Jet Lag and More

Jet Lag and More

I couldn’t sleep, not matter how hard I tried to relax on the hotel bed. So I gave in to the inevitable, got up, and got dressed. It had been a long flight across the continent west to east. I think the term for what I was feeling was jet lag. 

It was more than just that however that kept me from sleeping on this night. My wife and I had just recently separated. My rather drastic response to that was applying for and getting a job far from my small-town hometown and moving to the city where the hotel and my new job are located. I did not want to see my soon-to-officially-be ex-wife with the man that she had left me for – vinegar and salt in an open wound. The town is small enough that I could not avoid such a painful sighting.

On the long flight I began thinking about how I might never have a family of my own, that I would become an old man someday, living alone, with no wife, children or grandchildren. I could picture myself like that, and the boring movie showing on the monitor in front of my seat did not distract me from that image. It was almost like I was projecting my mental images onto the screen.

So, not being able to sleep for two very good reasons, I thought that maybe if I took a long walk in my new home town, that would help me with at least getting a little slumber before morning greeted a new day. The sky was clear with no clouds in sight. Bright stars were and shining, so it was a good night for a walk. It was my first time in the big city, I had gone through a Zoom interview for the job. Being a small town man, I didn’t see anything wrong or even dangerous with walking way past midnight. 

I had just walked for about two blocks when I saw her. At first, for a little more than a second or two, I thought that she was some kind of wild creature, a rabbit, raccoon or large feral cat perhaps that had wandered its way into the city. Then I could saw that it was a little girl, with long, light-coloured but far from blond, feathery hair. She was seated on the sidewalk, near to an alleyway. Her hands were linked behind her head, her elbows slowly flapping like she was trying to work her way up to flight. Like me she just seemed to have too much energy to sleep, even though it should have been way past her regular bedtime. But unlike me, she seemed quite used to what life had dealt her on this night. She was probably not a stranger to midnight.

Then our eyes met, with her granting me no real focus in her eyes, just a fleeting recognition of my existence that soon passed. She then returned to her arm movement, entertaining herself with slowly flapping her flightless wings once more.

Then another person entered the scene, coming out of the dark alley beside where the little girl was sitting. She was a diminutive figure, short and thin, an old woman, with thick gray hair coming down to the level of her jaw and no farther, obviously a priority for her. She looked at me hard, but did not speak right away.

I wanted to break the silence, to ask the old woman, “Don’t you think that it is unsafe to have your granddaughter out this late at night?” But I said nothing. I felt that it wasn’t my place to interfere.

Then I heard a car driving up behind me. I turned around to see a police car pull up, and two officers come out of their vehicle. One of them walked up to the old woman and the little girl, and aggressively said to the old woman, “What did I tell you the other night about loitering at midnight risking the well-being of this child? You still are doing nothing to help her…and yourself.”

Words came out from my mouth almost before I knew I had been thinking this through. “They are not loitering, officer. They are with me. I needed to go out of our hotel and take a walk and they wanted to come with me. I can’t say no to this little girl here.”

The officer’s reply was simply, “See that you take care of them like you should from now on.” Then he turned away, got in the car with his partner and drove away with squealing tires.

Then I directed my words to the old lady. “Look, I’m new here, and am not familiar with this city, so I cannot direct you to anywhere that can offer you some much needed help. You would know that better than I. But I am staying at a local hotel, my first night here in this city where I am newly employed. If you two would follow me, I can take you to the hotel, and I will pay for the two of you to stay in your own hotel room. You two can follow me as far behind as you feel safe doing. What do you say to that?”

It has been my experience that older people don’t show surprise as often or as intensely as younger folks do, but there was a wide open stare of surprise in the old woman’s eyes. I could almost literally see her thinking about what she should do.

She took a few steps forward, and looked me over quite carefully. Then she took the little girl’s right hand from behind her neck and led her towards me. They followed me a few steps behind to the hotel. We stopped before we went into the building, and I asked them for their names, so I could tell the late night clerk a story about their pretend relationship to me.

Later That Same Year

           My job is working out quite well for me. It pays better than my old small town job, and I have made a few friends at work. And my apartment is in a nice part of town. I should say ‘our apartment’, as my family lives with me: my little daughter Heather and her grandmother Cynthia. With these two with me, I know that I will not feel alone. I am thankful that I decided to take that walk on my first night in town. And I know that they feel the same way.