“Dude, have you looked out of the window?” Sujeet’s voice asked me over the phone.
From my snug position in bed, it took a substantial effort to raise my head and glance at the digital clock on the music system. It was seven thirty in the morning. I always disliked waking up to the sound of a phone ringing.
“I’m still sleeping,” I mumbled. The window in my room seemed much too far away to bother looking out of. I would have to get out of bed completely for that.
“It’s seven inches of snow out there,” Sujeet exclaimed.
I blinked and stuttered. “What?”
“Dude, it snowed like crazy in the night. The snowstorm forecasted for yesterday that never happened, has come one day late.”
Now, I sat up bolt upright. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
“So, what time is your flight to India?” Sujeet asked.
“Ha? Flight?” I replied, as I slowly came to my senses. “It’s Korean Air and it leaves at twelve five.”
“Dude, the whole of Redmond is snowed in…” Sujeet began.
At that point, I tuned out from the conversation, hauled myself out of bed and staggered across to the window. I pulled up the blinds and stared outside. The sight that greeted me was remarkable. It was an ocean of white that had blanketed the road, the lamppost, the trees and every uncovered car. The soft, white snowflakes kept pouring down relentlessly from the skies above, as if determined to whiten out the whole planet. The gusty wind made them came down at oblique angles. Even though I was indoors, I shivered involuntarily just watching the storm unleash. It was beautiful and frightening at the same time.
“Dude, are you there..?” the voice on the phone queried.
“Yeaahh…I guess,” I was in a daze.
“I probably won’t be able to take my car out today. It can’t drive through snow at all.” Sujeet told me. He paused, and went on. “We’ll have to figure out some alternate way for you to get to the airport.”
Sujeet had agreed to drop me to the airport, but I had seen how poorly the BMW handled icy roads. It would be foolhardy to drive that car in the current scenario.
“Do you want to call for a cab?” Sujeet prodded.
“Yeah, I’ll do that.”
“Ok, sorry I can’t drop you. Let me know if you need any other help.”
“No problem, man. Thanks.”
A quick Google search gave me a list of taxi services that operated in the area. I called them one after the other, only to receive the following responses.
“Sorry, we are not operational today.”
“We have no taxis available now.”
“The weather conditions prevent us from coming there.”
“All our cabs are stuck on the freeway and will take hours to reach.”
“Please leave your message after the beep.”
And so on and so forth.
Ten phone calls later, I put the phone aside and paced up and down like a caged animal. I gulped down a large glass of water and gobbled a banana. By force of habit, I switched on the living room TV.
“There is a record amount of snowfall in all of the King County area in Washington. The snow has been falling continuously since four o’clock in the morning….”
The news presenter attempted to put on a grave face, but he looked rather excited. The shrill ringtone of my cell phone cut him off. I answered it after the first ring.
“Dude, did you get a cab?” It was Sujeet.
“No man, none of them are willing to go.”
“Really? Hmm...probably because of the snow,” Sujeet said. “You should keep trying. Let me also try a few cab services. I’ll call you back.”
I disconnected and called up Korean Air to ask if the flight was delayed. But, they informed me that it had only begun to snow in the area of the airport, and all flights were on schedule. Next, I spoke to a desi taxi driver and tried my best to cajole him into going to the airport. I even offered to pay double the fare. But, he claimed that he was stuck on the freeway and had no idea how long it would take him to get to my place.
I flung my phone onto the bed in frustration. It started ringing again, and I grabbed it.
“Dude, you are right, all the taxis are not operational,” Sujeet confirmed.
“Yeah.”
“You could try to go by bus…”
“But I have two huge check-in bags, one carry-one bag and a laptop bag,” I protested.
“Also, the bus is slow and has bad frequency, that it’ll get you late,” Sujeet added.
“You have your car with you, right?” Sujeet asked.
“Yeah, but are you suggesting that…”
“Dude, that’s the best alternative you have right now.”
After some more debate, I acknowledged that driving myself to the airport was the only available course of action. Sujeet wished me luck and said that he would keep calling to check on my progress. I looked at the clock. It was quarter to nine. I had originally planned to leave at nine fifteen as it took half an hour to reach the airport. But from what I had been hearing about the freeways, it would take a lot more than half an hour that day. So, I skipped a bath, hurriedly threw on some clothes and raced down to my Honda Civic. The same Honda Civic that had skidded uncontrollably and collided in the snow last year. I shook myself and tried to forget that incident, as I loaded the bags into the car.
The ground inside the building complex was covered with milky white snow. I started up the engine and put my car into the reverse. The snow there was soft and the tires ploughed through it easily. Feeling a little better, I changed the gear to Drive and stepped on the accelerator.
Without warning, my car slid sideways towards a lamppost. I felt the muscles in my stomach tighten. Before I could react at all, the car screeched and came to a halt inches away from the post. I exhaled heavily. So, this was a preview of how things were going to be. Cautiously, with my full attention to driving, I eased the car of the complex and onto the main road.
Less than a minute later, I glanced at the fuel gauge. It was on empty. While the Civic probably had enough reserve fuel to make it to the airport, I felt this wasn’t the best time to test the reserve capacity. I pulled into a nearby gas station and filled up about quarter of the tank.
The road leading out of the gas station had an upward slope and like everything else was under a white blanket. After moving a foot or so up the slope, the Honda Civic refused to budge. I pressed the accelerator harder, and the rear wheel spun in the snow. But the car remained where it was. My breathing became unsteady and there was a pounding in my chest. I got out of the car and stared at the wheel. It was mired in the snow. I scratched my head and looked around, but found no one else within sight. My phone started ringing.
“Dude, where are you?” Sujeet inquired.
“I’m at the gas station on 8th street. My car is stuck in the snow.”
“Oh shit. Now what? Is there anyone around to help?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
“Maybe you should…” Sujete began, and then stopped abruptly.
“Hello? Maybe I should what?” I demanded. But, there was silence. I looked at my phone and read the message ‘Main Batter Very low. Switching off’
“That’s perfect, that’s just perfect,” I yelled at the phone. It was a useless piece of junk that had the appearance of a phone but more often functioned like a glorified paper-weight. I considered tossing the device into the snow.
“Why did I have to fill gas at all?” I admonished myself.
I looked at the Honda again and was struck by a thought. There was substantial snow ahead of the rear wheel on the upslope, but there was not much behind it. In fact, the car was just a foot from the fuel pump, which was flatter ground, with scanty snow.
I sat in the driver’s seat, and sucked in a deep breath. I put the car into reverse gear and gradually slid it backwards. The Honda cooperated and inched backwards towards the fuel pump. With a sigh of relief, I guided it back the way I came, and out of the gas station in reverse.
After ten minutes of watchful driving, I made it onto the ramp leading to the freeway. The Honda Civic didn’t seem enamored by the thin, semi-black ice on the ramp, and decided to skid and slip every few inches. I gripped steering wheel as tightly as I could and tried to keep the car stable.
On the freeway, I crawled along at a snail’s pace of seven miles per hour. There weren’t too many cars that had braved the storm, and most of them that did were pickup trucks and sturdy SUVs. Compact sedans like mine were a rarity. Except on the shoulder of the freeway, where I saw quite a few sedans, stranded in the snow and abandoned by their owners. I saw one Honda Civic on the side of the freeway, the same color as mine, standing perpendicular to the road, with its tires entrenched deep in the snow. There was no sign of any passengers. A chill ran down my spine.
I gripped the steering wheel even tighter and slowed down even further. I glanced at my phone, the paperweight, wishing that I could call Sujeet or anyone else. In the rear-view mirror, I noticed a rust-brown Chevrolet that had been right behind me since I got onto the freeway. There was one man in the driver’s seat and no passengers. I decided to name him John Doe.
“Hey John, how are you getting along back there?” I said aloud into the mirror.
The rust-brown Chevy stayed on my tail as the cars inched forward.
“It’ll be alright, John. Just don’t look at all those abandoned cars on the side.”
I did realize how crazy I sounded, but I really needed to converse with someone. If Tom Hanks could talk to a volleyball in Cast Away, then why not me?
I continued my conversation with John as we plodded ahead at an agonizing pace. A look at my watch revealed that it was already ten forty.
“One hour twenty five minutes for my flight, John. But there is no need to panic.”
Looking ahead, I saw the stretch of road was covered with patches of slimy, unwelcoming ice. I looked at the mirror to warn my buddy.
“The road ahead is slippery. We need to be careful. Just dri…”
Suddenly, my Honda Civic veered left, out of control. It was headed straight for the divider.
“Oh Fuck,” I shouted. My heart skipped a beat. I twisted the steering wheel to the right. I yanked up the hand brake. From my past experience, I knew that slamming hard on the foot brakes, will only cause the car to skid further.
Centimeters away from the divider, the Honda Civic changed direction and straightened. It came to a halt with its front bumper almost kissing the concrete divider.
I let out a long breath. The blood was still pumping through my veins at breakneck pace.
The Chevy had stopped a few feet behind me to observe the scene.
“Don’t worry, John. I’m alright. Everything is fine.” I said, as I gradually pulled back into the lane and resumed our perilous journey, with John and the Chevy keeping a safe distance behind me.
“Driving through snow in a sedan is hell, ha?” I asked my travel companion in the mirror. “Don’t you wish you had an SUV with a four-wheel drive at a time like this?”
“Anyways, no point complaining now. We can get through this. We are almost there.”
We trudged along at a sluggish speed. Every mile seemed so long. I checked the time again. Forty minutes to my flight time. Boarding would probably start soon. We just passed Exit 1, less than four miles to the airport now. John was still with me.
“Slow and steady now. No need to think about the flight time.”
Without further incident, I reached the airport parking lot. The ‘Welcome to Sea-Tac Airport’ sign had never looked so good to me. At that point, I bid adieu to John and the Chevy which had gone to the Arrivals terminal.
“We made it, John. In one piece. It was nice talking to you.”
It was twenty three minutes to flight time. The parking fare was fifteen dollars a day plus tax. I was going on vacation for a month and would have to figure out some way to get my car removed from the long-term parking. But, I wasn’t worried by the monetary concerns. I was still thinking about making my flight.
“Just a few more minutes now. The flight won’t leave.” I told myself.
Finding parking on the third level, I stepped out of the car. There were no trolleys around, so I had to maneuver one large suitcase in each hand, with the cabin baggage balanced on top of one and the laptop bag hanging from my shoulder. My movement was unwieldy. But, I had only eighteen minutes to go. So, I accelerated to a brisk walk and then to a jog.
I was fifty feet from the elevators, when my legs gave way on a lump of ice. The next thing I knew I was lying flat with my back on the floor. There was a bolt of pain in my left ankle. One suitcase had crashed down next to me, with the carry-on and laptop bag nearby, and the other one had wheeled away to collide into the bumper of a parked car.
I stood up gingerly and stepped forward, feeling the shooting pain in my foot. My watch reminded me that there was only fifteen minutes to go. There was no time for pain.
Quickly collecting my scattered bags, I scampered to the elevator. I rushed to the Korean Air counter, with arms and baggage flailing around me. Thirteen minutes to flight time. Was there any chance that I would still be given a boarding pass?
“Your flight has been delayed by three hours due to ice on the runway and on the plane.” The man at the counter told me, and handed me the boarding pass.
I looked out of large window at the airport. There was that now familiar sight of layers of soft, white snow that had totally engulfed all the aircrafts the covered the ground below them.
For the first time that day, I smiled. With only the carry-on and laptop bag, I strolled towards a nearby restaurant to grab a quick bite. I put away my passport and the two boarding passes.
I stopped myself suddenly. Two boarding passes? I had forgotten all about the connection at Seoul. On checking, I found that there was a three hour fifteen minute layoff between the two flights. My flight from Seattle was three hours late. Would that mean I was going to miss my connection? How long would I be stuck in Seoul till the next flight to India?
One adventure ends and a new one begins.
