2. Kohl

“Excuse me, Excuse me!

I am trying to get the attention of the lady, who is overseeing luggage receival at the airport. I am having a hard time getting her to notice me, since she is busy with a phone call. She finally spots me trying to get her attention and rolls her eyes as she hangs up the phone.

“What do you need? She says in a cold unimpressed voice.

Usually my good looks and charm get me some better treatment than this young woman is giving me.

“Yes, my bags still have not came out and I was in flight 247-D and we are currently on 249-A” I say in the humblest tone I can make up.

“Well why did you not say something sooner, now we have to go back to storage” she says in the most condescending voice I have ever heard, She gets up from her seat, speaks on her intercom “Luggage A, needs supervision. Code B” another young woman comes up and takes Mrs. Bad Attitude’s post.

“Let me see your ticket and luggage number” I hand her all my tickets and she looks at me annoyed as she flips through the stack of papers.  She grabs the two she needs and all but slams the rest into my hand.

We walk for what seems forever or maybe it was the silence that makes it seem longer. We go through an employee only gate, and then a cold storage unit where she manages to locate my baggage. She looks at it and then back at me.

“This could have fit on top of your seat” she throws the bags at me, she starts walking off again so I follow her.

When we are back at her post I keep walking assuming we are all done since she hasn’t spoken to me since she handed me the bags.

“Idiot with the lost bags” I look back annoyed and ready to get this woman fired only to find.

A crowd of my closest friends all holding a “Welcome Home” banner. The baggage lady whom had shown no emotion earlier now walks up to me and says

“Hey, Kohl or should I call you brother In-Law” I look at her stupefied waiting for her to say “I am just kidding” but nothing came only my brother out of the crowd to hold whom I presume is her girlfriend.

“Hey, bud. I see you’ve met Kat” says my brother Matt.

“Not so much as met her rather than seen her, Nice to meet you Kat” I say holding out my hand to her.

“Katherine, but everybody calls me Kat, I am very glad to finally meet the Infamous Kohl” says Kat in an almost worshipping voice.

I look around and see Monique, Estevan, Dylan and Sam. They all hug me and hold me for the longest.

“Well I am sure you are very tired, and need some rest” says Sam

“Very tired I had one international flight and 2 crossover flights most of which were a boring nightmare” I say, recalling that not all three flights were bad.

“Well let’s get you home” says Matt.

We all start walking out and I realize that Kat is walking with us.

“Wait, don’t you have to finish your shift? I ask confused

“Oh, heavens no, I don’t work here we just paid that girl to let me pretend I did” says Kat. Once again, I can see her condescending attitude but at least this time it is not directed at me.

We reach the exit of the airport, and I ask rhetorically

So, which one of you is driving?

I didn’t phrase the question right the better question would have been whose chauffer brought you all here. Of course, I don’t get enough time to take the question back before they all start bombarding me.

“Kohl, I know you’ve been away for twelve months on your missionary trip, but please adjust back to our reality, we don’t drive” says Sam

“I thought you were helping get people smarter not dumber” says Dylan

“Leave him alone, in a few days he’ll be back to normal” says Estevan

“You guys are tools” says Monique and continues to say

“Dylan smarter is not even a word, and Sam you don’t drive because you cannot pass you’re driving test not because you can actually afford a chauffeur, Estevan what do you think missionary trips are a notch on your belt just to say you have? No, they are experiences that are supposed to change you for the better” Just like that Monique made everybody stop picking on me for a simple mistake.

“Anyways, we will have my driver drop you off at your house. You can unpack, get some rest. He will be back to pick you up around nine tonight so just be ready by then” says Kat in an optimistic tone I had not seen until now.

The Limousine stops in front of us, and we all get in. The driver takes us down Main St. I absorb the beauty of it all, the beauty of this marvelous city I had not seen in a long time. I try to rememorize the little shops on the sides of the road, a city with this much life is forever ongoing and changing almost nothing looks the same and yet it could not look better. We finally turn right, immediately I recognize my house, I always believed this was the only Victorian style house in New Orleans I am sure it was not but to me it was the only one who mattered.

I get down from the Limousine, and walk towards the front door only to realize I don’t have a key.

“Hey Matt, want to give me a hand with this! I yell back at Matt

“Sorry buddy I don’t roll that way, my Kitty Kat might get mad” says Matt in a joking manner as he gets down, to open the door.

“Your room is just the way you left it, plus or minus a few clothes” says Matt in an almost whispering voice.

“I see your still taking advantage of my better taste in fashion than yours, Matty. Keep using my clothes, Kat might start to wonder about you” I say in a low almost suspenseful tone.

“Keep wishing Kohl, the way I make her scream trust me there is no doubt in her mind, let’s just say the Winters have something, nobody can resist, guy or girl. Now stop wasting time, go unpack. We will be back in a few. Later Bro” says Matt as he walks out the door and shutting it on his way out.

I walk up the stairs finally letting my shoulders slouch, because well there is no one here to see me. I open the door to my room, from the doorway to my bed is maybe four feet distance so I just jumped on the bed

“thump”

Was the only thing I heard and I knew I had overestimated my old bed, but that was a problem for future me because for now I was going to sleep.