Las Vegas’ Kerth Ceremonies, part 3

“Hello, this is Susan Mayer. I live on Wisteria Lane and I need a cab to go to the airport. Can you get one here quickly, please? I’m running a bit late and will have to get there before my plane takes off.”

Surprisingly, the cab arrived ten minutes later, and the driver loaded Susan’s two heavy suitcases and her overnight bag in the trunk. She closed and locked her house and started down the sidewalk to enter the cab when the thought struck her to go back into the house and check to make sure her stove was off. She did not remember leaving it on, but since she’d had that thought she couldn’t help but go back to the house and check. It was off. She locked the house again and got into the cab.

On the way to the airport, Susan thought about the beautiful turquoise and crystal dress she had borrowed to wear for the awards celebration. She had brought some very high heels with her and knew she would be the belle of the ball when she wore Bree’s cast-off.

As the cab driver pulled off the interstate, he asked over his shoulder, “Which airlines do you need to be let out at so that we can get your curbside check-in for your luggage?”

She answered, “Las Vegas Airlines.” There was a slight pause, after which the driver asked her to check her ticket again because he was not familiar with a Las Vegas Airlines. A slightly frazzled Susan reached for her purse and found that she didn’t have the paperwork from her publisher in her purse. She asked the driver to pull over and let her get into the overnight bag he had stowed in the trunk. The driver found a safe place to pull over and the two of them exited the cab and went to the trunk. The driver opened the trunk, and Susan pulled her overnight bag toward her. She opened it and found that there was no paperwork inside it either. She then proceeded to open each suitcase and could not find where she had put the letter from the publisher. The driver had to manhandle the last suitcase to get its lock to catch. Susan was on the verge of tears, and thoroughly frustrated. She did not know where she had put the paperwork. She remembered having it that very morning, but where had it gone? It was not evident in the kitchen when she
went back in to check the stove. And it was not in any of her luggage. Where else could she have put the papers? Since she did not know which airline or even which hotel she would be staying in when she got to Vegas, it was obvious that she needed to find the paperwork. And time was running short. She needed to be at the airport NOW, because her plane would be leaving in about an hour. A wet and upset Susan climbed back into the cab. “Take me back home, I guess. I have to find those papers from my publisher or I can’t go to Las Vegas,“ she said with an edge of a tear in her voice.

The trip back to Wisteria Lane took a lot longer than she thought the trip took to get to the airport. All the way back home she did a thorough inventory of things in her bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen. She could not see the paperwork, mentally, in any of those rooms. She thought back to when Julie asked her about her plane tickets. She did know where it was then, but it just was not obvious to her right now. She wondered if Julie had picked up her letter and put it in her bag by accident? She mentally traced her steps backward and remembered wanting to call Lynette’s boys to hire them to put her suitcases in the trunk of her car. But she did not remember having the paperwork when she got ready to make that call. She must have done something with the letter before she got ready to put her suitcases in the trunk of the car. Then she remembered! She let out a relieved yelp, scaring the driver.

“Sorry,“ Susan said. She grinned at him in the rearview mirror. “I finally figured where I left the letter. It won‘t take me long to get it when we get back home.”

Arriving at her home, Susan quickly grabbed the letter off the front seat of her car and locked the car. She had neglected to take the key out of the ignition or to lock the car the first time, and wondered if she would even have a car after this trip if she had not forgotten the little detail of taking her letter with her the first time.

Susan climbed back into the cab and told the driver to take her back to the airport and to Blue Aire Airlines this time. He pulled back out on the road and asked Susan if she needed to call the airport and make other arrangements since she had obviously missed her original flight? She was embarrassed to admit that she did not have a clue how to make new reservations, so instead she told the driver she would fix everything once she was back at the airport. The driver shook his head, but didn’t question the wisdom of the statement. That left Susan wondering just how did someone get on another flight? Surely there were many flights going from California to Las Vegas and she should be able to get on any one of them after she talked to a clerk at Blue Aire Airlines. They must have a way to make it so she would take a later flight.

Upon arriving at the Blue Aire terminal of the airport, the cab pulled over into the curb lane and parked. It was then that Susan noticed that the meter said $75.75. Even with a stingy tip that would take the remainder of the $100 she had taken from the bank that morning, minus the $20 she had given Julie. She thought she taken out plenty of money when she went to the bank, but now realized that her original $15 was what she had left to go all the way to Las Vegas. She reluctantly handed the driver $80.

Susan went to where the driver had left her suitcases by the side of the terminal. She moved the suitcases, one by one, toward the bell captain who was checking the luggage in at curb side. She handed him her paperwork, and he looked at it and handed it back to her.

“Lady, you got to be kidding. I can’t check you in for a flight that left 45 minutes ago.” The airline employee turned and started to help the next person in line.

“But what am I supposed to do now?” Susan was nearly whining, she realized.

“Take your suitcases and that paperwork into the terminal and they will help you straighten it out.” The airline employee was not in a patient mood and Susan realized that she was dismissed. It was obvious he could not/would not help her check her baggage in curbside. Susan wondered to herself how she was going to manage moving her two very large, very heavy suitcases all the way into the terminal all alone?

She stood still for a few moments after moving her bulky luggage a few feet away from the check-in point. She watched to see how others managed to make the trip inside to the counter. Soon she realized that she could rent a cart to put her suitcases on top of and push them instead of dragging them into the airport. She went over to the turnstile where the carts were being rented. It said to insert a five dollar bill and push a cart off the end. She looked in her wallet and found she only had a $10 bill and five $1 bills. She was afraid to leave her luggage so she pushed, pulled, and kicked it back to the curbside check-in desk. She asked the airline employee to exchange her $1 bills for a $5 bill. He found someone who was able to exchange her money. Then Susan manhandled her luggage back to the rental turnstile, got a cart, and pulled her heavy luggage up onto the dolly. At this point she was already tired and discouraged. She pushed her luggage into the main lobby of Blue Aire Airlines and began to read the signs over the various lines waiting to see a clerk. Just where was the “I-missed-my-flight-so-I-need-another-one” line? And, why hadn’t someone thought to put chairs in the lobby for the long wait to see a clerk?

****************************

Casey knew that he would be shepherding the high rollers in the Owner’s Penthouse most of the night, so he thought it would be wise for him to try to get some sleep in the afternoon. He had come into town just for this game, and he wanted to be ready for it.

He picked up the phone, and heard, “Yes, Mr. Manning, What can I do for you?”

Casey told the operator, “I am going to be out of pocket for the next few hours and would like for you to hold my calls, please. I’ll notify you when I am back.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Manning,” said the operator. “I’ll put your phone to voicemail until you tell me differently.”

“Thank you.” Casey hung up the phone and relaxed. He was so glad that there were people who actively ran the Monticeto. Most of his employees ate, drank, and slept the business and were able to make sure that it all ran smoothly. In his absences, it all worked seamlessly. The thought crossed his mind that he wasn’t needed at the casino at all, but since that was what helped him make a profit, he didn’t mind at all. After all, making a tidy profit was his biggest interest in the place.

He turned back the bedspread on his large bed, dimmed the lights, and put on soft classical music that played in the background. His system slowed down immediately, and he fell asleep almost as soon as he closed his eyes.

**********************

Susan managed to get to the front of the line by sheer willpower that left her about to wet her pants. She had decided that even though she needed to use the restroom, she would wait until she had checked her luggage with the airlines and she had a firm time to be departing before she broke out of the endless line. She would go to the restroom soon, she hoped. As a result, when she got to the front of the line, and the lady behind the counter patiently tried to explain to her the way that people who had missed their planes were shuffled back into already full flights, she was in real agony. Susan was put on stand-by for three separate flights, starting in 30 minutes and the last stand-by reservation was for a flight near midnight. She was not sure she understood what she was supposed to do to claim those floating tickets to imaginary seats in fully booked flights, but she checked her luggage and took the cart with her toward the restrooms. She left the cart outside the stall near the sinks and went into the stall. She relieved herself and went to the sink to wash her hands. It was then that she realized that her cart, and the source of a $2 rebate if returned to the turnstile, was missing. She had very little money and now she was robbed of $2. Could this day get any worse?

Susan looked in the mirror above the sink. She looked pretty bad. How was she going to catch the eye of a man when she had a mad-wet-kitten-in-the-rain aura? She looked in her purse but saw that she did not have a comb or a brush in there. She had checked both of her suitcases and her overnight bag, so this was as good as it got, she guessed. She smoothed the wrinkles out of her jacket, finger combed through her hair, and headed to the first gate listed by the clerk. As she was making her way through security and the long lines to get to the other side of the airport, she heard her name being called over the intercom.

“Blue Aire Airlines paging Ms. Susan Mayer. Please pick up one of the blue courtesy phones, Ms. Susan Mayer.” Where were the phones, much less the blue phones? Susan headed toward a security guard standing along the edge of the security line. She blurted out her name and told the guard she had just been
paged, so where was the blue phone she needed to use? The guard told her that all the courtesy phones were on the other side of the airport, after you made it all the way through the security. She would need a minimum of ten minutes before she managed to clear security, barring any difficulties. Susan could see the phone bank that the guard pointed out to her, but could not get to it.

Susan missed her chance to board the early flight. By the time she made it to the gate where her flight was located, it had pulled out of the dock and was lined up to taxi down the runway. Susan just turned around and headed back to the restroom, because she knew she was going to cry. The problem was that she did not realize that by going back to the same restroom she had gone to before, she had crossed an imaginary line and was on the wrong side of security again. She had to go through all the “empty your pockets, take your shoes off, put your belongings on the conveyer belt” business again. What a revolting development!