Author's note: The idea behind this story comes from two experiences which I had. The first was my flight from the East Cost to my home in the Midwest one winter. As described in the story, a huge storm system disrupted air travel, and I was stranded overnight in Pittsburgh.
The second was a conference which I attended, at which there turned out to be a shortage of hotel rooms. Most of the attendees were male, and many men had to double up in rooms. Fortunately, I was left with a room by myself. Then, at the last minute, a female colleague showed up and had to be accommodated. I thought, "She can stay with me." That didn't happen, but the idea stuck with me.
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A huge winter storm system swept across the Midwest, bringing strong winds and heavy snow. Flights all over the eastern half of the country were cancelled or diverted. Greg, trying to fly home to St. Louis from a business trip to New York, got as far as Pittsburgh, where the word was that no one could go any farther west.
The airlines adapted to the situation of thousands of stranded passengers, and they started a dispatching system, sending people in taxis to available hotel rooms. When Greg got to the head of the taxi line, the waiting driver said, "I can take two people."
Greg turned to the attractive, carefully dressed, woman, in early middle age like him, who was next in line, and said, "Shall we?"
She replied, "Sure."
The driver put their carry-on bags into his trunk, and off they went through the blizzard towards the promised hotel. "I'm Greg," he said to his new companion. "I was on my way from New York to St. Louis."
"I'm Sherry," the woman replied. "I was on my way from Boston to Chicago."
With difficulty, the taxi took them to a lower end motel about 5 miles from the airport, and Greg and Sherry hurried into the lobby. "Hi," said Greg to the desk clerk. "We were sent here from the airport, and we understand that you have two available rooms." Greg and Sherry each presented their hotel vouchers.
"Well," said the clerk, "We did have two rooms, but one of them has a plumbing problem, which means that the water in the bathroom is not working, and the floor of the room is wet. Really, there is one room."
"Maybe we can find another hotel," said Sherry. Just then, a gust of wind battered on the building, shaking it. Snow swirled around the glass entrance door. The taxi had already left.
"You're not going to be able to go anywhere tonight," the clerk said. Greg looked at Sherry. Sherry looked at Greg. They both looked at the desk clerk. The clerk spread out his hands, as if to ask, "What do you want to do?"
Sherry said, "We're adults. We can deal with this."
Greg said, "We're adults. We can deal with this," and then, "Do you have a bar here?"
The clerk laughed. "Even if we had a bar -- which we don't -- there wouldn't be anyone to run it tonight. However, I have a few bottles of liquor available. You can have some." Greg paid for a bottle of bourbon, and he and Sherry headed to their room.
The next surprise came when they reached the room. There was only one, double, bed. Greg called the desk, and the clerk confirmed that there was only one regular bed in the room, but he explained that the sofa opened out into a bed. "Thank you," said Greg coldly and hung up the phone. He turned to Sherry and said, "I think that we should have a drink NOW." Sherry agreed. Greg poured some bourbon into each of two glasses. They added a little water, and sipped at it.
After a minute, Greg said, "I ought to call my wife and tell here where I am."
"I'll call my husband, too," said Sherry, and she moved into the bathroom. Very quickly, they both discovered that cell phone service had been disrupted by the storm.
They tried the room phone. Sherry reached her house. "Hi, Steve," she said. "If you are paying any attention to what is going on, you will know that I am not going to make it home tonight. I'm stuck in Pittsburgh. Is Ronnie there?" After a short pause, she continued, "Hi, honey. I just wanted to say goodnight. I guess I'll see you sometime tomorrow. Love you. Mmmwha."
Then, Greg tried his house, but the line was busy. Greg and Sherry had several more rounds of bourbon and water and told each other about their lives. Greg lived in St. Louis with his wife Brenda and their two children, Robert, 10, and Roberta, 8. Sherry lived in one of the northern suburbs of Chicago with Steve and their 15-year-old son, Ronnie.
Over the next couple of hours, Greg tried to reach his house several more times without success. He was somewhat concerned. Was there some kind of emergency? Was the phone out of order? Or was Brenda just talking to her mother all evening? In any case, there was nothing that he could do about it now.