Hurry Up

By John Strong

“Run faster. We are going to be late. The taxi driver says he will leave if you don’t come soon.” Mary flipped closed her phone with anger. This was going to be the second time she had missed a taxi because of James. Last time he had insisted on waiting a bit longer to get to the front of the line to get Michel Phelps’ swimming card. They were leaving Beijing, China to fly back to good old Alabama. But again James was trying to get a glimpse of the American medals one last time.

The taxi driver rumbled in a deep voice, ”I’m going to wait one more minute.”

She nodded her head as if to say leave. The taxi driver was gone almost instantly and was picking up more tourists to take to the airport. At that moment, James came running, yelling about something crazy again. She told him that the taxi had left and if they wanted to leave today, they should probably get going. There was a taxi driving by so James held up his hand and haled the taxi down. They hopped in and did not need to say anything. The taxi man pointed at the airport 10 mile sign. They were stuck deep in traffic. About 10 minutes later, there was a loud popping sound and the car skidded to a stop. They stumbled out of the car. It was a blowout. It was only a half a mile from the airport. They were going to walk. They walked slow, held down by the luggage and the thick green grass. They had to get to the airport in twenty minutes or they would probably miss their flight. They could see the planes taking off and could hear the loud gargle of the engines. They had three minutes and Mary shrieked, “This is all your fault!” A second later, they could see fireworks showing the end of the Olympics. One stray firework hit the airport. She whispered, ”I guess we will stay in China for a bit longer.”