The Missing Passenger
Traveling alone makes you alert at all times. You try to get all the details and follow procedures just to make sure that you can get to your destination unscathed. A moment that your focus slips, your trip might then be jeopardized. But what if something happened and you can’t put the blame on anybody?
So there I was in Tuguegarao airport waiting for my ride home. I was one of the earliest passengers and I got the chance to settle in a nice spot in the waiting lounge. As my departure time neared, more passengers started streaming inside the lounge. There was even a famous actor-singer who sat near me. He was quite small (sorry, I’m not really into Tagalog showbiz, and I don’t know how to describe them showbiz guys). As the lounge was filled up with some of the passengers having no choice but to stand in waiting, it started to rain. Was it a portent of my immediate future?
Then several airport utility guys shouted, “O, yung galing sa Basco!” (Literal translation: ‘The one/s that came from Basco!’). Basco is the capital town of the province of Batanes and a small plane (the fokker) serviced its Basco-Tuguegarao-Manila route. Several people walked towards the plane while some Philippine Airlines personnel handed out huge umbrellas. After some minutes, there were still many of us left. A bigger airplane heading for Manila was still parked on the tarmac. When the flight number of this plane is called out, the waiting lounge would then be empty of people.
It had been around ten minutes and the shouting guys came back uttering the same line. They stood for about a minute. It appeared that they were waiting for the remaining passengers for the fokker plane. One ran towards the plane and returned. I heard him told his colleagues to go look for the missing passenger in the comfort room. Zero. ‘Go to the canteen!’ Zilch. Then, as if by a stroke of genius, the guy that ran towards the plane asked all of us waiting passengers in a loud voice, “Who holds an orange-colored boarding pass?” I looked at my hand and there it was, an orange piece of paper. The other passengers near me were also looking at my ticket! I immediately stood up and the guy hustled me to the plane under the rain and without an umbrella!
Then there she was, a pretty stewardess, with her wide smile and greeted me with arms wide open (if only I could read her mind). And as if on cue, all the other passengers stared at me while I walked towards the only remaining seat at the end of the plane. The stewardess approached me and told me that they were so kind that they did not leave me behind. I tried to explain everything to her. But before I could open my mouth, she made a fast turn around leaving me with my mouth wide open.
If only she heard my story. I tried to tell her that I was waiting for the flight number to be announced.
And that I did not come from Basco.
So there I was in Tuguegarao airport waiting for my ride home. I was one of the earliest passengers and I got the chance to settle in a nice spot in the waiting lounge. As my departure time neared, more passengers started streaming inside the lounge. There was even a famous actor-singer who sat near me. He was quite small (sorry, I’m not really into Tagalog showbiz, and I don’t know how to describe them showbiz guys). As the lounge was filled up with some of the passengers having no choice but to stand in waiting, it started to rain. Was it a portent of my immediate future?
Then several airport utility guys shouted, “O, yung galing sa Basco!” (Literal translation: ‘The one/s that came from Basco!’). Basco is the capital town of the province of Batanes and a small plane (the fokker) serviced its Basco-Tuguegarao-Manila route. Several people walked towards the plane while some Philippine Airlines personnel handed out huge umbrellas. After some minutes, there were still many of us left. A bigger airplane heading for Manila was still parked on the tarmac. When the flight number of this plane is called out, the waiting lounge would then be empty of people.
It had been around ten minutes and the shouting guys came back uttering the same line. They stood for about a minute. It appeared that they were waiting for the remaining passengers for the fokker plane. One ran towards the plane and returned. I heard him told his colleagues to go look for the missing passenger in the comfort room. Zero. ‘Go to the canteen!’ Zilch. Then, as if by a stroke of genius, the guy that ran towards the plane asked all of us waiting passengers in a loud voice, “Who holds an orange-colored boarding pass?” I looked at my hand and there it was, an orange piece of paper. The other passengers near me were also looking at my ticket! I immediately stood up and the guy hustled me to the plane under the rain and without an umbrella!
Then there she was, a pretty stewardess, with her wide smile and greeted me with arms wide open (if only I could read her mind). And as if on cue, all the other passengers stared at me while I walked towards the only remaining seat at the end of the plane. The stewardess approached me and told me that they were so kind that they did not leave me behind. I tried to explain everything to her. But before I could open my mouth, she made a fast turn around leaving me with my mouth wide open.
If only she heard my story. I tried to tell her that I was waiting for the flight number to be announced.
And that I did not come from Basco.
posted by Caloy at
12:29 AM
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