*scroll down for a YouTube video*
First flight
Eighteen
Philly to New Orleans
Meeting the love-of-my-life
Stationed in Biloxi
Due in at 11 pm
Nemesis fog
Flight forced to land
In Atlanta, Georgia
Here’s the terrible confession
Autistic mind clacking away
Didn’t hear what stewardess saying
Just kept thinking
Will he know my flight’s delayed
Will he wait
Went into the bathroom
Forgot about the luggage
Exited to a side gateway
Dark and empty
Nothing but faux leather
Benches
Ashtrays
Locked in!
Back to the bathroom
Called my mom
From a phone booth
She said just lie down on a bench
Sleep
As if
Can’t even sleep in my bed for more than an hour
Smoked the entire night
Danced and sang in the dark
No jet noises
All grounded
Just smoggy fog
Peering at me
Right outside the observatory windows
Sang alphabetically
Baez, Beatles, Dylan
Sang all the way to the Zombies
(Well no one told me about her…)
Personnel shocked the next morning
When I asked for my luggage
And a flight to New Orleans
Could see their stares
Could see them glancing at each other
But not sure what it all meant
Hustled me on a plane
Served me coffee
But by then I was shivering
Scratchy throat
Landed to the sound of my name
He was there, waiting for me
So was my luggage
We walked on Canal Street
Ate at Top of the Mark
Back to the hotel
I fell
Into a feverish sleep
Didn’t wake until
The next day
Felt better
He gave me his Air Force wings
How I loved him
How I don’t understand
Why I didn’t wait the four years for him
How I hope he had a good life
A good wife
And that’s what I did
On my trip to New Orleans
When I was eighteen
And unknowingly
Autistic and clueless
Yet able to survive…
© 2017 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: USAF Rank Pin, Pinterest
*YouTube video Brook Benton, Rainy Night in Georgia https://youtu.be/bDRbF80NKDU
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