The Airport
Wild Impulsive
The fourteen(or perhaps sixteen?)-hour long flight I took from London to Taipei was exhausting. A seven-year old kid, constantly struggling with the necessity of crying the out of him until even breathing becomes painful during the entire flight, sitting next to a snorting, funny and quite easygoing caucasian grandpa, must had been quite an unique scenario to attend.
I missed my dad, my home, everything...and heading to an unknown country which I had been told by lots of people to be the land I come from, but never felt like being part of its tradition and culture was annoyingly terrifying and I cried.
Well, not exactly cried, just sobbed, and esporadically breathed heavily. I just had no idea of what was going to happen.
I knew no one, besides my mother, but even her face was slowly being erased from my memory.
How the hell was I supposed to recognize the one that was going to pick me up from the airport?
The old man, whom I guessed was traveling to Taiwan for bussiness, told me that I was going to be alright, because no one forgets a little boy who basically went through half world that easily. That made me calm down a bit until we landed in Taipei.
I just picked the handbag my dad had prepared to me and got out of the plane.
The old man was awaiting for me, I think. When I reached for him, he gave me an easy, kind-hearted smile.
"Do you want someone to stay with you until someone picks you up? Nobody is awaiting for me these next four hours...and I think you need some shoulder to lean on because it's obvious you are freaking out."
I really liked that grandpa. I think he was the first friendly face I got to see in quite a while ago. So I nodded happily.
We sat down on a bench near the arrival gate. The man was just siting besides me, smiling a lot, I think it was like nine in the morning already, and I was so hungry even my stomach started to creak. I had some money my dad gave me before I got into the plane. He was utterly sad because he was still feeling guilty. I tried to comfort him by telling him I was going to be okay, and if I somehow happened to get involved in some sort of problem, well, he'd surely keep me all year long after that. That last one sentence mad ehim laugh a bit.
I counted the total amount of money I had in my hands. Thirty pounds. Enough to get myself a healthy snack or something of the sort.
The only problem I had is that I didn't know the language. I closed my eyes thightly in order to remember the few things I learned when my dad used to talk to me in Cantonese when I was still a toddler.
Not a single word came across my mind and that kind of scared me.
My tummy groaned again. It made me feel dizzy because it surely was loud. Even the old man noticed, he just laughed and asked me nicely:
"Are you hungry?"
I just opened my mouth to reply, when my stomach did what it seemed to be the appropiate answer.
"Um...yes...I am" I answered
"I also feel like starving, boy. The plane food wasn't enough for this worn-out fellow and his huge stomach!"
I giggled a lot when he said that.
"Let's head to the food court then"
At first I didn't feel okay in leaving the arrival zone just like that. What if my mom suddenly pops out of nowhere and freaks out because I dissapeared? What if, during her lapsus, she phones my dad and starts yealling at him things?
I didn't want my dad to feel sad and dissapointed.
But a sudden urge to amke my mom get pissed appeared. And I just couldn't help it. I wanted my mom to get at least a bit pissed. For the nights my dad spent at the ambassy and at the court, for his wrecked nerves, for the violin classes I had to stop attending in order to make my ad lose less time.
Was that the urge of getting revenge?
"No, I actually..."
"What? oh, yeah...right, you shouldn't leave this site, right?"
"Yes...I don't want...to cause any trouble to my mom...she'd probably make a fuss about it if I leave."
"You are right...wow, sorry, little man, I for a moment forgot that you are still a child. I mean, you can perfectly travel overseas by yourself!"
"Hehe...um...thank you"
"So...shall we go to that store then?"
He pointed at a tiny convenience store. It wasn't too far from the bench we were sitting at, and my mothe could perfectly spot me in there if she just arrived in here.
I agreed.
So we headed to the small store, and I was already eyeing a pair of threats when the man asked me:
"By the way, do you speak the language?"
"I..."
Then, a young miss approached me, and asked me in what I later knew was mandarin Chinese.
"Hello, may I help you with something? What do you need?"
I simply stood still, dumbfounded by what she just asked me, which I couldn't understand at all.
The young woman kept asking me, guided by, I suppose, my asian features.
"What do you want?Do you have enough money?Why aren't you answering to me?Is this a prank?"
I know she was just doing her job, but the unknown language got really in my nerves and I simply yelled out
"I am sorry! I cannot speak chinese!"
The young woman was a bit surprised by my sudden reaction, and quickly changed languages
"Oh! I am sorry...May I help you?"
"Um...no...I am fine, thanks" I replied, hesitatingly.
"Fine"
The old man came a few minutes later, carrying out a soda and a sandwich.
I chose two big bars of chocolate.
I let the old man to talk to the employee who attended us, of course he didn't speak chinese, so the whole transaction was held in english, but I do not like to talk a lot. It dislikes me. So I just stood there in silence.
After a few minutes we returned to our seat, where our luggage was still awaiting for us.
There was an awkward silence at first, but soon the grandpa broke up the silence.
"By the way, we haven't rpesented to each other yet"
After the embarassing realisation that we just spent half of a day together without knowing each other names, I slowly said. In a very low voice:
"M-my name is Henry. Henry Lau"
The old caucasian men smiled gently, and replied
"Henry? It's such a cute name. Well, Henry, my name is Leigh Northington"
"That's quite a complicated name, sir" I randomly blurted out, quickly facepalming myself mentally after that.
"Yeah, I know...some people would make fun of itwhen I was younger. But I can't help it. My parents named me like that for a reason"
"Perhaps you could request a name change" I replied innocently
The man laughed
"Really? But changing names is quite difficult, you know"
Well, the man had a point in that statement.
"No! Please don't change your name, sir! I really like it! I am sorry if I bothered you! That name is quite elegant! I am just not used to long names!"
the man laughed even more.
"There's no need to apologize, young man" He assured me, patting my shoulder.
There was a moment of silence when I turned back to keep eating my chocolate bar, quickly broken when Leigh's phone started to ring loudly.
He quickly picked up the incoming call.
"Yes?...Oh, God...Of course I understand but...what?...is he alri- oh I see then...well...I am on my way"
After the call finished, he took a deep breath and sighed loudly
"Henry, I am so sorry, but there has been a problem at my work...I might leave now...sorry if I didn't get to stay with you until you get picked up"
I felt a bit saddened, yet quite relieved because I am not sure how mother would've reacted.
"Oh...um...goodbye, Leigh"
He shook my hand apologetically, and gave me a huge and bright smile
"Hope we'll meet again, Henry" He said as he parted away.
A few minutes lter, Xiaomei, my mother, showed up, accompanied by a tall, skinny boy, who would later present himself as the son of my mother's new husband.
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