AWAY

...Absolutely Unbelievable...

Laura Nelson
September 12th, 2001

Yesterday morning I woke up at 11:35 A.M. I would have slept later. But I was woken up by the sound of my phone ringing. I rolled out of bed. It had already gone to voicemail. I picked up my phone and listened to the message. It was from my mother. I could barely make out what she was saying because she was clearly crying. The only words I could understand were: "...absolutely unbelievable...on my TV...who would...
no...I don't...tried to...turn on your radio or...on every channel...back when you can..." and after that she hung up. I didn't know what to do first. Should I call my mother back? Should I turn the radio on? Should I ignore it all and go back to sleep? In the end, I decided to call my mother back while turning on the radio.
My mother answered immediately. "Oh, isn't it just terrible?" She cried. "What?" I asked. I had tried to turn on my radio but it was quite old and wouldn't go on.
If only I hadn't heard my mother's next words.

That was yesterday. Today, I'm at my restaurant, but this time I'm not cooking for a few hungry locals. This time I'm cooking for 7,000 visitors, some who don't even speak English.
Ever since I got off the phone with Mom yesterday morning, my life has been chaos. I didn't know time could pass so slowly. I waited for hours for a technician to fix my radio so I could hear what was happening. But once it had been fixed everything was over. And what's the point of listening to the news if it's already in the past? There's nothing you can do when it's over.
For about 45 minutes I sat at home alone, too shocked to call anyone. It was like the world had completely stopped. But after those 45 minutes when I felt like I couldn't move, the real chaos began. I got a call telling me to get ready to feed 38 planes worth of people. The pro of having the only good restaurant in Gander is that I get a lot of customers. The con is that when there's an emergency, I have to cook for 7,000 people. I'm not joking.
At first it wasn't so bad. At first barely anyone wanted food because no one had a real appetite. But now it's like all the people in the world have come to me and expect me to feed them. I guess I've been managing, but it's been hard.
Now I have a little break. Almost everyone who came to my restaurant has eaten. Some people went to a diner on the other side of town, but most of them came here. I'm glad I can step outside for a moment once I've served everyone. But when I pause, when I stop working and thinking about what I have to do, I'm reminded of everything else. Now I wish I was still in the kitchen. I wish I had a task to complete, because now that I'm alone with my thoughts, I'm thinking about things I wish weren't true. I turn around and go back inside. The waiter at my restaurant, Shawn, must see in my eyes that something's wrong. "Hey," he says. "What's up?" I just shake my head and go back to the oven. I don't want to tell anyone what's wrong. Because I know, I absolutely know, that everyone in this town, local or... visitor, is thinking the same thing. Mentioning it would make all this even worse. So I put on my most realistic fake smile, I pretend everything is normal and ok, and I go back to the job I have to do.