After the travelators and the toilet stops, important people striding, their loyal cabin bags trailing, following yellow signs for Exit, purple for Connections, after the weighty sigh of passport queues, rolling eyes, panicked hunts for essential papers, after the currency exchange and the too-quick count of unfamiliar notes, receipts jabbed through perspex windows to grabbing fingers, beyond the last-minute seduction of duty free and scents that will always remind you, drinks that will help you forget, down the escalator, past the desiccated plant displays, the snaking carousel keeps moving, shedding boxes and bags, buggies, golf clubs, as relieved hands reclaim their condensed lives and return to reality, after all that, the swirl, the noise, the arriving now on belt eight, one blue case circles alone, swallowed back behind the steel wall to reappear and make its circuit again, flowing steadfastly, hopefully, like blood still pumping at an airport gate three thousand miles away where the hours have already kicked over the scuffs from the paramedics’ trolley, picked up the sterile waste and sealed an unused ticket in an evidence bag.
Audrey Niven is a Scottish writer and coach based in London. Her stories are widely anthologised and have been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net awards. She’s Founder & Editor in Charge at The Propelling Pencil short fiction journal and charity flash competition @NivenAudrey
No comments:
Post a Comment