Charlie came home from Madrid today

Shot out of bed about 2:00 am this morning, stirred by Charlie's dark apparition in the bedroom. He'd made it home without needing to call for a ride; I was still in my clothes just in case I had to wake up and drive. He'd returned from his spring break visit to buddy Jon in Madrid. The Delta ticket was Madrid to NY-JFK by 4:20, connecting to a 7:00pm flight to Logan. Seemed a shame to have all that time to just hang out, but when D and I talked about it, well, waiting for checked bag, clearing customs, any delays-- just as well to have plenty of time and reduce the anxiety.

We'd left him cell messages to call when he landed in the USA so we could work out the logistics of picking him up. By the time he checked in about 6pm, he was plenty fatigued and annoyed. They'd landed on schedule, but couldn't get out cuz another jet blocked their gate. Then the baggage compartment was blocked so they had to wait even longer for their luggage to come through. After he'd finally collected gear and checked in for his last lap home, learned that there were delaycs for the flight to Boston. Well, we'd all be patient, he'd call just before boarding for takeoff.

It was a little after 9:00 pm when he called in a complete frazzle -- after a number of delay announcements, they'd just announce cancellation of the flight, with no apparent prospects of a substitute til morning. Charlie was raving. He needed to get back to class on Monday, so he asked me to see if there was something else. Quick on-line search, no other flights open, nor Amtrak, but the bus! -- the notorious Fung Wah was sold out all day except for their last 11pm run to Boston -- so we booked the $15 ticket on line, and Charlie bolted for a cab to the Bowery for the station. He managed to hop the 10pm bus that was just leaving, so we expected he'd be in South Station by 2am.

But when he appeared in the bedroom, he was undone with distress. In his fatigued haze, in the frenzy to get home, he'd forgotten that he'd checked his duffel bag with all his necessary possessions and hadn't gotten it back. And he'd thrown away the folder with the ticket claim number on it. D assured him there would be no problem, that the bag would be shuttled on to Boston and we'd get it somehow, but Charlie was just a mess about it: "All my clothes! My school stuff! Everything."

I was awake so I came down to start the process. Threw in the clothes he was wearing, his only clothes, so he'd have something clean for the next day. Fed him spaghetti and meatballs with a sleeping pill chaser to get him to settle down for a snooze. Got the luggage department phone number, hung on until I got a human -- and the good news was that the bag was in the system and being sent to Logan first thing in the morning. But a call first thing when the office opened revealed more flight delays -- counseled to try again after 11am.

Well, lots of waiting around in phone hell line, but by 11:30 we got the word that the bag was there. Woke up Charlie still sleeping on the sofa, zoomed to Logan, and he was able to claim his bag no problem. By now he was pretty late for school though. Came back to Cambridge, he pulled out what he needed for the day, left the laundry that desperately needed doing. Reeked of sour sweat and cigarettes. But it will all get done, and delivered out to Worcester probably tomorrow.

And that pillow will feel awfully good tonight.