Whoa(!), It's Sept 11th Again

Four years ago today, I'm sitting at O'hare. This very minute. Slightly lost, a little confused and filled with much frustration and some fear. My flight back to Memphis had just been canceled (while boarding) and I'm trying to think (quick) how I am supposed to get 'home' to my sweetie. All the CNN monitors were turned off and I sensed something peculiar. Think woman, think! Of course the cellphones didn't work. Lines were way busy. I got on the payphone with Bruce. I was still just a girlfriend then. No engagement ring, no date to get one, nothing. Meanwhile, I overhear on the next payphone something about the WTC in NYC being attacked but couldn't possibly fathom what that meant. Bruce could fix the problem. He always does. He mocked me when I told him what I'd heard about the WTC. Then I hear him type and he went silent for a bit. He, being at school, had no idea what was going on either. Then the guy on the next payphone said it again except he said 'ANOTHER ATTACK'. It was bizarre and Bruce didn't give me details but to call back while he tried some more. I tried calling a friend in Detroit. No answer. Did I have a friend in Chicago? Gawd, I can't think. Who else from Indiana whom I went to school with is still there!? Yeah right, who was I kidding.

I went back to my seat next to this black man who had an American Airlines badge attached to his belt. He's a legal advisor for AA. We'd chatted a little before boarding so we chatted a little more about what might have happened in NYC. Nothing came close to what we could even imagine... so after awhile, he lets me know that he's called his legal partner in Memphis and told him he wasn't going to make it to court after all and he was gonna' drive back to North Carolina. Light bulb goes off BRIGHT in my head. 'Did someone say DRIVE!?'. I leapt on the opportunity and the very one sided negotiations started. I started with taking him to hang out on Beale Street (which at this point, I'd just moved to Memphis weeks before and had absolutely NO idea whatsoever what Beale street was about or what it looked like). We could hang out at a Blues bar (hey, I had some common sense and knowledge lol) and we could just party and chill and hang out - wouldn't that be cool. Wow... I'd never sunk so low... ok, I have but this was done while sober and very much with a clear conscience. I almost half believed myself that we'd have a great time in Memphis. He seemed slightly moved and a little tempted... but driving back to North Carolina from Chicago via Memphis wasn't exactly a breeze. Talk about a detour. He tried to make me understand. That was when the begging started. Maybe I do have some training being a Chinese... Jewish or even Greek mother. Guilt! It always works. Even on a black man!!!

Two hours later, we're standing in line at some car rental. Okay, like I'm going to remember which one. Some sense must have popped into his head 'coz he went "I don't know if I should be doing this". "You promised" I rebuked. "I didn't promise" he exclaims. Oooh, I knew it could get ugly for myself and the other silent Memphian girl I'd pulled along (as a safety net though on hind sight, she didn't help me at all). "PLEASE!" I backtracked on my pleading once more. Fortunately, by then, we'd gotten to the front of the line and the begging could ease.

Seven hours later, at about midnight, Dick dropped me and the no-name-girl (simply 'coz I can't remember her face nor her name nor anything she said during the neverending seven hour drive) right outside the Peabody Hotel where Bruce was waiting with my old faithful Altima. We said our very very brief goodbyes, nothing about Blues Bar, nothing about Beale Street and we parted ways. Well, after we drove away and came back to him with his car keys which Ms no-name had in her hands, for some reason LOL.

What a good guy! Of course, no good deed goes unpunished. He returns to North Carolina and sends me an email. He got fired from his position! Oh no! I felt awful. Honestly, I did! But he was my only ticket out of Chicago... what did you expect me to do right? Fortunately, with good karma, he got rehired by AA a few months later and moved out to NYC. See, it was a blessing in disguise. Would you rather live in NC or NYC!? Duh!

It's time for my annual email to Dick. An annual thank you; a quick 'hello' and simply a connection made forever at least once a year.