Part One
Cinzia, a young girl fresh out of college, was given the chance to go travel before she had to settle down. She had this his last bit of time before she had to become a self sufficient adult. Pittsburgh girl was going to be set loose on the sunny beaches of San Diego and she was excited at the endless, if not imagined possibilities.
Her parents saw her to the security area of the airport, both gave her hugs before letting her go. Cinzia turned toward the security guards, emptied her pockets and set her bag up to be x-rayed. In one smooth move she picked them up, turned to look back and wave to her mother and father. By now he had his arm around Cinzia’s mother in an effort to comfort the woman, yet Cinzia could tell he would have cried with his wife if it wasn’t
thought to be less than manly.
The flight was long but she stayed awake, her mother had arranged for Cinzia to have a window seat and she was in awe at how the world below her looked from the vantage point of the skies. So much of it seemed to be broken up into squares. Possibly why everything was considered to be “around the block?” It was over the desert that she found most interesting. The arid look of it yet she expected but there seemed to be places that were dark in contrast to it’s surroundings. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to this until it dawned on her… the ground is the same; it’s shadows. But, we are in the sky and there are no trees. What could be causing the shadows? “Clouds.” The voice came from the person next to her, almost as if he’d heard her thinking. He sat next to her and had seen over her shoulders what she watched. He’d flown thousands of business trips and had seen that same look on many other passengers.
The flight would come to an end, she’d pass by the stewardess and barely heard the obligatory, “Thank you for flying Delta” as Cinzia passed. The remainder of the day was filled with picking up the rental car her mother had arranged, checking in to the hotel and finding something to grab and carry back to the hotel. Jack-in-the-Box hamburger, fries and chocolate shake. She’d settle into her room with her food, rent a hotel movie and start exploring by day the next day.
She should have stuck with her plan.
