Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
99 New: Traveling Mercies
The old man in the wheelchair grouses at his wife while he holds a fold of dollar bills. The airport man who pushed him to the gate explains what will happen next and the old man coughs a thick gurgling cough and covers his mouth and I wonder if he will vomit in his hand and because I am already squeamish up so early in the morning with nothing but coffee in my stomach, I pray he doesn’t.
The pushing man finishes his explanation and the old man peels off three bills which the pushing man puts in his front pocket. He is cheerful for it being so early in the morning but no one else is. It’s like we were all sentenced by a judge to appear here in this terminal at this gate at 4:00 in the morning. No one seems happy to be there or pleased to be going somewhere, we are all suffering this punishment of early morning travel.
The old man takes off his glasses and reads a newspaper held just inches from his stubbly face. I look up at the TV to see CNN trying to make hash from yesterday’s roast beef and I feel bad for the commentators who have nothing new to chew over so I go buy a newspaper for $2 so at least I can read about baseball but I leave the paper on my seat when the plane boards. I only realize it when I’m sitting on the plan; there will be no news for me.
So instead I pull Elie Wiesel’s book, Night, from my backpack. I read his story of the Holocaust, his shattering, sorrow-filled, God-doubting story while it is dark in the plane, my overhead light the only light in the entire cabin, the people around me sleeping, dawn still a few hours away. When I am done, I hold the book on my lap like it is a hymnal in a church where I am a devout member. I am glad to have been brought to this day.
13 Comments on “99 New: Traveling Mercies”
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Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
I read this while sitting at the gate for a 2 p.m. flight. The conversations going on around me are kind of fascinating. From the mundane to the dramatic.
“…make has from yesterday’s roast beef…” might just be the best phrase I read all day. Reading this, it’s easy to feel what it feels like sitting in the airport, watching the men and buying a paper.
*hash
People-watching is one of my favorite parts of traveling. Airport encounters can be so intimate. Night was a book I read at the end of high school. It stayed with me a long time, but you’ve inspired me to pick it up again.
It’s really worth a second reading, that’s for sure.
Oooh. That’s an incredible book but I’m not sure I could read it on a plane.
I know what you mean – but because it was still dark outside and in the plane, it sure kept my attention.
I love your descriptions and how you express your gratitude for life. Night is such a powerful book.
It truly is a powerful book. I read it so long ago that I started to think I’d never read it. It was so worth it to read again.
Thanks for the reminder… This is a week we could use it
Thanks for the reminder, Jan.
this is beautiful, jan
Thank you