Stillwell travels
Episode Twelve: The quiet, malevolent movie buff takes a journey.
This trip had been necessary, as there were so many possibilities to find rare and interesting movies. Four nights away, while he chased down leads, attended house clearances and met with other collectors. Somehow, he had managed to remain taciturn and quiet on the outward journey. Planned arrangements made his journey through the main terminal building to a waiting shuttle bus straightforward. The hire car company had worked hard to find him a vehicle in good time and he was away and, on the motorway, once more alone with his thoughts.
The return had been altogether different. With the weather producing an extended spell of hot dry weather, he knew that the airport hub would be a chaotic environment. His suitcase was now full with the results of his trip. Packed with some excellent titles, that he was keen to add to his inventory and get on the shelves in the shop.
Stillwell was always nervous about technology and wherever possible he would prefer limited human interaction. At check in an obnoxious individual, who had “Here to help” plastered all over his tee shirt, guided Stillwell away from the queue for the old-fashioned style check in with a human being, to an automated check in monitor. Stillwell scanned his boarding card and waited. The “help” returned.
“Your card won’t scan, you should queue up for a manual check in”, no explanation why his card didn’t work, no apology.
“Return to where I was queuing before you removed me from that line. Where I was next to be dealt with”, Stillwell looked at the operative disdainfully and walked back to his former position. He limited his response to a stare, as he needed his pen, otherwise he had considered inserting it into the “help”.
He placed his bag on the conveyor belt, saw that he was several kilos under the limit and watched as the suitcase disappeared behind a screen. Passport back in his possession, with a luggage ticket attached, he walked towards security. He only had a tiny soft canvas bag. He removed his tablet, placed his phone, wallet, keys and loose change in one plastic tray. He added his belt, watch and pen and slid the tray across to the security staff. He took a second tray and put his bag into it and walked through the metal detector. No ping! He waited for his trays to appear from the X ray machine.
As he waited he watched the tempestuous fury of other travellers, setting off alarms and the ire of the staff, as they forgot to remove laptops and tablets from bags, left watches on wrists and belts on their trousers. When his two trays slid into view he picked them up, one on top of the other and walked to a quiet area where he could re pack his bag and ensure he had everything. He was calm, fastidious and precise in checking off his possessions. Once he was satisfied, he ambled past the line of individuals not able to comply with the instructions and now being quizzed over the contents of their bags.
Through the security he had to follow the path past all the shops and duty-free offers. His sensitive nose picking out the sickly-sweet stench of a myriad of perfumes and colognes being liberally sprayed on to potential customers.
A man in a black shirt approached with a bottle in his hand and made as if to spray something towards Stillwell.
“Don’t!” the single word and the accompanying hard stare kept the sprayer at bay.
He managed to find a seat with a view of the departure boards and saw that his flight was on time. He pulled his tablet from his bag, inserted some earbuds and opened up a movie he had downloaded to enjoy during his journey home. He adjusted the volume to drown at the excited and noisy throng of people around him and hunkered down to watch his film.
Every so often a shriek from a feral child would penetrate this defence and he found himself looking up, trying to lock eyes with the offending minor, in the hope that one of his most malevolent stares would cause the child such alarm, as to render it mute while they waited. The hot weather seemed to have made the area tenser and more fractious than he remembered from his last visit. A small girl was staring at him and he stared back until she looked terrified and glanced away.
His gate flashed up on the screen and he closed his tablet, replaced it in his bag, along with the earbuds. He zipped the bag closed and stood. A quick check to ensure he had everything and he walked to the departure gate. He once more found a seat, checking that the flight was still on time. He marvelled at the individuals already queuing to get on the aircraft.
“Speedy Boarders! Those two don’t look very speedy”, he thought, as he stared at an obese middle-aged man and an equally fat woman stood next to him in the queue. He never queued, he always just waited until virtually everyone else had gone through the gate. He knew that on this aircraft he could board at the rear and more importantly disembark from the rear at his destination. As he ambled to the top of the rear steps of the plane he walked past the steward and nodded. 33D, last row, aisle seat. He would be the first one down the rear steps of the aircraft when they landed. He once more set up his tablet and the earbuds he now wore indicated to his neighbour that he would not be entering into any conversation during the flight.
He was always reticent about travelling, but through careful consideration of his journey, with research and planning, he was able to minimise the possibilities of any hiatus in his outwardly calm demeanour. Today he was even blessed with having the first suitcase to appear on the conveyor belt. He was gone from the airport building while some were still reaching for bags in the overhead lockers on the plane..
