One More Day
Santa Olaya
On Sunday afternoon, we begin to make plans for our departure on Monday evening. We have a flight from San Juan to Newark which leaves at 5:30 pm. At Casa Mulero, it’s necessary to show progress towards impending scheduled events in order to maintain harmony in the family. For that reason, we pack our bags and begin to get organized. Monday morning we are up at 6:30 am, have some coffee, look over the last details of getting ready to leave and review our schedule for the day, considering what time we should leave from Santa Olaya to get to San Juan and the airport, far in advance of our departure time. The plan is to spend some time in Old San Juan, take a last swim in the ocean and head for the airport around 1:00 pm. Allowing one-hour to drive across town, by my reckoning, that should get us to the airport at least three hours ahead of time. I have to give some credence to Don Raphael’s concern about traveling time. There have been many times when going from one part of San Juan to another when we have spent more than one hour driving two or three miles. Tightly packed traffic jams are dishearteningly common around here. None the less, Don Raphael always allows for the worst instance, and then doubles that, when he makes his plans. All of our bags are stuffed into the Ford Festiva and we are about to lock the doors and the metal protective cages of Casa Mulero, when the telephone rings. It’s for me; our friend Michele is calling. "Good morning", he says, "What have you got planned for today?" "Well", I answer, "we’re about to get in the car, head to San Juan, and arrive at the airport four hours ahead of our flight-time this evening." "It’s nine-o’clock-in-the-morning", he says, "and, I thought you were leaving tomorrow?" "Oh no; our plane leaves at 5:30 pm, today." "I just checked my calendar," Michele explains, "and it says here that you’re leaving tomorrow, Tuesday, at 5:30 pm." "Just a minute", I tell him, "I need to look at our airline tickets." I get the ticket out of my bag. Here’s what it says:
15 APR 97 - TUESDAY AIR "Hey, Michele! It looks like we’ve got another day in the sunshine." Next: Boring Pass
|