Dead Awake: The Last Crossing (16 page)

The siesta time started at
about midday and ended sometime after four or five. The main idea
was that everyone ought to take a break from work and have a large
meal, then sleep for a few hours to digest it. I didn’t find the
siesta to be productive nor of a cognitive nature, for why would
one sleep during the day? Sleeping would only ruin one’s desire to
work and would waste all available good time; for what could one
possibly get done after five, and especially after a nap. It was an
ideal that was completely contrary to capitalism. Imagine going to
the bank at three o’clock and not being attended because everyone
was at home sleeping. The notion was ridiculous!

We got to the airport and I
told the taxi-man to wait for us. My nerves by then were to a
limit. At least I remembered my chivalry and opened the door for
Noelia. It was good that I did that one thing, for it was shameful
the way I treated her.

Even though the concept of
opening doors and throwing jackets over puddles wasn’t a part of
Noelia’s culture, it was still nice for her and she noticed it,
repaying me with a smile. But I was sure no bag of sugar. Romance
was far from my busy brain. What was she doing there? I asked
myself in exasperation. She’d only get sad, or even worse,
irritated and provoked into losing her good nature. She was always
the Peacemaker. I didn’t want her to experience my ill nature. This
mess with my job would soon be over and things would be back the
way they should, but now I was too deranged to treat her as a
princess should be treated, so I told her that it would be better
if she went to her house while I fixed my problem. But that’s what
made it start and she became disagreeable.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want
her to be with me. She misunderstood it. I wish I wouldn’t have
said anything, but she was bound to get upset. How much wear and
tear can the best of crutches take before they break? She was my
support and my peacemaker, but even she would break under my
spoiled spirit.

Noelia didn’t care to speak
to me any more, as I made my way to the ticket counter. The lady
behind the desk was dressed professionally and at first polite, but
I would soon spoil that and make her day a little worse. The first
thing I did was ignore her pleasantness and interrupt her in the
middle of her first sentence. Whatever she tried to say was cut off
by my demands. Things would be done my way and she was going to
have to understand that from the start.

“
Yes sir, I am sure we can
manage something if you can give me your ticket and I can . .
.”

“
No, you don’t understand.
I need a flight tomorrow to New York, non-stop, in first class, if
you have any in first class, and here is my ticket.”

“
Yes sir, but if you don’t
have any reservation I’m not sure what we can . . .”

“
Not what you can – what
you have to! I have a first class, pre-paid ticket here. I had to
cancel it, but the lady I talked to last said I could work whatever
out whenever I wanted to leave. So you have to give me a ticket
now.”

“
I don’t think she told you
that, sir. We have a very strict policy around this time of year,
but I’m sure if you will show me your ticket we can work something
out for you.”

“
No! You don’t understand!
The lady that was here before told me that I could book on whatever
flight I wanted to, so you better get me on tomorrow’s flight
because I have to get back to New York pronto.”

“
I don’t know what she told
you sir, but we can’t do anything about tomorrow if you don’t have
a pre-paid ticket...”

“
No! You will get me on
that flight! She absolutely promised me...”

“
Well, do you see the lady
who helped you?”

“
I don’t see her now,
but...”

“
Do you remember her
name?”

“
No, of course I don’t!
But...”

“
Well then there’s nothing
I can do for you. Whoever told you that you could reschedule
whenever you wanted to must have made a mistake. But I don’t see
any way we can help you in . . .”

“
Oh you better help me
lady... I don’t care what it’s gonna take! You better let me talk
to your supervisor so we can get this mess straightened up right
now!” By that point I was yelling so loud that she didn’t need to
get her supervisor. I had attracted his attention already and he
was trying hard to keep me calm. He took over the situation and
signaled the attendant to go. She went without
complaint.

“
Sir, what is the trouble
here?” said the man, “I’m sure I can be of assistance to
you.”

I kept the obnoxious
attitude. My eyes were bulging out, blood-shot like an alligator
infuriated over its struggling prey. “Oh you better help buddy! My
job demands I be there tomorrow on a very important interview for
the worlds largest newspaper, and your rude attendant seems to
think she should make things hard for me. Your measly second-rate
airline better find the time and way to get me back!”

The man was trying to be
calm, but I was good at offending. One could tell it in his eyes
that he did not want to deal with another imbecile that day; but
there I was, another fool, yelling and screaming at the top of my
throat. Noelia became very embarrassed and tried tugging at my
shirt, to get me to calm down. Instead, I turned around and was
rude to her.

“
What do you expect me to
do with these pig-face people. What do you want me to do? Do you
want me to back down like an idiot? Do you think I’m some stupid
fool that needs to take this? What do you want?” I was talking in
Guarani to her and pig-face was the only insult I had learned. Of
course, the attendants also spoke Guarani, so I made myself louder
so that they could hear. “They are pig-face, all of them, that do
not know how to serve the public! I’m not going to stand around and
let them walk all over me! What do you want me to do when I see
they are lying to me? Do you want me to stand around like an
idiot?”

With those words I turned my
eyes to the man and spoke even louder. “He is lying to me, right to
my face, and thinking I’m some kind of pig-face that’s going to
believe him. I know that they can arrange it for me, but they think
I’m STUPID” (I spoke this word in English, then went back to
Guarani), “and he’s a l-i-a-r.”

Noelia couldn’t take it any
more so she walked off and left me to make more of an idiot of
myself, if I wanted to, but she wasn’t going to be there to see it.
It made me really embarrassed and angry with her. These people were
going to take me for a fool, now that she had walked away. How was
I supposed to make out like the one who was right, if even my
girlfriend wasn’t going to listen?

And I was in the right here!
I went back to my attack on the manager, returning to English
again. “Look, are you going to help me or not?” I put my papers and
my ticket on the counter. He didn’t bother to look them thoroughly,
just gave them a glance and walked away. He was through dealing
with a pompous blockhead.

“
I’m sorry,” he said, as he
walked away, “I’m not going to be able to help you. You will have
to take it up with the airline in writing, if you have any
complaint, but I am very busy. You’ll excuse me.” I screamed out to
him, but he didn’t return. Then the attendant lady came
back.

“
Was he able to help you
out?” she asked cynically. By now my answer was given from the
bottom of my lungs. It must have been a spectacle for
everyone.

“
No I was not helped! This
airline is a joke! I will never fly with it again and you are
taking a big chunk of business away from yourselves! I travel more
than six times a year and work for a huge firm. Once I get back to
the States, none of my firm will ever fly with you again! You are
going to make your airline lose out on millions of
dollars!”

“
If you get back to the
States,” she corrected. Her answer was so cynical that I don’t even
think she knew what she was saying. It was more like a dark
prophecy than a sarcastic comeback. It must have set her back a bit
and made her try to be nice again. If it wasn’t that, I don’t know
why she started trying again. Her boss had already taken me as a
nut, but she decided to try some more.

“
I am sure we don’t want to
lose you as a customer, sir, but . . .”

“
Well then you better do
something about it now!”

She looked through my
tickets a little better than the man did, but didn’t get the
results I wanted to hear. Then I resulted to blackmail again. I
find it funny that people that lose their temper, like myself,
often tend to embellish what they’ll do as a result of being
crossed. Sure, I could have gone back and held a banner over my
head and picketed outside the airport. And maybe all that would
have made some bad publicity for the airline. But who had the time
to for such revenge? I sure didn’t and even if I did, I wouldn’t
waste it outside an airport. I’d go golf or something. I didn’t
even fly six times a year; but even if I did, that money wasn’t
going to break the airline. And as far as my company was concerned,
I didn’t even have say over what the mailroom did, let alone the
company. And yet I found it necessary to lie, to try to put a
fright in this girl.

“
I’m sorry sir, but it was
as I feared. We won’t be able to help you...”

“
What do you mean, you
won’t be able to help me!”

“
Well you see sir, your
ticket was canceled two weeks ago BY YOU, and you never made any
arrangements for another ticket...”

“
Yes, but she told
me...”

“
Whatever it was she told
you, I can’t do anything about that now. I am trying to be more
than nice to you sir, but you don’t seem to get it! There is
nothing I can do.” The girl was really frustrated now. I really
think she was trying to help, but she just couldn’t get around
anything, especially my thick skull.

“
What do you want me to
do,” she said, “put you on the plane and kick someone else off? I
can’t do that. You should have made your arrangements two weeks ago
when...”

“
I didn’t know when I was
going back!” I yelled.

“
Well then, I’m sorry, but
it was your fault. Now you’ll have to make other arrangements, but
that’s all I can tell you.” The poor thing was crying now, because
of me; but it didn’t faze me.

“
Other arrangements! What
sort of other arrangements? What’s the soonest I can get off this
bastard island?”

She paused for a second, not
appreciating my language at all and then answered. “It will be at
least two weeks.”

“
Two weeks @ ## *** #
@...”

My language had slipped into
the pit, so she didn’t feel like she had to take it any more. She
left me to yell as loud as I wanted and walked away; now with a
broken spirit towards humanity because of me. I tried to get her
back, but by then no one wanted to help any more. The only thing
left was to leave the place, so I did, with a few more cursings in
regard to what I called “lousy service”. My language usually never
became horrid, but this was a time when I was beginning to lose my
composure. All my goodness was failing.

I walked back to Noelia, who
was waiting outside, with a few complaints on my mind, for she was
partly at fault.

“
Why did you leave? Do you
realize you made me look like a fool in front of everyone?” I tried
keeping my voice down as best I could, but already I was
faltering.

“
Well, you were very rude
to me,” she said, “and I told you I wasn’t going to be around when
you made a scene.”

“
Yes, but did you have to
ridicule me in front of everyone? They must have thought I was a
pig-face who didn’t even have the attention or support of his lady.
You could have stayed, at least.”

“
Well, I’m not going to
fight about it any more,” she said, and then stopped arguing with
me. It was a silly thing, but of course, I stayed grumpy for a long
while after that. It was nice of her to stop the fight that could
have escalated into something more. The fact of the matter was that
I was totally incorrect and in the wrong, but she didn’t take too
much offense. She just ignored me until it went away.

In the meantime, my anger
towards her faded as the more real problem intoxicated my mind. I
didn’t have a plan any more and didn’t know what to do, for there
was certainly no longer a way to get back to the States on time.
Three days, my boss had said. Ha! It might as well be three years.
The boss had given me an ultimatum that I could not beat, and
although I could have sat back and accepted my circumstances,
instead I chose to let it break me into pieces.

As we walked away, the
airport fell from sight and its civilization became background to
the island’s true atmosphere. During all this I kept insisting
about the States. I said that there we wouldn’t have had such
problems, as we’d had here, but Noelia wanted to hear nothing of
it.

“
I don’t see why you can’t
just stay here with me,” she said. “You can fix all your problems
and then tell him you can’t come back.”

“
I can’t do that, Noelia,
can’t you see? My boss has already told me that if I don’t go back
tomorrow he’ll fire me.”