Lisa P Writes

“Did you know that when you live in a warm climate, like in Phoenix, you lose track of years? You know, like you don’t have the weather reference like you do in Chicago,” Christina mentioned after the customer left. “I know that I got my dog in high school in the winter because it was so dang cold out when he had to go pee.”
“Yeah but that could be now because you still live at home . . . and it’s winter,” Sherry commented and hugged her arms around herself and shivered. “I wouldn’t care, I would take not having seasons if I could be warm.”
“I’d be okay with it, too. At least try it out. Maybe every day would be the same, like Groundhog Day.” Christina giggled and pushed one side of her blonde hair behind her ear. She wore bright blue eye shadow on her brown eyes.
“It’s like that here, too,” Sherry whined and stuck her red fingernail in her teeth. Something was stuck between her teeth. She paused and remarked, “I see the same people coming to and from work. I can tell I’m late just by looking around on the ‘L’.”
“I think I love Phoenix. There’s so much to see and do,” Christina clapped once and held her hands together.
“You say that about all places,” Sherry commented and scanned her fingernails. She furrowed her brow when she noticed that some of the paint had come off.
They each stood at their designated cash register in the duty free store at the airport. The store was bright with white walls and a shiny, white floor. It carried discounted big-ticket items that international airline passengers had access to. Christina wrapped her arms over her chest and leaned against the counter as she waited for the next customer.
“Gawd, Tyler saw my phone list. How humiliating. I look like a stalker but really I just want friends in other cities . . . in case I go visit,” Christina moaned and rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, but you’d have to tell them you lied. That not only did you not work at some consulting company as a fancy executive but that you work here.” Sherry giggled and put her hands on her wide hips. “Maybe you should try to meet people in the bars in town. We have zillions of bars.”
“The first question that guys ask is what do you do. I don’t want to tell them I’m a cashier. When I tell them I’m a consultant, I get such a different response. More respect,” Christina huffed.
“I know,” Sherry agreed shaking her head of brown, frizzy curls.
“When I go to bars here, another favorite is what nationality are you? I’m so sick of it . . . I mean I’m everything. It would take ten minutes to list off all the nationalities I am! I don’t fit in here.”
“I know.”
“I want to go to Phoenix. It sounds fascinating. We could be sitting by the pool right now,” Christina pondered.
“I’ve been there to see my grams. It’s filled with old people who drive golf carts around town,” Sherry explained and then lifted her palms up. “Did you know they have parking spots for golf carts? Can you believe it?”
“That sounds so cool! I want to live there!”
“You always say that,” Sherry nodded her head, side to side. “You should go visit these places first.”
“I’ve never been anywhere,” Christina remarked.
“Nowhere?”
“Okay so we went to Disney World once when I was a kid. And Epcot, that’s where they have all the exotic places. It was fascinating! But that was also the trip where the airplane almost crashed,” Christina opened her brown eyes dramatically.
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Christina focused in on Sherry. “As we were landing, the winds were so strong so the plane was bouncing up and down and all around. My mom was freaking out. It. . . . was . . . .so . . .. scary!”
“Yikes, that sounds awful.” Sherry looked worried but then relaxed. “You need to give it another try.” Christina shrugged her shoulders.
The store filled with travelers, which meant that a plane had just landed. People crowed the aisles of the small store with a heightened energy. Christina found herself content when working in the store. There was laughter and customers would start conversations with her. International travel seemed exotic and out of reach to Christina.
“Heeeey, what . . .?” Tyler looked puzzled as he stood at the counter with a pack of gum. The line of customers was long behind him. Christina froze and her mouth dropped open. She felt heat in her cheeks and they began pulsing. Tyler handed her the gum and she swiped it with the cash register scanner. She still found that she couldn’t speak as Tyler handed her money. She didn’t think she would ever encounter him in the international terminal. He worked in domestic. What was he doing there?!
“So, a consultant? Did you get laid off?” Tyler squinted at her.
“I. . . I. . . explain later,” Christina mumbled. People were waiting and some had to catch flights so there was no way she could go into it at that point.
“Sure, Christina,” Tyler raised his eyebrows and walked out of the store.
“An ex?” A skinny lady wearing pink lipstick and dark eye shadow asked her. She placed her cosmetics on the counter.
“Uh, what? Oh, yeah,” Christina nervously responded as she scanned the items.
When the store had basically cleared out, Christina was flooded with a multitude of negative thoughts. She didn’t know what to do about Tyler. Sherry consoled her but said that she should come clean with him. That was the last thing Christina wanted to do. She told Sherry that she would never see Tyler again and that she would end her experiment. This pained Christina but she’d have to move forward and find something that interested her. She was so humiliated.
“I’m going on break, you want anything?” Christina asked. Sherry shook her head, no.
Christina went out into the terminal to her favorite coffee bar. She sat on a stool with a hot cup of coffee and faced the window out onto the runway. It was a bright gray day, almost so that she could’ve used sunglasses. Someone had left a travel magazine on the counter so she reached for it and hoped to drown out her thoughts by reading it.
“Christina?”
“What?” She whipped around automatically. Tyler stood there. He had a duffle bag on his shoulder. “Ohhhhhh,” she moaned and grabbed the magazine to put it up in front of her face.
“What’s going on?” He asked and stuffed his hands in his winter jacket.
“Going on vacation? Where to?” Christina peaked above the magazine. He just stared at her with his dazzling, blue eyes. He looked sexier than ever.
“I’m going to London with my band,” Tyler motioned behind him.
“You’re in a band?” Christina was still holding the magazine up to hide her face. Tyler shook his head up and down. “Gawd . . . you wanna sit?” She motioned and he sat on the stool next to her but kept his hands in his pockets. “I’m obsessed with travel.” Christina put the magazine down in front of her and explained everything to him.
“It’s not about picking up guys?” Tyler relaxed and rested his elbow on the counter.
“No, I mean the attention is nice and the guys in Chicago don’t even notice me but it’s my fascination with somewhere else.”
“Flight attendant. Why don’t you do that?” He asked.
“Who would respect me if I was a flight attendant?” Christina moaned.
“You’re a cashier . . . “
“I know but this is only temporary until I figure out what I want to do.”
“Travel writer.”
“Maybe. I love the thought of travel. And I love talking to people about different places. Tyler, I’m sorry that I lied to you. I feel terrible,” Christina put her hand on her forehead and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
“Why don’t you talk to people, like you normally do but then blog about it. Tell them the truth, that you’re writing a blog about different cities and you want to interview them.”
“I like it . . . “ Christina nodded and smiled.

One year later, Christina had thousands of subscribers to her blog, “Travel with Tina”. She still worked at the duty free shop, lived with her parents and hadn’t traveled anywhere, but she was completely happy. Over the year, she had met so many interesting people and had even started to frequent local bars. There she found folks from other cities, too.
“Hello this is Tina,” she answered her phone. It was an unfamiliar number.
“Hi Tina, this is Rosemary from Hart Literary Agency,” she paused as Christina held her breath. “I’d like to talk to you about writing a book. There is also some movie interest in your armchair travel blog. . . you still there?’
“Yes,” Christina squealed. “Yes, yes, yes!” She looked over at Tyler who was sipping his coffee. They were sitting at his kitchen table, both still in their pajamas.
“Can you fly to New York so we can meet,” Rosemary responded.
“Really?”
“Yes, when are you available?”
“I can’t go,” Christina mumbled. Tyler mouthed to her, ‘yes you can!’
“Why not?”
Christina hesitated and then blurted, “I’m afraid of flying.”
Rosemary laughed and laughed and laughed which made Christina start laughing. “Honey, there are pills for that,” Rosemary calmly remarked. And then laughed, again.