columbia a. diztrito, 11:43am
The luggage was the most immediate signal of how slow things were going. Three suitcases and a duffle bag lay in the corridor, propped up against the wall and utterly useless for the moment. She walked past them several times, always forgetting to put something into them, to check if they were done, if they should be done. She stubbed her toe against them heading to the toilet, kicked at them hard before limping towards the door and banging on it. Her room mate had been in there for a good half hour since she had finally crawled out of bed at nearly eleven a.m. The sounds of the faucet and a blow dryer set to high were muffled by the door. She knocked three times, banged twice, her fists balled up and her hair still in its morning tangle.
"Allegra," she called, "you've been in there for an hour! Hurry up, will ya? I ain't even packed!"
The door cracked open. Allegra's mousy blond hair, teased and dyed flamingo pink at the tips, showed through the crack, her voice a hurried garble before the door closed again. Well you'll just have to wait some more, Columby dearest. The blow dryer picked up again. Columbia wanted to scream. Instead, she kicked at the door and stomped down the hall to where her suitcases lay. There was no real sense in wasting time with Allegra. The bathroom was her private property in the morning. Columbia's shuttle was leaving in a few hours. She still had to shower, dress, and finish packing. Pick up a bite to eat at Nose End Job's if she had the time. But none of that mattered to Allegra. The perfect tease and a flawless liner application came first.
Leaning back against the wall, Columbia pulled out her shuttle boarding pass, a thin, postcard sized cardboard rectangle with her name printed across the top. A shinny metal strip lined the bottom half at the back. Her identification, payment method, personal statistics, criminal record, health specifics. Everything that made her Columbia A. Diztrito and not one of several other Columbias and Diztritos and Average Janes. She sighed and slid it back into her pant pocket. She had waited months for that pass, weeks for the health reports to finally come through, for the authorization materials to arrive in the mail, for everything filled out, delivered, approved, sealed, stamped, scrunched and spit back out at her in cardboard. Dello had still been her boyfriend then. She had filled out her health form in his bathrobe. Stupid Dello. She still missed him sometimes. Stupid Dello and his stupid nipple rings.
She banged on the bathroom door. "Allegra! Hurry it up!"
"Hold on to your horses, Columbia! Good fucking queens of the desert, you know? I've got a date with Seamus today."
"And I've got a shuttle to catch and I ain't gonna catch it looking like a bloody tumble weed!"
But
there was no use talking to Allegra. The luggage still waited in the hall,
undone, and the clock wouldn't slow down. Sighing, Columbia trudged into
her room, pulled down her travel suit and hoped that with enough perfume
anything could be masked. Maybe the shuttle wouldn't be that crowded.
Unfinished