Josh turned and took off down the hallway with two half dressed members of the campaign team watching him go. They almost felt like shouting cheers of encouragement but settled for just watching him until he exited out the stairwell entrance and vanished from their line of vision.
Josh bounded down the stairs and into the hotel lobby where he was observed by several surprised members of the desk staff and one family of four finishing up the complimentary continental breakfast. Out of breathe and oblivious to his odd behavior Josh collapsed on the desk and asked "What's the fastest way to the airport from here?"
"Which airport are you trying to get to Mr. Lyman?" Josh's face wrinkled with frustration as he began in a slightly hysterical tone, "I'm not sure. There is more than one? Where is one that flies to say…Wisconsin?"
It is now that the hotel clerk begins to clarify. "Mr. Lyman, we have two airports within a 45 min driving distance of the hotel. One is the commercial airport that is commonly used for travel, and one is the residential airport for private pilots. This is the airport you yourself have used when Congressman Santos flew you in."
"What? You call that an airport? That was a shack with a few roadways and two porto potties."
His remarks are not well received: "Mr. Lyman that is Kidney Cosmopolitan Airport and my grandfather helped design it". The hotel clerk was getting hostile in response to what she perceived as Josh's snooty attitude.
"Well, Martha," Josh paused to look down to her nametag "I mean no offense to that fine establishment, but in the future when I say Airport I mean the one with BIG planes and long security lines and tourists like these!" Josh hysterically gestures back to the family of four dressed in matching pale orange t-shirts and each carrying cameras around their necks.
"Mr. Lyman those are the Clarks and it just so happens that they are on their way to O'Brien International in our hotel shuttle on which there is plenty of room for yourself."
At this point another hotel clerk, Cheryl, has stepped in to deal with Josh and is motioning for him to board the fifteen-passenger van that has just pulled up in the hotel circular drive.
"Great, thanks so much, that'll be fine". Josh turns and practically sprints to the shuttle, only to observe the pyramid of luggage that is being carefully loaded by one preteen bellhop into the back of the van. Josh waits in the front seat for a minute before he jumps out of the van and begins hoisting the bags into the back. The young bellhop is startled but thankful for the help and states sheepishly "we can split the tip, but just to let you know I have to ride shot gun because Monty doesn't know the way to the airport."
Josh nods his head but thinks of nothing but Donna, the airport and getting the shuttle on the road. Slightly out of breath from the hoisting and heaving Josh returns to the front of the van just as the Clark family is loading up. "Let's get a move on people!" Josh can't help but shout this statement in total exacerbation after it takes over 4 minutes for Mrs. Clark to squeeze her backside through the van door. The young bellhop returns to open the adjoining side door causing Mrs. Clark to loose balance and fall out, only having to start the whole ordeal again. Josh feels as those he is going to have a heart attack right there and then.
After the Clark parents, the two Clark kids, who now sit on either side of Josh in the second row of the van, the pre-teen bellhop and the foreign van driver load into the shuttle they pull out of the driveway and into a seemingly endless standstill of traffic. Literally stretching for as far as the eye can see Josh only has a second to panic before he is startled into the air by the blast of a large semi horn answering the eager gesticulating of his seat partners.
"I got that one!" The girl shouted.
"No way that counts for me!" the older boy yelled back.
Their fight was only interrupted briefly when the mother turned to state sweetly "You two should really put on your seat belts, and that goes for you too Sir if you know what's good for you."
Josh obediently buckled up and sat in the hell that was the Clark Shuttle pool feeling almost as though he had paid the price for his outburst at Donna…almost, but not quite.
Over an hour later Josh arrived at the airport after one bathroom break for the junior Mrs. Clark and the upsetting incident where the boy managed to spill his entire grape slurpee onto Josh's sweatshirt and into the crotch of his jeans. Maybe fate was trying to get him back just a little bit for the night before.
When he finally got out of the van, Josh was not exactly the Prince Charming one would hope would chase you down to the airport. But he was just regular old Josh. Crazy haired, slurpee stained, hung over and repentant Josh, and he HAD to find Donna.