Check out this mini-story I made as a slideshow

View slideshow I hope you enjoy it!

Inanimatealice project from iStories

This blog is, as from today (12 Dec. 2009), a tribute to James Hadley Chase, who wrote with great precision zillions of novels set in the USA , without (hardly)ever having set foot in it. I hope I can measure up to him -even if only just a bit.

Afterthought

After some painstaking and futile attempts I've realised that Chase must have been a much more conscientious man when it came to geographical accuracy (or just plainly much more into maps than I am). So, while still dedicated to him, I hope readers will forgive -and perhaps enjoy- some creative licence on my part...

Friday, 18 December 2009

Getting there

I took the red-eye to Punta Cana -that means about 8 hours spent (after a very long day) on a plane full of strangers. I usually don't mind flights -not even long-hauls- and have even developed a system (I suppose everyone does after a while -emphasis on after a while before my mum reminds me of that 40kg holdall I took to a 4-day vacation in my early teens...).

Anyway: I've got my special travel socks to minimise circulation problems, my slippers, comfy pillow just in case and "the master...rucksack" (Sorry -inside joke for Argentines that like TV soup commercials). It's got the right number of compartments, with the right sizes to put everything for every possible need I may have on the plane (need, whim...poteito, potato). And, amazingly, this light-blue wonder master fits perfectly under the front seat -overhead compartments are simply not an option when your height's 1.53m. Unless...but it's not the case.

Aisle seat. Check. Window seat occupied. OK. Seat between the two...TBA  TBA. And that is when I start hating every passenger that's walking on the aisle. Keep walking...not your seat...More people keep coming in (do I take off my shoes now or wait to see what happens with middle-seat?). I lower the tray to start reading and sure as rain comes Mr middle-seat. "I think that's..." "Oh, are you sure?""Well, yes, it says so, see?""Mmhhm". How can I compete with a spotless boarding pass?!
Then of course:
"Sure-let-me-put-this-up-and-oh-yes-there-must-beroominthecompartment, no, please, I'llsitdownwhenyou'reready..."  While all the time all I'm thinking is there should not be a seat there at all. Just a void and then the window seat. Sorry if I'm disappointing romantics, the socially-inclined, and others. This is me. It's a long flight. It's been a long day.

I'll spare you other meaningless details like food (I actually like plane food) and other things.

It's finally quiet. Main lights are out and I pull down my mask, try to find a nice enough radio station and go to sleep. I have the nicest dream. This is already working. I wake up to the smell of warm croissants with ham&cheese, to the aroma of coffee (really not fussy about coffee quality)...Window-guy lifts the blind just as I finish pulling my mask up and rubbing my eyes... and I here's what I see:

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