It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning in Portland, Oregon. Contrary to popular belief, it didn’t rain here all of the time. It looked like a long hot summer was in store. Mount Hood towered in the east, white with snow year round. As they neared the airport, Cade pointed out to his daughter Raven the remnants of Mount Saint Helens visible to the north.
Brook wanted to have conversation time before being dropped off at the American Airlines departure area so they drove with the stereo off.
“Hey honey, while Raven and I are away, are you going to tackle the tile in the downstairs bathroom? Or are you and Ted going to tackle the Mariners’ game at the pub?” Brook asked jokingly. She was fully aware of the plans her husband had made with their neighbor Ted. Cade was no slacker, Brook was just being playful.
“Mom, give Dad a break. He’s driving. Didn’t you know that the number two cause of automobile accidents is because of distracted drivers?” Raven said, her brunette pigtails bouncing as she turned her head and gave her mom a semi-serious stare.
“Yeah, listen to your factoid spewing daughter,” Cade said as he glanced over his shoulder to check his blind spot before taking the next exit.
“Just so you two can squirm while you’re away, I’ll let you know exactly what I’ll be doing. I am going to watch sports in my underwear, leave the toilet seat up the entire time and drink straight out of the milk carton.” In the Grayson household these things were usually punishable by at least ten minutes of nagging. Cade had gotten his one dig in and he left it at that.
He maneuvered the silver Toyota Sequoia to the curb and engaged the caution flashers. A tall gangly man sporting a ball cap and a dark blue American Airlines uniform complete with faux gold shoulder epaulets opened the rear hatch of the truck. While Brook filled out the baggage forms, Cade helped wrestle the six bags onto the porter’s low slung cart. He peeled off a ten dollar bill and handed it to the man and thanked him.
Cade grabbed his petite wife and equally small daughter in a two armed bear hug. “I am really going to miss you guys,” he said while he locked eyes with his wife for a moment. He had fallen in love with her big brown doe eyes at first sight many years ago. Brook was petite but her personality was enormous. She was the type that never backed down from anything or anybody. She had been an avid mountain climber years ago; now that she was in her mid-thirties she put all of her energy into raising her only daughter.
Their daughter Raven tended to be cautious, neither a leader nor a follower. A big researcher, she thought most things over many times before taking action, whether it was choosing which cereal she would eat that particular morning or which boy in sixth grade received her attention. She was a very cerebral girl and yet she still believed in the Easter Bunny.
After hugs and kisses, Cade got in the truck and pulled from the curb. He stole one long last look at his family as they entered the large revolving door and disappeared into the maw of the airport.
Halfway home he turned on the stereo and picked a classic rock station. The deejay was going on about a new mutant strain of H1-N1 that was making people sick in Washington D.C. It was the last thing he wanted to listen to on a worry free weekend. Monday would be bad enough. It was time to start the job hunt he had been putting off. It had been more than a year since he left the military with an honorable discharge. The economy was in tatters, unemployment was high and he knew the job offerings would be slim, so for now he chose to live in the moment.
As he merged into the light traffic moving on I-205 he pushed the AUX button on the stereo and picked up his IPod Nano. He rapidly shook the electronic device and let shuffle decide which song he would get to listen to. He grinned when the first sitar riffs of the Doors’ song The End emanated from the speakers and then sang along with Jim Morrison for a few prophetic verses.
He was blissfully unaware of the situation now unfolding in the heart of Portland.