Oksana by Quinn M. Kelley - HTML preview

Chapter XVII.

I followed the digital flight map on our economy jet, all the way from Poland, across the Atlantic, over Canada, and finally into O'Hare Airport. I even helped a Belorussian woman fill out her customs card. She was going to live with relatives in Minnesota, and someone had done a very good job getting her documentation together, so an American can process it easily.

On the way over, we saw Second Hand Lions, in English, on a second rate flight. We also saw the film Duplex. By the time I met the third Customs Official at O'Hare, the Polish Airlines attendant had my paperwork together, and directed me to the Rosemont Radisson for the night.

We had reached Chicago at 8:45 p.m. (or 3:45 Odessa Time). We were due in at 7:20 p.m. My flight out to Indianapolis (Delta 1441) was due out at 9:15 p.m.

I had never been through O'Hare before. It was a blessing I did not have to rush to miss my flight (another reprisal of Vienna, Austria 2003). I entered my hotel room right away, pulled out my wet clothes, that Oksana had washed 48 hours ago, and hung them all out again.

I then set my alarm clock for 4:30 a.m. I got a very late dinner at Barley's. It was overpriced, but it was better than anything I had tasted in the past eight days. It was a rib eye.

When I got to Chicago O'Hare Airport the next day at 6:30 a.m., my flight was again delayed twice. My flight was pushed back to 10:30 a.m. My luggage arrived in Indianapolis before I did. I ate at the Chili's at the United Hub in Chicago, O'Hare. My final flight number was: Atlantic Coast: UA 7529.