Gifted

Chapter 6

Rita got off of the plane with her parents at her side, during the two and a half hour plane ride she had drawn. In one hand she held her suitcase’s handle and in the other she tightly clutched a sketchbook. She looked around at the bustling crowd before her. Every person knew exactly where to go, they each skillfully dodged strangers to get to where they were going. Everyone had a place to get to, and a location to be, so did Rita, but she didn’t know her location yet. Somewhere in Oklahoma, that was all she knew, or maybe they would cross the border to get to the lab, Rita didn’t know yet but she should find out soon. And by soon she meant ten minutes and counting, Rita felt her stomach twist into knots. She was finally going to accomplish what she had been raised to do. Rita looked up at her parents, they were scanning the crowd with unmatchable speed, their eyes flitting from one face to the next. Rita’s mother tapped her husband’s shoulder and pointed to an Asian woman standing in a corner, nonchalantly checking her phone. They woman’s long black hair had been tied up in to a tight looking ponytail. Rita’s parents walked up to the woman with Rita following closely behind. They tapped her shoulder gently, the woman looked up quickly, startled.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” Rita’s father said, holding hands up to show that he meant no harm.

“No it’s quite alright” She responded in a soft, wise voice, “Can I help you?”

“Could you please give us the date? We just got back from international travel and need to set our phones to the correct time.”

Rita held back a protest, they were from Michigan, not Germany or Switzerland; they didn’t need the date or the time.

“Why yes, of course I can, it’s the sixteenth of June.”

“Thank you!”

Her father and the woman shook hands politely and parted ways, Rita looked up at her dad questioningly; he winked in her direction and led the three of them into a less crowded area of the airport. He took a small piece of paper that had been folded up in his hand, he unfolded the scrap of paper to reveal a message.

Lot 2, parking space 10, black jeep.

“She was a messenger”, he explained to Rita, “She was giving me the location for your drop off.”

Rita looked at her bag, inside it, her small amount of clothes had been pushed to one side to make room for her box.

“But dad, we- I mean, I am supposed to be there tomorrow, not today.”

“They allow you to arrive early, always have and always will, there’s probably someone else going there with you. Maybe they’ll be your age!”

Rita had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

“Dad, everyone doing this project is fourteen, in fact, I’ll be fifteen next month so I’ll be the oldest. For now, everyone there is fourteen, so it’ll be a real strike of luck if I find a girl my age.”