Part 1: Arrival
The airship era ended abruptly at the tail end of the 1930s. It left behind a marvel of human ingenuity and a personal revolution of engineering, making me believe that learning science and engineering was my destiny. As a child, I had always wanted to fly my own airship, spaceship, any cool looking craft.
--
I had arrived via train to New Jersey on a cold, rainy afternoon in December to study at The College of New Jersey. After getting rushed instructions from a campus guard, I found myself in the Commons hall, dripping wet. The Commons worker took pity on me and gave me a towel and hot coffee as I tried to figure out where my door room was. I wasn't allowed to sit on the furniture, as wet as I was, so I stood awkwardly.
The graduate student quarter was less than a mile from the Commons, but the rain had now turned to hard sleet, beating down painfully outside.
"Hey look, it's only going to get much worse from here. If you run, you'll probably make it in a few minutes," said the Commons worker, a girl at the front desk. A not-so-subtle way of letting me know I couldn't stay here.
"I might die out there. Would you let me hole up in the bathroom if I promise to not rob anything? Not that I would. Steal. Like I don't normally steal." I asked lamely, holding my palms up in surrender. The towel had helped dry me off, but I still couldn't think straight. My teeth were chattering; I was soaked to the bone. I would have begged if she had asked me to.
Thunder rumbled, rolling loudly across the building as lightning flashed through the windows around us.
The girl sighed visibly. "Alanie" read her name-tag in the thunder light. She held up a finger to her lips and began dialing on her phone. I heard the dialtone before she could mention it. No reception? She turned away, tucking the phone in her lap, and called again. Alanie stayed there for a few minutes before turning around frustrated, forcefully putting the desk phone down.
"Alright, so no one's picking up. And my cell has no reception either. Perfect storm." She said mockingly, gesturing to the storm with her middle finger.
She sighed again and looked me up and down. Pity was written all over her face. "You can stay in my room, I live upstairs."
I gaped at her, floored by the offer. I almost ran to give her a hug, but settled on saying thank you over and over again.
"I'm off shift in 20 minutes. I'll have to finish locking up and then we can go."
I gave her a thank you and settled back onto the floor where a wet spot had appeared from all of the dripping.
"Jesus, use the couch. No one's gonna sue you."
--
Alanie was finishing locking up when I told her my name.
"What? Lloyd?" She asked, leading me up the stairs. I let my mind wander at the ask as I paid more attention to the way her hips moved as she climbed up the steps.
"No, Láeg. LAY-EGG." I said robotically. I was used to people mispronouncing my name since I was a child and had come to come accept it as an unavoidable chore of my existence. It had gotten to a point where I pronounced my name differently to everyone but my family so it would be a painless experience for all. Well, slightly less painful.
"Okay Lloyd," She snickered, "Just kidding. Láeg. How is it spelled?"
I told her a before e and nothing after g. She paused at that and smirked. At least Alanie was nice.
We had rounded into a dimly lit hallway from the stairs. It was starkly ugly - narrow, with yellow painted walls and hand painted murals that had been definitely left over from students over the years. I had seen motel art with more personality.
We stopped at room 233. Alanie shuffled through her keys and found a copper, beat-up looking one. I stood back as she opened the door and walked in when she motioned me inside.
The first thing I noticed was the Zeppelin. It hung from the ceiling, rotating round and round, demanding my attention. The second thing I noticed were the various retro future poster smacked all across her walls with fake schematics and diagrams of famous ships, rockets, and most of all, airships.
"Yeah yeah I know, kind of fucking nerdy," she said, sitting down on her bed.
I think that was when I first fell in love in Alanie.