The Shining (Kubrick Version)

Part 11: 4am

Dick had arrived at the airport and had been told that there had been a cancellation on one of the flights to Colorado. The perky young woman at the desk asked him if he wanted the seat. Dick answered the obvious question and boarded. The plane was now flying nicely and making good time. Dick, however, was very anxious to just get to Colorado. He had a friend called Larry Durkin who worked his own business as a car repairman and a car loaner. He didn't know if Larry would be working, considering the weather was meant to be very bad but if he knew Larry as well as he thought he did, he would be trying to get as much money as he could so he could take his family to the Bahamas for Christmas and New Years. He knew that Larry closed up shop from the 19th of December to the 7th of January and then until the 23rd, the shop was run by his staff while he spent time with his family, but Larry would most likely always return by the start of February back to work with some half ass excuse. Dick looked out his window and saw it was starting to get darker and stormier, despite half an hour ago, there had been a beautiful sunrise outside. An air hostess came walking down the alley, collecting everyone's rubbish.

"Pardon me, ma'am?" he asked. "What time do we get to Colorado?"

"We're due to arrive within the next hour, Sir," replied the air hostess, perkily. A large cup of coffee sat on the trolley she was pushing and Dick had no doubt that it was not her first cup of coffee. "Is there anything you need, Sir?" she asked. "If you want, we do have some in flight magazines."

"No, I should be fine," smiled Dick. He handed over his empty coffee cup and empty packet of chips and gave the air hostess a smile. "Just got an appointment to get to."

"Well, we hopefully shouldn't be too long, Sir," smiled the air hostess and she continued on, taking a large sip out of her coffee. Dick sat back and fell asleep, terrible visions plaguing his head.

The plane landed very bumpy and the plane was full of surprised screams and gasps from the passengers. Babies and small children burst into tears, including one of the right hand side of Dick's seats and the baby's mother groaned and muttered something unintelligent under her breath. Dick hurried eagerly off the plane and into the airport. The airport wasn't too busy. Most flights were grounded and several people knew they weren't going to get anywhere until at least for another week when the weather calmed down. Then, the airport would no doubt be packed with people hurrying to get away from the cold before the next storm came, Larry Durkin no doubt being one of them with his wife and his two teenage children, one who would fall pregnant in the Bahamas that Christmas. Dick put down his suitcase next to a pay phone and dialed Larry.

Larry walked crossly into his shop. He stomped snow off his boots. He looked at his Garfield calendar, which he had received from a friend who happened to work in the calendar business and had known that Larry was a Garfield fan. She had sent Larry the calendar and Larry had been ecstatic. The December picture was Garfield, his owner Jon and Odie sitting at a Christmas tree. The date was the 7th. "Two more days," he muttered under his breath. "Two more days and then I'll call in sick and hand the keys to Simon." He chuckled at the thought. Simon would be pissed, but that pleased Larry because he thought Simon was quite the bastard. The phone rang and he grumbled. He walked over and answered.

"Durkin's garage," he muttered.

"Hello, is this Larry?" asked Dick.

"Speaking," replied Larry. 

"Hi, Larry. This is Dick. Dick Hallorann," said Dick. 

"Dick!" smiled Larry, perking up. "How you doing? What's the weather like in Florida?"

"I'm not in Florida, Larry. I'm calling from Staplyton airport," said Dick.

"What the hell you doing down here, especially in this kind of weather?" questioned Larry.