs us we will be deplaned and put on another plane. Soon we are in the air and I am on my way to John Wayne airport.

I have not eaten any real food all day?..crackers and more crackers, this kid is hungry and they are offering more crackers. Rolls eyes. We reach JW airport and I am out to find my shuttle. Finally on my way to LAX and first I have the driver stop at Burger King?.at least it has volume and some taste. I eat while he drives.

We can travel the car pool lane so we are not in the almost bumper to bumper?.they are moving and there is not much room between each car.

We are pulling into LAX and looking for terminal 2. I spot my partner and even though he has had no shower or clean clothes he looks good to me. We pull up and get his bags into the car and then drive to the terminal I will leave from.

I give him his clean clothes and learn that there was no toilet from Chicago to LA. Seems Amtrak had failed to empty in Chicago so he had to walk two cars for a toilet and there was no shower at all.

I realize by not being on that train with him I was saved a lot of grief. I am one of those that gets up at least twice and more times each night to visit the bathroom. I can just see myself trying to get down the aisle without peeing down my leg?.and then no shower?.that does not sound all that romantic?ya know.

My partner goes into the bathroom to wash a bit and put on clean clothes. I arrange my bags and get them ready to check?..they are all so heavy I check all three?..thank you for making that possible. They charge $80.00 for the third bag?.which I do not understand at all?.the bag is under, in the bag compartment, or over my head it weighs the same amount. So my friend paid them and I my life was made easier.

After I was checked in we went back to terminal 2 and got him checked into his flight. We then had enough time for a cup of Starbucks coffee and a roll?.no dinner tonight, or as the boss would say?.?TEA.?

Sat and talked while we drank our coffee?.I don?t think either of us had planned on feeling as deeply as we did about the other?.he is an easy man to love and now the time was almost over.

We finished our coffee and he came with me back to my terminal to say goodbye. We hugged and kissed behind the planters out of the way and then he couldn?t go any further so he turned and was gone.

I was trying to find out where I was to go next and when I turned I couldn?t see him anywhere. Complete?..at least we had been allowed some time to do some completion and not have us torn apart like we had been.

Guess what?..I got frisked again?.this time it was my own fault. I had the walker and I was asked if I could walk without it?.in that present moment I knew I could not get to the plane without the walker so I said no?.that started the ball rolling. I didn?t realize he was just asking if I could walk though the sensors without the walker. Seems the walker makes the machine go off so they don?t know if it is me or the walker.

So off I go to the pat down area?.I am an old hand at this?up go the arms palm up and again she gently pats me?telling me what she will do with each move. I am so sad with the leaving and now it at least feels more complete. She tells me to move on and I am boarding the plane?.each plane has gotten smaller and smaller??..lucky for me, I am ready to be home now, we got a tail wind and a new route and we got home 35 mins early.

My housemate is there waiting for me and I have my bags in the car and we are off?..all that is on my mind at present moment is food. We stop and have something to eat and then proceed home.

RETURNED

Next call came and it informed me departure time was 3:15pm not 3:45. Oh boy this was getting tight?.I could still do it if everything went click, click, click??

I had my long time friend with me and I dropped her off downtown, Wells and Wabash, Chicago and she walked to work, she was going on vacation that Monday and had a few things to clear off her desk.

I in turn proceeded down Wabash to find the car return place. Finally, what a mesh mash of traffic, ell over head and construction. Oh my god no the place is closed?..must be a drop box?.no drop box. I am beginning to have a melt down?.this can not be happening. I have to get back to the Union Station and board that train to Las Angeles.

I look around, frantic, and see the Hilton across the street?.maybe they have a drop place for this car and I can go on my way?..I walk as quickly as I can over there?.all the while trying to get the car rental place on the phone?.only problem is I can not hear with all the noise.

I get into the Hilton and this kind young black man is talking with a group of people?.normally I would wait, but time is running without me, so I interrupt their conversation?.they can see I am a bit beside myself.

I ask if there is a drop and he says let?s go talk with the concierge?.first though I must use the bathroom?.enter bathroom and starts the battle of the toilet paper holder and ME. I sat down and it immediately dropped down.

I in my challenged space slammed it back up?.it fell I slammed, it fell I slammed and all the while talking to myself?.this can not be happening, what am I going to do, abandoned in Chicago. Then I needed some toilet paper and it fell and dumped all the paper on the floor and also it proceeded to bite me?.gouged my arm and now I am crying and bleeding.

I am in wonder my heart didn?t just stop?.the stress I was putting on myself with my attitude could have killed me. Instead I ended up with a bleeding arm and tears running down my face.

I wash and clean my face and then out I go and I ask the young man if he knows any more?.he says to follow him?I have no idea if he could hear me in the bathroom crying and yelling at the toilet paper dispenser, but the women who came in while I was washing gave me the eye, but at the moment I didn?t care.

He takes me to the leader of the Bell Hops. I am standing at his desk, again trying to get a hold of the car rental company?.I called them four times and each time I was disconnected?.once being my fault.

The man at the desk is very calm and this gives me a little calm?not much, but hey some is better then none. I call my partner and tell him the situation?he doesn?t know what to do. He must leave the country by the 22^nd, so he has to make his connections.

I tell him to get on the train and go?.he tells me to drive the rental car home and he will take care of it?..wow?.did make me feel a bit better and I was still in disbelief that we were being so rudely torn apart.

The head Bell Hop orders someone to get me a bandage?.I am sure he doesn?t want me bleeding all over his desk. I apply the bandage and thank him and I start walking back to the car.

As I leave the front door the man opening the car doors keeps his eye on me?..again I am trying to communicate with the car company?this time I have an idiot?.tells me I should have had the car back the day before. I thank him and hang up.

As I cont my walk back to the car I see another car parked there?hope alights?.might it be someone that has been called and told of my plight and they have come to rescue me?.no another trying to leave their car. Seems they didn?t tell him either.

I get into the car and call my partner once again?.tears in my eyes he tells me they have boarded and will be pulling out soon. I don?t know what I said to tell the truth?.I am in shock.

I hang up and drive away?.getting lost immediately and I find myself heading back toward Milwaukee. I go off a ramp and see a deserted parking lot. I pull in and sit there in wonder and shock.