An Unusual Christmas Story (Part 5)

  The airport in Jedda was getting busy at this time, late afternoon.  I was just one of many. But I was stuck on a bench almost motionless with fear . It seemed to be getting harder as I became weaker. The lack of sleep, the strange diet and the stress were grabbing hold of me. I continued sitting because it was the only thing I could. I was forbidden to budge on the bench. My mind would wonder off as I envisioned my kids with no mother and hardly a father at this time. I thought of the airline staff who knew that I was here since they had sent their driver.  I imagined that they would search for me at some point. I hoped that the driver might be looking for me and then I wondered if he was taking care of the kids and how?? Why I had been singled out to face all this? I guessed that many people hit the "Why me?" button when stuck and I was very stuck! Time passed slowly.
  I noticed a steady flow of airline staff, personal from various carriers, passing by the desk of the uniformed man detaining me.  I watched as they either dropped off or picked up their passport at a counter behind him. A partition prevented me from seeing who was helping them. I kept hoping that the person might appear from behind that wall and see me. Perhaps then I could get help? But that never happened. I thought I should attempt to pray.  I bowed my head and tried to concentrate.
   "Mrs.K? Mrs. K is that you?"
Was I hearing things? What an odd sensation to hear my name.
I had to look up to verify whether I was just imaging hearing this.
  "Mrs.K, it's really you. Why are you here? How's your husband? And the little ones?"
I gazed up in disbelief. A pilot was talking towards me but I couldn't yet recognize him. He walked over to my side and I gazed up at him still afraid to move. I had seen that face. I looked at the uniformed guard with his rifle wondering what would happen now. He turned to talk to the pilot.
  "You know this woman?' he questioned.
  "Of course. I was forced to make an emergency landing because her husband became very ill on my fight the other day. He was accepted at King Fahd Hospital so we off loaded him and his family here. This is Mrs. K.  What's she doing here?  Some paper work?"
  Now I was getting excited. Hope at last. What are the chances of the pilot just happening to be passing by several days later to save another life!, this time mine? It seemed so miraculous! Now I felt a new wave of energy. Full of life, the weakness was gone. Some more words were exchanged. The person behind the partition appeared. Now he got involved. He took my paper from the doctor, read it and disappeared.  I thanked the pilot for asking about my family and he moved on. Had he known what had just happened? His presence here had freed me. I kept quiet and waited. I did not want to anger or humiliate the guard lest he change his mind. Freedom had to be my main priority now.
   After some time the paper work was completed and I free to leave. It had been a tough few hours but I was more than ready to be back with the kids. As I walked to the door I noticed from a large wall clock that my visiting time at the hospital was over. Just as well I thought to myself. Hubby was in great care and did not need to see me so stressed. Tomorrow would be soon enough. As I got outside I looked for the car. It did not seem to be where it had been.Was I in the right place? Now a new panic flooded over me. I'm free but my kids are gone and I have no driver which means I'm stuck. I walked around a bit looking here and there. All the cars were white and all the drivers were dressed alike. How would I find them? Stunned by this problem,I walked back to the entrance. That's when I heard,
  "Mommy! Over here!"
It was Buddy. He was walking behind me. Our driver and the car were right along his side. Can imagine my sense of relief? Here's what happened. The driver had had to move to long term parking since I was gone too long. He had instructed other drivers near the entrance to keep a lookout for me and contact him when they spotted me so he could fetch me. Seems they have their own way of networking to help each other. How helpful he was. He had fed and entertained all three for an entire afternoon and they were smiling.
  We headed back to the hotel. I was so exhausted. I needed more help. Once more I phoned the airline office and begged them to get through to the Canadian Embassy. My hope was to be linked up with any Canadians here who were working for Bell. My problem was I could not get the need across to the male(a local, with poor English skills) secretary who was manning the Jedda branch office. The Embassy was located in Riyadh and I did not have their number.
   It was evening, time for some food and baths. We had to freshen our clothes so I hand-washed our garments and hung them up to dry. Buddy and I used extra bedlinen to cover ourselves. The little ones were wrapped in bath towels. I hoped the warmth in the place would allow our stuff to dry over night. Truly over tired I hoped this night we could be in sync and  sleeping at the same time. Buddy and the baby did just that but my toddler was hyper. I spent most of the night entertaining her so the other two could sleep. Finally around four a.m. she dozed off. Me too! But at six the baby was up again. As I leaned over to pick her up out of the playpen I almost fell in on top of her.  I discovered I hardly had the strength to pick her up. I realized I was not very well. I had reached the point of  total over exhaustion. The situation was becoming dangerous. I had little energy left to care for the little one so I placed her in the Snuggly carrier and gave her a bottle.  I drifted off with her snuggled against my chest.