By JANET HART LEONARD
From the Hart
Thank you for your patience in holding for the rest of the story with Chuck flying to Tampa.
After 18 holes of golf, Chuck arrived at the Indy Airport at 3:30. He was told his flight was delayed by an hour. No problem. He had his James Patterson book with him as well as a few crossword puzzles to keep him busy.
Meanwhile, in Tampa, I knew I was headed toward an arriving storm when I left the house at 6:00. I hoped it would not affect Chuck the way it affected me the night before.
As I took the exit from Interstate 75 to 4 it began to rain. Forget raining cats and dogs. I’m talking alligators and miniature whales.
Then this little light decided to appear on my dashboard. It’s the one that tells you your tires have a problem … the “low tire” light. Seriously? I might have uttered the four-letter “S” word. You know, the one that ends in T.
I prayed, hoping God had not heard what I might have uttered.
I kept driving. I knew I had not run over anything. I neither felt nor heard anything like a flat tire.
I got to the cell lot. I held my breath as I hoped my tire would hold its air.
The large board at the cell lot kept telling me that Chuck’s flight would be delayed … and delayed more … and more.
The thunder rolled and the lightning flashed. The sign went black.
My phone dinged a text message from Chuck. “I’m on the ground … in Orlando. Not sure how long it will be. We kept circling around Tampa until the pilot came over the intercom and said we were running out of fuel.”
About 10:00 the board was back up and said the arrival of Chuck’s plane would be 10:30, three hours after his original ETA.
He made it … safe and very tired.
He hopped in the driver’s seat and said, “Did you know the tire light is on?” I gave him “the wife” look.
He did have another story to tell. Seems while on the ground in Orlando the people standing in the aisles were told to hurry to their seats that if they did not take off within 10 minutes the crew would “time out” and they would have to wait for another fresh crew to arrive. He never saw people move so fast to get to their seats.
I’m telling you I can’t make up these stories.
Does anyone want to travel with me? Didn’t think so.
Oh, and my rear driver-side tire was low 10 pounds of air.
As I write this column it’s Saturday and we fly home tonight. I just got a text saying that … you guessed it – our flight is delayed.