Monday 14 January 2013

Pepper Boy's Adventure In Seattle

The Pacific Northwest, the mecca for grunge pilgrimage. Pepper Boy never thought he would ever get the chance to experience it in his lifetime, like many things it would remain a distant what-if, never to be achieved. Well the skies of fate or some other out there force had thrown him a bone of destiny. Some man by his namesake had used a simple internet application to add every other Pepper Boy in the virtual hemisphere. In his recent clashes with bad and good fortune in equal measures, being rattled then shaken then gently picked up and guided on Pepper Boy had grown no more or less skeptical, but was acutely aware of the possible qualities of this opportunity. Travel some 5,000 miles to visit and spend time with a family, bearing no connection or history other than name. An invite seemed rude to turn down, and not just to the inviters.

So, after saving up a couple of wages with little effort other than abstaining from his weekly purchases of jigsaws, Pepper Boy hopped on an Aer Lingus flight to Seattle. His journey would be a varied yet disorienting one, from Manchester to Dublin, then onto Atlanta International, then onto Phoenix International, and finally onto Seattle Tacoma. The whole journey would take about 21 hours, but by the time he would get to Seattle it would only be 6 o clock at night, still. Pepper Boy had always struggled to keep to time and organise himself at the best of times, and dealing with that kind of time distortion would prove troubling. Coupled with the pressure of making a good first impression to Mr. and Mrs. Richardson, he was already feeling like his first few hours in Seattle would be difficult ones.

But nonetheless, he had committed, and came too far to pull out of the adventure now. He sat down on seat 25C, an aisle seat, thankfully, and as he loaded his cabin bag into the overhead cabin bin among a crush of Irish and English voices. As he fumbled for his jacket and bag, settling them into neat comfortable spots to lie, he recoiled slightly as he realised what chain of events he undertook to get himself to this point. The cabin crew were finishing organising the people into their designated seats, and were about to begin the safety procedure demonstration thing that they do on every flight. It was all about to happen

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