Chapter 101
It was Avery who drove us to the airport one week later. I had become thin – a bunch of bones – and I was too weak to walk. Jack pulled me out of the car and held me in his arms all the way from the parking to the upper floor, where we finally got a hold of a wheelchair.
“I’ll walk with you guys to the check-in”, Avery said
I felt she was wondering if and how I would make it to our destination
“We’ll be all right”, I said smiling, although I wasn’t sure myself what would happen.
But for some reason I was calm, happy, and almost euphoric. It was that distinctive type of euphoria that takes me when I am overly weak but not in pain, and I feel as if my body is freely floating in time and space.
“We should stroll around to use up some time”, I said, “we’ve got plenty on our hands”
The nurse Jack had hired looked at me with a surprised expression.
“We should try to save some energy for the trip”, she said
“We?”, I replied giggling, “Well, I am cozily sat on a wheelchair while you guys push me around, so unless you feel tired I’d like to see the duty free”
Everyone else was tense and instead of answering me Jack asked, almost talking to himself, “So where should we check-in?”
The summer was coming to an end, and the tourists about to return to their daily routine looked somewhat relieved to take a break from hotels, travels, but at the same time they were somewhat melancholic that the trip they had dreamed of was about to end.
From my privileged position on the wheelchair I could devote my undivided attention to the observation of the crowd of holiday migrants, without having to carry my luggage, walk or find my way around.
When we reached the check-in Avery bent and hugged me. It was a rushed hug, embarrassed and almost stolen, from which Avery released herself a second after touching me. That clumsy emotional hug was so unexpected, and I was touched.
“Hey”, I said
“Good luck, ok? I suppose it’s good that you go, since that damn Woods and that other doctor are nowhere to be found, nor is their cure, if they have one at all”, Avery told me, ending her sentence with an angry pitch in her tone
“Thank you, Mariam”, I said, meaning it
“We’ll call you when we get there”, Jack said
“Please do”
When Avery walked away I followed her with my eyes for as long as I could, till she got lost in the crowd
Seeing me stretch and crane my frail neck Jack said, “We must look forward now”
I must have given him a lost soul type of stare, because he said, “Come on, we’ll be back”
“Oh yes, and when…”, I started, but the voice of the woman at the check-in interrupted my sentence in mid-air.
“Can I help the next person in line?”, she called out
It was only then that I felt, for one brief moment, a sense of fear.