Chapter?
You couldn’t believe it. All the other luggage had been claimed, and yours still hadn’t shown up. You wait until the belt stops moving before admitting it. Somehow, they had lost your luggage. Not only yours, but that of your friends as well. So much for that easily identifiable distinctive pattern you had picked out.
Resigned, you make your way to the airline’s lost luggage counter to see what they could do.
The guy behind the desk was typically British. Accent. Polished., The whole nine yards. You tell him what has happened.
He types a few words into his terminal.
“I’m sorry sir” he says, typing a bit more and shaking his head, “No reports of lost luggage so far. If you’ll describe them to me I’ll enter it into our database and let you know if anything shows up”
He turned back to the screen, calling up a claim form. After getting the main details, name, where you are staying, contact number, flight information, he asks you to describe the missing bags.
“Um, okay”, you say, “There were three of them, all identical. Back packs for hiking, you know. We’re planning of seeing Europe, hitch hiking our way across. So our luggage is really back packs with all our clothes and hiking gear in them.”
“Any distinctive markings”?. "Oh yeah", you add "Red and Blue stripes, and a white eagle logo".
"For America"! Billy chimed in, unnecessarily.
"Are they from American Eagle Outfitters, then"?
"No", you reply "We bought them at a sporting goods store. They’re soccer bags".
"Soccer bags… wait. Crystal Palace Football Club bags? "
“Yeah, that’s it”, said John, “but not football, soccer”.
“You’re an idiot”, Billy popped in, “Football is the name people who don’t know what football is call soccer.
The guy behind the counter stopped typing for a few moments, minutes, his face carefully neutral, then resumed, maybe typing a little more forceful than before. Not that this was noticed by the three young adults standing at the counter.
A few minutes and many mouse clicks later he looked back up. "Your plane left New York yesterday at 18:25"?
The three of you looked at each other. “It was a little before 7” You say, “I remember that much”.
“Let me check something”, the clerk said, calling up yet another menu on his terminal. “ Flight 847, Gate 12, scheduled to leave at 18:25, delayed, left New York at 18:47. Hmmm… “Also departing gate 13, Charter 212, scheduled to leave at 18:35, delayed. Departed 18:48. That’s interesting. I think I may have an idea where your luggage is”.
He slid his rolling chair over to a desk to dial a number.
“Good evening. This is the American Airlines Lost Luggage Desk over at Heathrow. Can I speak to your equipment manager”?
Apparently he was put right through, because a moment later he began speaking again, although all you could hear was his side of the conversation.
“Hey Charles, Victor here. Yeah, yeah, I know. Good to hear you too. You know how it is. Hey, congratulations on the Philadelphia Union friendly. Yeah, that’ll show those Yanks. Oh yeah. Actually, that’s the reason I’m a calling. Got a couple of them here. Looking for some lost bags. Well, seems they dressed them up in Crystal colours and now they can’t find them. Didn’t happen to get mixed in with your lot, did they? No, seriously. I highly doubt they play. Not from the looks of them, no. What? Really”! He turns towards you and gives you a ‘thumbs up’ while still talking. “Guess I saved you the price of a call or three now, didn’t I. Yeah, send them over. I’ll let the Yanks know”.
He turned back to the boys waiting at the counter. “Looks like your bags got mixed in with the luggage from the Crystal Palace. Charles was just about to start trying to figure out who’s they were. They will be here in about 90 minutes. You can wait or we could send them on to your hotel”.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Get MORE!
Shop Memberships
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
