A Trip that Was Not to Be

Fio realizes nothing happened, but to her it was tumultuous. The cancellation of her trip to Ontario for Nicole's memorial concert in Ontario, that is. Yes, after sitting on the tarmac for three hours, Fio de-planed and called Husband to come get her.

It wasn't American Airlines' fault that rainstorms were hovering over Dallas, where Fio would change planes for first leg of her journey. The captain kept the cabin informed, the attendants were circumspect in their care of passengers, and when the rains wouldn't let up and Fio finally decided enough was enough, everyone went overboard to be helpful. Fio gives the people at AA an A+.

But she'd already missed her connection to the second leg of her trip, and no matter what sort of adjustments could be made, there was no way she could reach Ontario by 4:00, when the concert began, or even by 6:00, when it ended. And if she missed the concert, she'd have a real problem hooking up with Claudine, Nicole's daughter, at whose home she was going to spend the night.

Besides, her arthritic hip couldn't take much more, and her claustrophobia was kicking into high gear. And the two men in the seats in front of her who had been discussing business for the past three hours were driving her crazy. And what was she going to do on the flight from Dallas to Ontario without a crossword puzzle book, which she'd forgotten to buy? (That Evanovitch novel she'd picked up, number seventeen, wasn't cutting it--everyone knows ol' Janet should have folded up her tents at number six.)

Anyway, Fiorella took advantage of the captain's offer to jump ship, as per FAA's regulations, came home, collapsed on the couch, and slept for three hours. Despite the fact that she had looked forward to this trip for two months, had planned it meticulously, had poured money, energy, and time into it, de-planing was the right decision. The time and effort are gone, but she recovered her airfare and had an unexpected day and a half to work on her book revisions.

And she has a passport now, which opens her horizons to the world.

Return trip

Fio takes it all back about American Airlines. The trip back home was a dream--smooth sailing, no bumps or grinds or tight squeezes this time. And, to top it off, a nice AA employee got Fio and Husband tickets on an earlier flight from Dallas to Austin so they didn't have a three-hour layover in Big D.

Fio doesn't mind eating crow when it tastes this good.