"Gate Change"
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or deceased is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright ? 2016 by Benjamin Mainville
All rights reserved.
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First eBook Edition: January 2016
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Also by Benjamin Mainville:
The Blue Hole
Scaring Lessons
Gate Change
a short story
by
Benjamin Mainville
After removing his grey suit coat and hanging it on the wall Brian stepped up to one of the urinals, unzipped his pants, and allowed relief to flow out him. It still surprised him that he was yet to acclimate to the constant traveling through airports, over land and sea, all in the name of business.
"Nice coat," the occupant next to him chimed in after taking his place alongside Brian.
"Thanks," replied Brian, staring straight ahead, rather displeased at having to make conversation with personal business in hand. Being a short visit he shook himself, instead of his new acquaintance's hand, and stepped away allowing the sensor to perform its task and prepare the urinal for its next occupant.
"Because, ya know, same one?" trailed off the occupant as Brian turned to retrieve his coat with a realization that they had the same one, complete with leather patched elbows.
He quietly grabbed the coat feeling slightly guilty, though uncertain why. "Wow, I did not even notice. You know what they say," Brian quipped as he walked past the man and stopped at the line of faucets to quickly wash of his hands, coat draped over shoulder.
"Great minds think alike!"
The toilet flushed as the man stepped away and the hand dryer blew before Brian stepped away. "Have a good flight," Brian stated, trying to not sound annoyed at the initial encounter. He stepped out of the bathroom, into the terminal, and slipped into the coat. As warm as it was with the constant bodies moving around, and the sun glaring through the windows, he always preferred to wear it instead of holding it. He felt almost naked without it by this point. He turned left and began walking toward the gates, leaving the lucky travelers who had yet to experience the security checkpoint toward his right; their clearance was certain to be one of the highlights of their day.
When he first took on the consultant position for the brand auditing team at SleepEZ, the mobile app allowing travelers to feel confident in their lodging choices due to the stringent secret shopping provided by the company, Brian was determined to not allow his fear of flying to get in the way of financial success. He knew the traveling would take some getting used to but he never considered the social seclusion that would develop from constantly being around people in transit with not enough time, or more likely a lack of comfort, to chat with a stranger- let alone a man traveling on his own with no luggage of any sort. As an avid people watcher, however, he did find the time spent moving about the country entertaining and, at times, enlightening.
Brian strolled toward the end of the terminal where his flight was expected to board within the next ten minutes, as confirmed by a quick glance at his wrist. He took in the travelers that he passed. Of course you had the business group briskly walking toward baggage claim as they discussed their notes for the meeting, the teenager sitting with eyes glued to her phone as she tried to distance herself as far as the charging cord would allow her escape from her parents, and the wide-eyed dog sitting beneath the bench where its owner awaited pre-boarding- uncertain whether to cry with excitement from being in such a busy place or from the terror of being in such an overwhelming location for the first time. A pair of flight attendants walked casually from their recently arrived flight and further down the pilot made her appearance with a wide, bright smile and cap held beneath her arm.
While he did not consider himself to be big on stereotyping, Brian did consider whether there was time for a quick drink to calm his nerves, a consideration which he felt to be coincidental to his notice of the pilot walking past him. He looked ahead at the gate numbers and saw his gate, 19, two gates ahead on the left. With no passengers yet standing he took another look at his wrist and confirmed that he would have time to find a seat with his name on it while not feeling the need to be rush.
Recalling passing a bar, Brian turned around and retraced his steps. He stopped at the first barstool he saw but not before watching a child, screaming in delight, rush past only to leave him wondering just who's child it was. No sooner had he positioned himself on the cushioned red stool had the bartender arrived with the standard small napkin.
"Made it through security I see," commented the bar tender in a poor attempt at an overused joke. His name tag, Matt, revealed that his name (unfortunate soul) was overused in the originality department as well. Matt's black shirt matched the amusement Brian was feeling at the comment.
"That I did, now I could use a pick me up to help me make it through this flight. I'll keep it simple though," he reached into his pocket, opened his wallet, and pulled out a $10 bill. "Keep $3 for yourself and I will take however many shots I can get with the remaining $7."
"Can't say I've heard that before," the bar tender stated, accepting the bill and holding it against the counter with his finger as he pondered what combination to get his customer. "Let me think."
He had gotten used to this reaction. While it was new Matt, it was a tactic that Brian used during most of his travels. It provided him variety as he never quite knew how much, or what kind of, alcohol he would receive. He felt usually this set up also retrieved him the best value for his money. Occasionally he found himself getting a discount on certain shots as the bar tender attempted to keep it within the allotted $7 allowance while not making their customer feel as though they were cheating them with less alcohol than anticipated.
Matt returned with two shots, a typical number when compared to Brian's previous experiences. Brian had to admit that he was impressed by Matt's ability to single handedly present the glasses in front of him without a drop of spillover. In an effort to keep conversation minimal, and to get to a happier place faster, he downed them. "Bottoms up and bottoms off," he said as he scooted off the stool before his head could not quite comprehend how to get his legs to move properly.
Brian strode purposefully toward his gate, one foot in front of the other retracing his initial path that he had taken after clearing the security checkpoint. He never quite noticed how the zig zag pattern on the blue carpeting made it appear as though he were walking on water. It was an illusion he would try to remember during his future travels. The aesthetic design of an airport was important consideration when determining the best layover experience possible.
Looking up he saw passengers standing in line at his gate. He moved his shuffle a bit faster to find his place in line. During the process he found himself darting around the incoming cheerleader receiving a ride in a wheel chair by a gate attendant and he made sure to steer clear of the cleaning cart as the custodian was emptying garbage bins. Where seats are scarce before boarding the rows of chairs now sat empty, having been evacuated by the passengers currently turning in their tickets and beginning their descent toward their plane.
He reached into his suit po
cket and retrieved his ticket, allowing himself a moment to close his eyes and take a deep breath. In a few short hours he would be in Orlando where a list of hotels were awaiting his visit, certain to be unenthused by the secret shopping that had taken place the week prior. He opened his eyes and moved forward with the rest of the line. He was pleased. It seemed like it would be a flight with few children, something unique for a trip to the vacation capital of the world.
After the passenger before him entered the ramp, Brian walked up to the gate attendant and handed over his ticket. As she scanned the ticket he awaited the beep from the scanner to confirm his seating assignment- but it never came. She pulled the ticket away from the scanner and looked over it.
"I'm sorry sir, but I do believe you are in the wrong place," Amy, as revealed by her name tag, explained.
Brian looked around the gate to confirm his surroundings were indeed those of Gate 19 departing to Orlando, as revealed by the signage. "I'm sorry, am I just not seeing correctly? This flight is going to Orlando is it not?"
"You are correct sir, however it does appear that your ticket is not for this flight," Amy handed the ticket to Brian, pointing out the "Gate 27" printed on it. The