could he have wasted all this time without finding Baggage Claim?
It took forever to locate the escalators down. He was sick with fear that he had missed her. He hadnât had his watch on when they left so fast in the morning, so he had to check the time on the flight monitors, and the complexity of the information up there made the clock part hard to find.
The carousels were motionless. Security guards stood there anyway, also motionless, frozen until they were needed.
Michael trudged along car rental counters and past free hotel phones. There were lots of brochures for places to go and things to do. Michael took every one he could reach. He hated reading, but he could take his brochures back to the toy yellow and blue plane, curl up under a seat, and look at pictures.
âPassenger MacArthur, Passenger MacArthur,â said an overhead voice. âMeet your party at the information booth at Baggage Claim.â
That was where Michael was.
Two middle-aged women were definitely the ones worried about Passenger MacArthur. They bobbed up and down, peering this way and that. It was several minutes before Passenger MacArthur appeared, and Michael was astonished to see another little chubby middle-aged woman. Passenger MacArthur had sounded like a dad to him.
I could have Dad paged, he thought.
The three women hugged and cried, âItâs so good to see you!â and âThe carâs in short-term parking, not much of a walk,â so Michael walked with them.
I thought we would play catch, thought Michael. I thought we would be outside in his yard and play catch.
He clung to his brochures.
The garage was a cavern, like a sunken Japanese car dealership, hundreds of black four-door sedans lined up between great concrete pillars and tiny glowing Exit signs. Michael went over a few aisles where the shadows were thicker. He turned around and could no longer see where heâd come in, and when he tried to find the terminal, it wasnât there, and when he found a door, it led in some other direction entirely, and when he ran back to the four-door sedans, there were none. Only huge SUVs brushing side-view mirrors with the next SUV.
When they finally landed, Nathaniel was exhausted. He desperately needed a nap. Lily had no stroller. She was going to have to carry him and hope he slept against her shoulder. She felt very thin, as if her slamming heart had made her lose weight, and lose brain capacity, and lose hope.
It had been four hours since she talked to Michael.
Nathaniel began to cry that infuriating whine of little kids who should be asleep.
He was unbearably heavy.
She thought of the word âunbearablyâ and wondered if âbearâ was inside it.
Bears. York.
She was filled with fear.
She could think of a thousand terrible things that could have happened to Michael during these hours of silence. Things much worse than what Dad had done.
The flow of people carried Lily along. She didnât have to make choices. Everybody else knew where to go. They paraded to the baggage claim, where Michael should be.
But there was no Michael.
chapter
5
M ichael woke up. He was sleeping on a mattress of travel brochures, deep inside the wooden play plane. Lily! he thought. When is she coming? What time is it? I have to get to the baggage claim!
He crawled out and ran into the terminalâread the time on a monitor.
It was 4:12.
Lily had landed more than fifteen minutes ago. He had missed her! What if sheâd given up and gone home? Where was the escalator? He had to find Baggage Claim.
It seemed to Michael that hundreds of peopleâtall people, fat people, white people, black people, uniformed people, old peopleâstared at him and pointed at him. He fled and threw up in a menâs room.
He hadnât eaten in so long there was nothing to throw up, and the acid burned his throat.
When he left the bathroom, he had to walk with his fingertips brushing the wall to steady
It took forever to locate the escalators down. He was sick with fear that he had missed her. He hadnât had his watch on when they left so fast in the morning, so he had to check the time on the flight monitors, and the complexity of the information up there made the clock part hard to find.
The carousels were motionless. Security guards stood there anyway, also motionless, frozen until they were needed.
Michael trudged along car rental counters and past free hotel phones. There were lots of brochures for places to go and things to do. Michael took every one he could reach. He hated reading, but he could take his brochures back to the toy yellow and blue plane, curl up under a seat, and look at pictures.
âPassenger MacArthur, Passenger MacArthur,â said an overhead voice. âMeet your party at the information booth at Baggage Claim.â
That was where Michael was.
Two middle-aged women were definitely the ones worried about Passenger MacArthur. They bobbed up and down, peering this way and that. It was several minutes before Passenger MacArthur appeared, and Michael was astonished to see another little chubby middle-aged woman. Passenger MacArthur had sounded like a dad to him.
I could have Dad paged, he thought.
The three women hugged and cried, âItâs so good to see you!â and âThe carâs in short-term parking, not much of a walk,â so Michael walked with them.
I thought we would play catch, thought Michael. I thought we would be outside in his yard and play catch.
He clung to his brochures.
The garage was a cavern, like a sunken Japanese car dealership, hundreds of black four-door sedans lined up between great concrete pillars and tiny glowing Exit signs. Michael went over a few aisles where the shadows were thicker. He turned around and could no longer see where heâd come in, and when he tried to find the terminal, it wasnât there, and when he found a door, it led in some other direction entirely, and when he ran back to the four-door sedans, there were none. Only huge SUVs brushing side-view mirrors with the next SUV.
When they finally landed, Nathaniel was exhausted. He desperately needed a nap. Lily had no stroller. She was going to have to carry him and hope he slept against her shoulder. She felt very thin, as if her slamming heart had made her lose weight, and lose brain capacity, and lose hope.
It had been four hours since she talked to Michael.
Nathaniel began to cry that infuriating whine of little kids who should be asleep.
He was unbearably heavy.
She thought of the word âunbearablyâ and wondered if âbearâ was inside it.
Bears. York.
She was filled with fear.
She could think of a thousand terrible things that could have happened to Michael during these hours of silence. Things much worse than what Dad had done.
The flow of people carried Lily along. She didnât have to make choices. Everybody else knew where to go. They paraded to the baggage claim, where Michael should be.
But there was no Michael.
chapter
5
M ichael woke up. He was sleeping on a mattress of travel brochures, deep inside the wooden play plane. Lily! he thought. When is she coming? What time is it? I have to get to the baggage claim!
He crawled out and ran into the terminalâread the time on a monitor.
It was 4:12.
Lily had landed more than fifteen minutes ago. He had missed her! What if sheâd given up and gone home? Where was the escalator? He had to find Baggage Claim.
It seemed to Michael that hundreds of peopleâtall people, fat people, white people, black people, uniformed people, old peopleâstared at him and pointed at him. He fled and threw up in a menâs room.
He hadnât eaten in so long there was nothing to throw up, and the acid burned his throat.
When he left the bathroom, he had to walk with his fingertips brushing the wall to steady
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