Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares [95]
She read every page of People, including the weird ads in the back. At five forty-five she paused and raised her head to acknowledge officially missing her flight.
“What do you want to do?” the driver asked.
“I guess go to the airport,” she said. She felt like half a person without a phone to wield. “I’ll have to catch a later flight.”
The only saving grace was the fact that the official meeting wasn’t until Tuesday. She’d simply have to absorb the local culture at a slightly faster rate.
She read The New York Times and even the Financial Times, God help her. She didn’t get out of the car and into the airport until seven twenty. She went to the Delta counter and put herself at their mercy.
“Please just get me on the next flight to New Orleans,” she said.
The Delta woman seemed to push every button on her keyboard at least a hundred times. “The next flight I can get you on is Tuesday afternoon.”
“What?”
“I’m afraid so.” She pushed a few more buttons.
“It’s only Saturday. How can that be?”
She shrugged. “Can’t say.”
“Are you sure?”
She looked down at her screen again. Her name was Daisy and she had a very cheap dye job. Carmen could not afford to start hating her yet. “Sorry. Most of these are overbooked.”
“Can you check another airline for me?”
“Well, I can’t really.…”
“Please?” Carmen felt like she might vault over the desk and hijack the computer herself. She ached for some digital interaction.
“All right, let me look,” Daisy said. She looked, shook her head, looked, shook her head. Carmen hated the sound of her fingernails clacking on the keys. Why did somebody who typed on a keyboard for a living grow such farcically long nails?
“What?” Carmen finally exploded bossily.
Daisy picked up her phone. She mumbled a few things and nodded a few more times. Finally she looked at Carmen. “There’s some big music festival in New Orleans this weekend into next week. That seems to be what’s going on. Nobody’s got any seats until Tuesday.”
“Nobody?”
“Nobody.”
“What should I do?” Carmen wished she had somebody better than Daisy to throw her lot to.
Daisy seemed to wish she had somebody better than Carmen to assist. “Wait till Tuesday?”
“I can’t wait until Tuesday!” Carmen exploded. “I have a meeting on Tuesday! It is the biggest meeting of my entire career.”
Even Daisy was a human being. “You could drive.”
“I don’t have a car.”
“You could rent one.”
“I can’t drive for a million hours by myself!” She wasn’t even so sure she had a valid license. She drove about twice a year, when she went home to see her mom and David and Ryan.
Daisy gave her a look of maternal sympathy. Carmen realized you could turn almost anyone into a mother if you acted like enough of a baby. “Could you get a train?” Daisy asked.
“Is there a train to New Orleans?” Carmen had effectively forgotten the existence of trains. She used to like trains. She once took the sleeping train to see her father in South Carolina, and she’d found it pretty thrilling.
“Sure. There must be. It would take a while.”
“Can you look for me?”
“Can I?”
“Sure. On your computer.”
“You’d probably do better to call Amtrak.”
Would it help or hurt if Carmen started crying? “I don’t have a phone. It’s not working.”
Daisy looked around to see if there was danger of someone catching her engaging in a non-plane-related travel search. Carmen suddenly loved Daisy.
Daisy opened up the Internet browser on her computer and tapped a few things in. She raised her eyebrows. “Well, believe it or not, there’s a train leaving Penn Station at nine fifty-nine tonight that gets you into New Orleans at … five fifteen in the morning.”
“Tomorrow morning?”
“Monday morning.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No.” Daisy made an understanding face. “You’d make your meeting.”
Carmen considered. She’d do her local absorption at warp speed. What choice did she have?
“It’s almost eight now. You probably ought to get going,” Daisy