Austin

I'm in Texas for the first time, sitting behind closed blinds, because the sunlight is making me dizzy. Not sure how I arrived, the flight seemed like a dream, a fever-fantasy. Originally scheduled to Minneapolis/St. Paul I was "mandatorily rebooked" to a non-stop flight, last minute while waiting at the gate. Two hours later, waiting for the delayed Austin flight, falling asleep in concourse B, it's finally time to board.

I arrive in Austin, and sneak into the Northwest shoebox-luggage-claim-office, to ask whether my lugage was also rebooked. I'm redirected to Belt number six, where for the last ninety minutes, my suitcase has been going in lonely circles. It is halfway open and my brown belt is hanging out. I drag it across the pavement and heap it into my friend's trunk. We take off and Texas blurs by. I'm very disoriented.