Autism Vox

Fly Away

by Kristina Chew, PhD on December 22nd, 2007

I noted the law of unintended consequences in reference to the aftermath of the Ransom Notes ad campaign: Our trip from New Jersey via Philadelphia to California to see my family for the holidays could be said rather to invoke good old Murphy’s Law: If something will go wrong when you’re trying to get on a 7.10am transcontinental airplane flight, it sure will, and our nearly missing the bus from Economy Parking to the airport was just the start.

We checked our suitcases in and went up (to Charlie’s pleasure) the escalator, and found that the line to go through Security stretched back all the way to the moving walkway.

We got in line.

I noted the law of unintended consequences in reference to the aftermath of the Ransom Notes ad campaign: Our trip from New Jersey via Philadelphia to California to see my family for the holidays could be said rather to invoke good old Murphy’s Law: If something will go wrong when you’re trying to get on a 7.10am transcontinental airplane flight, it sure will, and our nearly missing the bus from Economy Parking to the airport was just the start.

We checked our suitcases in and went up (to Charlie’s pleasure) the escalator, and found that the line to go through Security stretched back all the way to the moving walkway.

Around 6.45am—and please keep in mind that we were flying Southwest Airlines, which has unassigned seating—we were informed that anyone with a flight leaving at 7am or before could move to a special line to the left. We moved up.

Anyone with a stroller was directed into our line, which was crawlig. Someone in a uniform kicked a couple out of the line because their flight left at 7.17am: Would that happen to us? Maybe I had the recent discussion about dealing with IEP stress on my mind but I just smiled a bit and reminded Charlie to stand by us (he had planted himself smack in the middle of a restaurant’s entranceway).

We got our boarding passes checked. Shoes came off, laptops were placed in bins, bags were placed in bins, the blue case was placed in a bin, Charlie on the verge of walking through the metal detector was told to take off his Spiderman gloves, someone in the other line said “My plane leaves in two minutes!”

(This passenger was on the same plane as us.)

Jim got through the line first, found his shoes, and ran to the gate, while I tried to gather up four bags, two laptops, and the coats, and to ask Charlie to stay near me, and to nod pleasantly at the security worker when she told me that she had to check Jim’s backpack. (One too big bottle of shaving cream was the reason.) Needless to say, we ran to the gate and to the end of a line of passengers waiting to board. We walked all the way back to where there were three seats in a row. Charlie pulled off his shoes and sat down in the window seat and told me “buckle up!”.

I shoved my bag under the seat in front of me. I realized I had forgotten to bring the bag of food I had packed for Charlie.

Accordingly, when our plane stopped at Midway Airport in Chicago, I was to be seen sprinting up and down the concourse in search of French fries. I saw the familiar Golden Arches and a line that snaked far, far around. I ran the other way and found myself saying “do you have fries?” and never feeling so relieved as when the young woman with dyed blonde hair said “yes we do.” The name of the food stand was—what could be more apt?—Pegasus.

Charlie ate the fries as fast as you can imagine, wrapped himself in his penguin fleece blanket, and went back to sleep. Jim and I spent the rest of the trip reading.

You never know when a winged horse might swoop down and transport you to where you need to go.

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POSTED IN: Classics, Family, Holidays, Myth, Travel