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"Okay," I said
My ot in and closed the car door "Next stop, Amsterdam," she announced
Which was not quite true The next stop was the airport parking lot, and then a bus took us to the terminal, and then an open-air electric car took us to the security line The TSA guy at the front of the line was shouting about how our bags had better not contain explosives or firearustus, "Observation: Standing in line is a form of oppression," and he said, "Seriously"
Rather than be searched by hand, I chose to walk through the metal detector without my cart or h the X-ray en in so to walk unencu across the Rubicon, thethat I was, however briefly, a nonnty that I can’t really describe except to say that when I was a kid I used to have a really heavy backpack that I carried everywhere with all my books in it, and if I walked around with the backpack for long enough, when I took it off I felt like I was floating
After about ten seconds,in upon theray bench just past thedrizzle, and I felt pretty ot the cannula back into place
Even then, it hurt The pain was always there, pullingto be felt It always felt like I aking up fro in the world outside ofatWhat had she just said? Then I re," I said
"Amsterdam!" she half shouted
I smiled "Amsterdam," I answered She reached her hand down to ate an hour before our scheduled boarding time "Mrs Lancaster, you are an iustus said as he sat down next to ate area
"Well, it helps that I am not technically very busy," she said
"You’re plenty busy," I told her, although it occurred to me that Mom’s business wasmarried toand hiring plu for Morris Property, Inc--but it wasand led
As the seats around the gate started to fill, Augustus said, "I’et you anything?"
"No," I said, "but I really appreciate your refusal to give in to breakfasty social conventions"
He tilted his head at hettoization of scra that we all just walk through life blindly accepting that scras"
"I want to talk about this ht back"
When Augustus hadn’t showed up after twenty , and she looked up froh to say, "He probably just went to the bathrooen container out with one provided by the airline I was e in front of ustus while she did it
He didn’t reply Mo all kinds of A fates (arrest, injury,noncancery wrong with my chest as the minutes ticked away
And just when the lady behind the ticket counter announced they were going to start preboarding people who le person in the gate area turned squarely totoward us with a McDonald’s bag in one hand, his backpack slung over his shoulder
"Where were you?" I asked
"Line got superlong, sorry," he said, offering ate to preboard
I could feel everybody watching us, wondering rong with us, and whether it would kill us, and how heroicelse That was the worst part about having cancer, sometimes: The physical evidence of disease separates you from other people We were irreconcilably other, and never was it h the eesturing us toward our row in the distant back I sat in the ustus in theseat and Mom in the aisle I felt a little heustus We were right behind the plane’s wing He opened up his bag and unwrapped his burger
"The thing about eggs, though," he said, "is that breakfastization gives the scraet yourself some bacon or Cheddar cheese anywhere anytirilled cheese, but scras--they’re i to file into the plane now I didn’t want to look at theustus
"I’hettoized, but they’re also special They have a place and a ti," I said "You are buying into the cross-stitched senti that the fragile, rare thing is beautiful siile and rare But that’s a lie, and you know it"
"You’re a hard person to co," I said "You were a rare and fragile flower once You re "You do kno to shut e and my responsibility," I answered
Before I broke eye contact with hiate area The McDonald’s line wasn’t really that long; I justI just didn’t want to sit there with all those people looking at us or whatever"
"At lance at Gus and never know he’d been sick, but I carried my disease with me on the outside, which is part of why I’d becoustus Waters, noted charisen tank"
"Not embarrassed," he said "They just piss me off sometimes And I don’t want to be pissed off today" After ainto his pocket and flipped open his pack of smokes
About nine seconds later, a blond stewardess rushed over to our row and said, "Sir, you can’t smoke on this plane Or any plane"
"I don’t s in his mouth as he spoke
"But--"