Snow Princess

Chapter 7: Jos and a sick Fallon

          I stepped off the plane for the first time, and it was like my world had changed. We were only inside the airport, but even the airport was something of beauty. The people in the airport were wearing very heavy jackets, which I thought was needed.

          I saw Mrs. Salazar holding Fallon close. I didn't understand how she wasn't wearing a jacket at all. I saw Mrs. Salazar didn't have one either. I thought that was really strange. I didn't even want to ask why Sam was wearing a light cover too. Did they all want to freeze to death? It couldn't have been that they just weren't prepared to come here.

          I hope they knew that Alaska was cold and required a lot of clothing to keep your butt warm. I wasn't even from there, but I knew that. Sam and I tried to catch up with Mrs. Salazar and Fallon, who seemed to be walking faster. As I saw them walk into the girl's bathroom, I assumed that was why they were walking so fast.

          Sam and I sat nearby waiting for them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the guy that I had fallen on earlier. He was walking our way; he was headed toward me from what I could see. I turned my head so he didn't notice that I was staring from the corner of my eye.

          I heard the semi-deep voice that I had heard on the plane. "Excuse me, Mr. Maple?" he asked.

          I shot my head up to the man asking the question. It was him. I knew it was him. Why didn't I know better? Recollecting my thoughts, wondered how he knew Sam.

           "Oh hi, Jos. What brings you here?"

          The guy named Jos, slightly looked over to me. "On important business from--"

          Sam cut him off before he finished. "Oh yes, her. Well, did you just land?"

          Jos turned back to Sam. "Yes, my flight arrived a couple minutes ago."

          "How ironic, ours landed just a few minutes ago too. Where did you come from?"

           "I came from Africa. It was a very long exhausting trip."

          I looked at Jos, astonished by his lie. He lied straight through his teeth. I couldn't lie straight through my teeth like that. I knew it was a lie because I saw him on the plane. I fell on him for crying out loud! Why did he have to lie? He couldn't just say he was in the same state we were? Or maybe he went from Africa to West Virginia? I wasn't going to ask him that though because before I could ask, he shot daggers my way.

          "Africa, huh? Tell me a little about your trip." I zoned out of their conversation not caring about the guy's adventures that could have been made up. I silently turned again, waiting for Mrs. Salazar and Fallon. What was taking them so long?

          About four more minutes passed before I saw Mrs. Salazar come out, seemingly checking if we were nearby. She saw us, and she visibly relaxed a bit before going back inside the restroom. That was strange...

          I sat there. I still didn't care for the conversation next to me, and I was still wondering about what was going on in the restroom, so I got up to investigate. When I reached the bathroom, I tried to open it. It was locked? Why would anyone want to lock a public restroom? I then figured maybe I should knock. Maybe someone locked it by accident?

          I knocked a couple times. There was no yelling signaling that there was someone inside, and still, no one opened the door. I tried again. This time Mrs. Salazar opened it, looking freaked.

          "Is everything okay?" I asked a little worried seeming that something big might have been happening, that I didn't know about.

          "Everything is fine," she said composing herself. "Now what do you want?"