The Adventures of Freddie and Frieda Begin…
Freddie moved forward with his flying preference which has Freida a little freaked out. They found some internet sites with suggestions for preparing for a flight and followed all the guidelines. Feeling well prepared, they arrived at the airport two hours early like TSA recommended, and checked their luggage. That’s where the problems began. Freddie wasn’t counting on the extra $50.00 per bag. Good thing they only had two bags to check. Taking $100 out of their budget for the trip was going to mean they couldn’t do everything they had planned. Freida was feeling a little forlorn about the change in fortunes, but tried to keep Freddie from finding out.
Unfortunately, the baggage fiasco was just the beginning for these two love fish. They waited in the TSD security line for an hour. Freida felt bad about the luggage, and isn’t enjoying the wait in line, but was happy they arrived early.
Finally they make it to the body scanners in security. Freddie was surprised to learn that he and Freida had to remove the flip flops covering their flippers. He was shocked to find that he also had to remove his fancy belt he was using to hold his hipsters up. He had to hold them with his fin so they wouldn’t fall to the floor.
Freddie found this whole thing to be frustrating. Freida frankly found it frighting. Freddie’s frustration found new heights when the fellow in front of him stepped backwards and put his foot on Freddie’s fin. The pain was fantastic. Freddie yelled out, which brought him some attention he didn’t want.
When Freddie was in the body scanner machine they made him raise both his fins in the air. He protested that his hipsters would fall to the floor, but the friendly agents didn’t care. So, Freddie raised his fin. For a few seconds Freddie was relieved that his hipsters stayed put. As soon as he turned to leave – phwhoom! To the floor they fell. Frustration was now overtaken by embarrassment. Freida would have laughed fanatically if she hadn’t felt so awful for Freddie.
Continuing through the Airport…
Finally through security, our two love-fish are on their way to the gate to board the plane. Not much had gone right since arriving at the airport, but Freddie was thankful they arrived two hours early. They needed every bit of that to get their bags checked and through security. Now they’re really pressed for time as they run as fast as they can to make sure they don’t miss their flight. It’s been a trying couple of hours and Freddie’s stress level is high, but he’s looking forward to boarding the plane. Freddie figures that once he’s on the plane, everything will be alright. He can’t wait to be comfortably seated so his injured fin can finally quit hurting.
The halls are crowded with passengers. Some are frantically rushing to catch a flight, others are slowly meandering through the crowd like they have all the time in the world. “Good for them,” Freddie thinks, “but they need to get out of my way!” The clock is ticking faster than they’re moving, and Freddie is getting worried. “Ten more gates to go before we get to ours,” he thinks. Freddie looks back to check on Freida and can’t find her. He’s torn with emotions. Concern for Freida’s feelings, worry about making the flight, fiery pain in his fin are all making him think he’s made a mistake. Freida warned him this wasn’t a good plan. Now he’s wishing he’d listened.
Relieved to finally find Freida in the crowd, he begins moving toward her to show that he’s concerned for her. Freida has a look of determination on her face, but appears quite frazzled over the experience so far. She’s obviously relieved to find Freddie. “We’re almost there,” Freddie says to Freida, trying to encourage her.
Freddie’s fin is painful enough that walking is difficult, but they’ve made it to the gate. Both of them have sweat beginning to run down their faces. Freddie looks at the flight status board to find that their flight is delayed thirty minutes. “Oh well,” he muses, “it’s only thirty minutes. We can get a drink, and I can rest my throbbing fin. We’ll still have enough time to make our connecting flight.” Fifteen minutes and fifteen dollars later they each have a drink and a snack, but nowhere to sit. It looks like Freddie’s fin is going to hurt a while longer.
Freddie and Freida try to lift their spirits by talking about what they’re going to do when they finally arrive and visiting with his family when the gate attendant begins making an announcement. For a second Freddie is excitedly thinking they’re about to start boarding the flight. He is greatly disappointed to hear that there’s another delay in the flight. This one sets them back an hour and they won’t make their connecting flight. Freddie and Freida join the lengthening line at the agent’s desk as he begins to replay the conversations he and Freida had about the fiascos of flying. His thoughts are cut short by screaming pain when someone steps on his injured fin.
Freddie’s had enough. He finds the source of his pain – a rather large frog has stepped on his fin and isn’t moving. Freddie’s furious. “Get off my fin, you fat frog!” The words escape his mouth before he’s able to think about what he’s saying. Francine, the frog, turns in astonishment and looks at Freddie. She’s embarrassed by his outburst and lets him know how rude he is. Freddie’s frustration turns to humiliation as she unleashes a tidal wave of insults on him. Freida cuts between the two of them, apologizes for Freddie, and calms Francine, the fat frog down.
The gate agent assures Freddie that he and Freida will be able to make their connecting flight as it’s also delayed. “By the looks of things,” she tells him, “it’s delayed an hour as well.” Feeling somewhat better about their chances of making the connection, Freddie looks for a place to sit and take the pressure off his fin. He finds a place on the floor and makes himself as comfortable as he can. He begins to wonder what they might be doing right now if they had driven. “Maybe Freida was right,” he thinks to himself, “maybe this flight won’t even take off.”
Tune in next week when Freddie says, “Frankly, Frankie, I’m not a fan of you flirting with my fiance.”
We’ll be on the plane soon…
Freddie’s fears of the flight not flying are forgotten when the gate attendant comes on and announces that they will soon begin the boarding process. Freddie opted for discount tickets, so he and Freida are in the last group. Their seats aren’t next to each other, but close enough they’ll be able to talk, kind of. Freddie’s seat is directly behind Freida’s.
It seems like the boarding process took an hour before the attendant called for their group. Freddie hobbled to the gate, showed his pass, took two steps and (bam!) he ran straight into Francine. Extremely embarrassed, Freddie couldn’t even raise his head to see if she turned to see who bumped her. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to deal with the pain in his fin and the embarrassment of bumping into the frog he just yelled at.
Eventually, Freddie and Freida made it on the plane and were aghast at what they saw. People arguing about who’s bags were going to go in the overhead storage, passengers yelling at each other because one had accidentally bumped another, people arguing about who was in who’s seat: it was almost enough to make them turn and run out. Freida would have, but she was to frightened to try. She decided to pray that God would part the sea of madness and they could get to their seats free of fighting.
God provided and they both found their seats without incident. Frieda was in the center seat one row ahead of Freddie, who was seated in the aisle seat. As the flight got underway Frankie, the featherback fish seated next to Freida began flirting with her. Frankie was shocked, Freida was flabbergasted, and Frankie was moving fast.
reddie tried to cut in on the conversation. Freida welcomed the intrusion, but “Fast” Frankie the Featherback wasn’t slowing down. Freddie had enough. “Frankly, Franky, I’m not a fan of you flirting with my fiance.” Franky didn’t stop until Freddie had a brilliant idea. “Say, Freida, it looks like your seat’s a little uncomfortable. Mine’s wonderful. Would you like to try it?”
Freida was relieved and remembered why she loved Freddie so much. “Sure, Freddie. You never fail to fillet my feelings.” Once they changed seats, Freddie looked at Franky, “Catfish got your tongue, Frankie?” Freida giggled.
In the end, the flight took more of their vacation budget than either of them had foreseen and after one more delay, they really hadn’t saved any time. More than once on the trip they wished they had a vehicle they could just jump in and ride to the store, or just get out on their own. Before heading to the airport for the return trip, they both thanked God for the time with family, and asked for a friendlier flight home. Freddie promised Freida they would check on driving a Ride for their next trip. Freddie’s flying fantasy would be forever forgotten.
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