1 Take flight

Sophia had cleared security at the airport in Atlanta. She would of not had to, except once she deboarded her flight from New York City she wanted, no needed some fresh air. Not that the air outside the terminal was that fresh, Sophia could smell the jet fuel and exhaust from the aircraft that were constantly taking off and landing. But it was still better than the stuffy air in the plane and terminal. How she already missed the fresh air of the open land.

Sophia liked living on her homestead, she lived on the outskirts of two small towns. Small towns as in one stop light kind of towns. Blink and you miss them while driving down main street kind of towns. But she liked where she lived. She was an hour or two outside of a few different major cities, and twenty minutes from a large town/ small city with all the normal conveniences like Walmart and Home Depot, fast food restaurants and sit down restaurants, car dealerships and basic level hospitals.

She got the best of both worlds, country life yet close enough she could enjoy the city life when she wanted it. Because to be honest there were some things that were in the city that you could not find in the country, like the symphony and opera, the ballet, specalized authentic food, like Mongolian, Chinese, Russian and Mediterranean. Though she did have wine, lots of wine! As she lived along Lake Erie in the wine belt. The Napa Valley of the East Coast.

But for now she was in Atlanta, waiting on her flight to New Orleans, a flight that had just been delayed an extra hour, now leaving her with two more hours to kill. Sophia didn't believe in packing much. Everything she needed she had in her backpack. It was a decent size pack, but it was just small enough to clear the carry on baggage requirements of the airlines. She looked to the left and right of the security area, there were restaurants, bars and stores lining the terminal area. She chose going to the right, her boarding terminal was in that direction.

Half way down there was a pub, it was some Irish sounding place, Sophia really didn't care. It had cold beer, and that is what she was wanting. When she looked in, she could see her reflection as the back wall was one large mirror. Glass shelves lined in front of the mirror with different kinds of hard alcohol lined neatly. There were two flat screen TV's as well fitted between the shelves. All this was your viewing pleasure while you sat at the bar.

Sophia walked between the small tables that separated the main terminal and the bar. She found a seat towards the far left end. There was a younger girl who barely looked twenty-one, sitting at the very far end on the left. She was very pretty to say the least, she could of been a model. She had some fruity drink in front of her. Their were other people at the bar most were farther to the right and center, they had a better view of the TV's. From the spot Sophia took she could just see one of the TV's at a steep angle, but her spot at the bar did lend its view to see all that was happening behind her. And at this point in her life, having eyes in the back of here head, was critical.

Sophia ordered a local micro brew on tap. the bar tender was a middle aged woman, her name tag said Tiffany. Sophia was always concencouse of the names of people that served her. Many people looked down on those that worked to cater to others but Sophia saw it as there was someone there trying to make her day a little better, and she appreciated that. So she always tried to remember their name, and thank them.

New people were coming into the pub, the one that sat to her right one seat over was well dressed, he carried a wheeled carry-on and a soft-sided briefcase, one more to hold your laptop than paperwork. He kept to himself, he ordered a top self whiskey. A younger man came in, he looked like a white boy trying to be an inner-city ghetto boy. His jeans were hanging low, for the world to see his boxers. His flat brim baseball cap cocked to one side. He walked straight over to the pretty girl to my left. As he got close I could smell the cheap beer and cigarettes that permeated his attire. Ugh.

He started hitting on the young woman, thinking he was God's gift to women of some kind. The young girl was trying to be polite and explain that she was waiting for someone, but the young man was not taking the hint.

Sophia:

Ok this is where I should explain, I'm normally not this forward, but my life had been turned upside down in the last few months and I was really not up for putting up with a lot of crap. So I tapped the young man on the shoulder, to get his attention.

The young man turned giving me a one over look, deciding I was not worth his time and turned back to the young girl. I tapped him on the shoulder again. He turned a bit more towards me.

" Let me help you out young man, as you seem to need help with translating the young womans communication."

The young man looked a little taken back by my words. So in his pause of never ending chatter I continued.

"The young woman has tried nicely to tell you to bugger off. You dress like shit, you are intoxicated, and you smell bad. You are not worth a moment of this young women's time."

The young man was now looking incredulous. He was probably looking at me as some late twenty early thirty year old average looking woman. What right did I have to talk to him this way? Then again what right did he have to be a little piss ass to the young girl in the corner? So I just continued.

" Please note the gentleman to my right. He is well groomed, his hair, nails and cuticles are neat, his belt matches his shoes, his clothing is tailored to his frame, he smells nice and he is tending to his own business and not harassing the pretty your girls at the bar. You should take note of the qualities you should be aiming for."

Now I finally think the words I had spoken were finally reaching the young man's conciousness; he is not quite sure what to think of me. He still has not uttered a word to me, so I take that as a reason to continue.

" I highly recommend you accept to cup of coffee will order for you, go find a seat someplace other than here. Keep quiet and think about your lousy life choices, sober up before you are bumped from your next flight for intoxication." (I'm sure he thought I was done, but I was not.) " And pull up your britches, nobody wants to see your knickers!"

I turned back to face the bar, and took the last swig of my beer. Tiffany was right there with the cup of coffee. She just smiled at me as she set the coffee down and headed back to the other side of the bar. The young man looked at me, looked at the coffee. I turned to give him one more look. That's all it took. He looked at me one more time, then took the cup of coffee and went to sit at a little table closer to the terminal than the bar. When I turned back to the bar, there was a fresh poured beer in front of me. I looked up at Tiffany. She gave a slight nod to my right. "Complements from the nice smelling gentleman to your right."

I turned to the right, to take a true look at the gentleman to my right, my view from the mirror did not do justice to the view right in front of me. I picked up my beer and gave a slight salute to him. "Thank you." I was rewarded with a smile.

" No, thank you, that was the best verbal lashing I have heard in quite a while." The man tapped his fresh glass with mine. We both took a drink.