[Scene 2: London's Heathrow Airport, Terminal 3, 11am GMT. A young man and woman have just entered from the central bus station and are looking intently at the Departures screen above them]
Young man: “Hey, wasn’t our flight direct to Addis Ababa? This board says that BMI 913, leaving at 13:15, goes via Amman.”
Young woman: “Really? Jordan? How weird… I’m sure we booked a direct flight. Oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter too much. Our flight from Addis to Bahir Dar isn’t until 7am tomorrow morning anyway, so we have plenty of time.”
Young man: “I’ve always wanted to go to Jordan. Hey! Maybe we’ll get to see the Dead Sea!”
Young woman: “From the air at night? I don’t think they’ve put floodlights around it…yet. You’ll just have to imagine that you saw it.”
**********************
Flight attendant: “Chicken or beef?….. Chicken or beef?…….. Excuse me, sir. Would you like chicken with pasta or beef with rice? There you go, sir….”
[Note to readers: chicken with pasta is never a good idea on a plane. I mean, think about it. Imagine yourself eating chicken with pasta. OK, now imagine yourself doing that strapped onto an airplane seat, 10,000 metres above sea level. See? Doesn't work. And really, it's a matter of consideration, too. Do you think your fellow passengers can enjoy their own meal when you have mushy, stringy bits of tagliatelle drenched in a gloopy mess dangling from your mouth? Yeah..... nobody wants to see that.]
[A few hours go by.....]
Young man: “Wow, 13 channels and nothing to watch….”
Young woman: “You can’t find ANYTHING to watch with 13 channels? Maybe you should play some video games. It’s a brand new plane – they might have new games too.”
Young man: “I’m getting kinda hungry again. Do you think they’ll serve us dinner?”
[A few more hours go by, still nothing to watch....]
Voice over PA system: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I hope you’ve had a comfortable flight. We are now preparing for our descent into Amman. Weather conditions are favourable, with clear skies and a light westerly breeze. The temperature in Amman is currently 27 degrees Centigrade; the local time is 8pm. If you are leaving us in Amman, we thank you for flying with BMI and wish you a safe onward journey. For those of you continuing with us to Addis Ababa, we will make a quick stop to take on a new crew and refuel. Please remain on board and we should be back in the air in about 45 minutes.”
[90 minutes later....9:30pm Jordanian time.....]
Voice over PA: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I’m afraid we’re experiencing some delays due to the developments in Sudan, which you may have heard about. Unfortunately, the airport in Khartoum has been closed, which means that we cannot fly over Sudanese airspace. We are trying to find a new route to Addis Ababa. I will keep you informed, but in the meantime, please accept our apologies for the delay to your journey.”
Hushed, concerned voices among passengers: “What happened in Khartoum? Do you know what happened in Khartoum? What did he say about Khartoum? I’ve heard that rebels have raided Khartoum and taken over the city!”
Young man: “I’m hungry….”
[One hour later.... 10:30pm Jordanian time]
Voice over PA: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain again. I have some good news for you. We have managed to find an alternate route to Addis Ababa via Saudi Arabia. We just need to negotiate permission to fly over Saudi airspace, but as soon as the legal proceedings are completed, we will be able to continue on our way to Addis Ababa.”
[Voices of tired, but once-again optimistic passengers can be heard cheering]
Young man: “Do you think they’ll serve us dinner now?”
[One hour later... 11:30pm Jordanian time]
Voice over PA: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking once more. I’m afraid I have some disappointing news for you. Although we have tried our best to negotiate a new route to get you to Addis Ababa, the Saudi authorities have refused to grant us permission to fly over their airspace. I’m sorry to inform you that we have no option but to cancel this flight. Please make sure you collect all your belongings and make your way off the plane and onto the airport concourse, where our ground staff will take care of you.”
[Deflated sighs of resignation from passengers]
Young man: “But we didn’t even get dinner!”
[One hour later.... 00:30 Jordanian time.... a coach carrying 23 tired, hungry and mildly dispirited BMI passengers passes by a heavily armed guard at a desert checkpoint and arrives at Queen Alia hotel, five minutes away from Amman airport. Our young protagonists line up, waiting to check in. A clearly frustrated passenger is complaining to the hotel receptionist]
Female passenger: “Will you be serving us dinner?”
Receptionist: “Dinner? No food now. Sorry, our restaurant is closed at 10:30.”
Female passenger: “But we haven’t had dinner! We haven’t had any food for hours!”
Young man: “I’m starving….”
[One hour later, 1:30am Jordanian time. Our young travellers are tucked up in bed, in the darkness of a strange hotel room in a distant land, exhausted by their long journey, stomachs groaning in hunger, slowly drifting into slumber.... Suddenly, the phone rings, startling both of them]
Young man, half asleep: “Huh… hello…..?”
Voice on other end of ‘phone, speaking in thick Jordanian accent: “Hello, sir. I am very sorry to disturb you. But I have to inform you that we are serving dinner for you downstairs in ten minutes.”
Young man: “Uh… ok. Ten minutes?”
Voice: “Yes, sir. Ten minutes. Good night, sir.”
Young man: “Uh…..yeah…..ok……..good night.”
Young woman: “Who was that?”
Young man: “The guy downstairs. He says they’re serving dinner downstairs in ten minutes.”
Young woman: “Are you hungry? You wanna go?”
Young man: “Ah… screw it. I ain’t getting out of bed now!”
[Ten minutes go by]
Young man: “Hey! Maybe we’ll get to see the Dead Sea tomorrow!”
Young woman: “Maybe we’ll be on a plane tomorrow morning and you can wave goodbye to the Dead Sea from the window.”
