Chapter 5: When One Door Closes…
Brisbane International Airport, Questioning room 0517 hours.
Argus' eyes blinked open slowly, bleary and half-awake he made to stand. Argus let out an involuntary groan as he stretched, a metal chair did not make for the most comfortable sleeping arrangements but at least he had cushions that Officer Stuart had brought him. The novelty of being in another country had worn off at about the same time his 48-hour visa had expired, about a week ago. Argus grabbed his arms and did alternating shoulder stretches before deciding to do one of the only things he could do to keep himself entertained; exercise. He was never really doing intensive workouts, just something to keep him occupied. Of course, he couldn't exercise all day. Once things around the airport began to pick up, he would routinely meet airport security authorities throughout the working day. They would come in just to chat, it kept him sane and added a bit of interest to their days. Of course, no one could keep a secret. He had seen those same authorities escorting eager journalists out of the building during his brief journeys to the bathroom. Stopping pushups, Argus began sit-ups. His mind was wandering again. He had been asked to apply for a sponsored holiday visa by officer Stuart. Not that he knew anyone in Australia, but he had been told to put a "Chilli Heeler" as his sponsor, whoever that was. He eventually stopped doing sit-ups, opting to fall onto his back, and simply stared at the ceiling. He didn't have much else to do. There were only so many workouts he could think of without any equipment available to him. His mind decided it didn't want to wander anymore. Either he had exhausted it or exhausted the list of things he could think about, probably the former. He closed his eyes and felt empty. Numb in a sense. He didn't know how long he was there, but he was pulled back to reality by a knock at the door.
Argus lifted his head to see the door open, revealing Officer Stuart peering down at him—a piece of paper and a stamp in his hands.
"Practicing free-form meditation?" Officer Stuart asked with a chuckle.
"Something like that," Argus mumbled while getting to his feet.
"Well, I've got good news," Officer Stuart began. "Your visa has been approved. I just need to stamp your passport."
Argus complied without comment, producing his new passport, and handing it to Officer Stuart. Officer Stuart turned around and opened Argus' passport and pressed it open against the wall while applying a stamp.
"And… done! For real this time, welcome to Australia" Officer Stuart handed his passport back to him with a smile.
"Your ride is already here, the family sponsoring you is just wonderful. Everyone here likes them" Officer Stuart said with enthusiasm. Argus' autopilot response was to just nod, of course, the automatic response was immediately rescinded as the words registered.
"Wait, what? Officer Stuart what family?" Argus asked.
"It's just Casey. And the Heeler family. Chilli sponsored your entry, remember?"
"But Off-, I mean Casey, I thought that was just to gain a more rapid entry?" Argus asked, becoming more agitated.
Casey smiled and shook his head. "While that was part of the reason, putting you in contact with a family also gave you a place to stay," he explained.
"But I can just rent a room at a hotel or something," Argus began to protest.
"How would you support yourself? You're not allowed to work," Casey responded in stride.
Argus struggled to come up with a response and his silence was interpreted as acceptance by Casey.
"Follow me, we'll grab your things. Chilli's due to arrive any minute now," Casey said while opening the door. Argus followed him, his mind distracted. They walked out together through the door and unlike previous excursions, turned right instead of left and moved down a door into a breakroom with couches, chairs, a kitchenette, and other amenities. In the back were a set of lockers, and one of them did not have a lock. On this specific locker was written "Detainee's Belongings" in bold capital letters.
The locker was opened with a simple latch mechanism, and Argus was handed his cell phone which was unresponsive when he depressed the power button. Next, his wallet which he didn't bother to inspect, and his flight suit which was in the same condition as he had left it. Though a number of the patches, especially those denoting squadron and rank, were bulged and bent as if they had been scrutinized. Instinctively he began trying to smooth them out again before he was interrupted and handed his helmet. While trying to get organized, he noticed Casey was already moving on. Argus absentmindedly followed him back out of the room and through another door that had an illuminated exit sign above it, into a small room past a metal detector, and out into a parking lot.
It was still early morning, but the sun was well on its way up. Argus reflexively squinted and brought a hand up to shield his eyes. For a moment he considered putting on the helmet and lowering the visor however his internal dialogue countered the idea with the fact that he would look rather silly wearing a flight helmet for no reason other than an expensive pair of sunglasses, so he settled on waiting until his eyes adjusted. As the fur on the back of his hand became less washed out, he lowered his hand back to his side, he saw Casey speaking to someone through a car window of a red vehicle. Argus was motioned over by Casey and introduced.
"Argus, this is Chilli Heeler, she's the mother of the family who you're staying with. Chilli, this is Lieutenant Argus Hunter but you knew that already," Casey said, putting particular emphasis on his rank. Chilli offered her hand to Argus through the window who took a moment to reciprocate the gesture, still mentally stuck on the pronunciation of "Lieutenant".
"It's a pleasure, Lieutenant," Chilli said with a smile. The pronunciation would take some getting used to.
"Just Argus is fine Mrs. Heeler. It's nice to meet you too," Argus responded with a smile of his own.
"Just Chilli then. You can place your things in the back row," she said while motioning over her shoulder.
Argus moved to comply and opened one of the rear doors, placing his flight suit and helmet on the floorboards just behind Chilli. And moved around to get in on the other side of the car. Many of his instincts fought to pull him away from the port side of the vehicle as a passenger. Argus successfully made it into the vehicle and turned for his seatbelt. Once buckled, he and Chilli waved to Casey as they began to leave.
"Sorry about the mess back there, having a six-year-old and a four-year-old daughter tends to leave little time for cleaning up the messes they make," Chilli explained. Argus hummed in understanding.
"Yeah. My brother has his own pair of little tykes that he blames many messy rooms on. Not that I don't believe him," Argus said, a slight smile playing on his mouth at fond memories.
"Do you have any other siblings?" Chilli asked while driving.
"Just one. My brother is a few years younger than me, and my sister is a few years older," Argus explained. "She has her own kid, but he's almost a teenager now."
"Do you have any children?" Chilli asked, almost hesitant.
"No," Argus answered simply. "But my sister says I'm good with them. She's an occupational therapist."
"Oh really? What does your brother do?" Chilli asked.
"My brother is a chemist. He does pharmaceutical research," Argus said while looking out the window. Argus and Chilli fell into a comfortable silence. Unfortunately, that silence was interrupted by a question that Argus was dreading.
"Are you married?" Chilli asked.
"No," he answered simply. It wasn't this question he was dreading; it was the follow-up.
"Is there someone waiting for you back home?"
The pause in the conversation said it all.
"No," he answered. There was a hard edge to his voice that hadn't been there before.
Chilli hesitated before responding, "I'm sorry to hear that, and to have brought it up."
Argus was quick to close the subject. "You couldn't have known."
The rest of the ride was in silence, though. And this one was not nearly as comfortable as the last. Traffic seemed agonizingly slow, and it was late morning by the time they arrived.
Once the engine turned off, Argus removed his seatbelt but did not exit the vehicle right away. He took a moment to admire the cream-colored Queenslander in front of him. After a moment, and seeing Chilli had begun to move, Argus did step out of the car and moved to fetch his things. Removing them from the vehicle, and giving them a brief once-over to ensure no stray crumbs from the seats had made their way down, he folded the flight suit under his arm and carried his helmet in the same hand.
Argus turned to follow Chilli, who was patiently waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs that led to the veranda. Argus took a deep breath, feeling his abdomen and chest expand as his lungs filled with late-morning air and then subsequently deflate. He reinforced the confidence behind his stride and moved to join Chilli who began walking up the stairs at his approach and opened the door for them both. Inside he heard laughter, a mix of two high-pitched voices probably her daughters, and a deeper but very bright tenor, most likely her husband.
"Let's introduce you," Chilli said before calling up the stairs, "Bluey, Bandit, Bingo! I'm back!" Internally, Argus winced. While he was truthful about apparently being good with children, it didn't mean he necessarily believed it. He said that more to try and ease any worries that Chilli might have. He doubted his sister would appreciate a stranger walking in and kicking their feet up.
As his internal monologue raged, it was interrupted by a pitter-patter of feet. Two small heelers, the shorter red, and the taller blue came rushing into the room from the stairs tails wagging as they ran up to him. Initially, Argus thought they were going to crash into him before they came to a stop. The blue heeler began excitedly.
"Hi! I'm Bluey," She started. The red heeler continued, "And I'm Bingo!" They both smiled wide at him, looking on expectantly.
Argus knelt to their level and responded. "It's nice to meet you Bluey and Bingo, I'm Argus," he said with a forced smile of his own. Their tails stopped wagging and they both cocked their heads with raised eyebrows. Immediately Argus began to worry. His heart rate began to quicken. Did he do something wrong? Was there some cultural norm that he had-
"Why do you talk funny?" Bluey asked.
'Huh?' Argus blinked owlishly.
"Bluey!" Chilli exclaimed behind Argus.
"What?" Bluey asked innocently.
"It's rude to ask so bluntly!" Chilli responded exasperatedly.
"Oh. Sorry mum," Bluey apologized.
"Apologize to Argus, not to me," Chilli said with a sigh
"Sorry Argus," Bluey said immediately.
Argus was still caught up on the "talk funny" question, and surprising everyone began to chortle. "It's okay Bluey. As for why I "talk funny", It's because I'm not from around here," Argus said.
"Chloe isn't from this neighborhood, but she doesn't talk funny," Bluey said.
Argus was about to answer when Bingo spoke up, "Bluey! We should play twenty questions!"
"Ok Bingo! Come on Argus," Bluey said while motioning for him to follow. Argus gave an uncertain glance to Chilli who returned a simple shrug. Deciding to bite the bullet, Argus stepped forward indicating his willingness. Bluey and Bingo let out a collective squeal and began to take off to another section of the home Argus in tow. On his way, Argus met what seemed to be a much large version of Bluey leaving his destination.
"Hey mate, you must be Lieutenant Hunter! I'm Bandit," he said confirming Argus' suspicions that this was indeed their father.
"Just Argus is fine, Bandit" Argus replied quickly, "It's nice to meet you!"
"Right back at you" Bandit replied offering a handshake which Argus quickly accepted.
"Argus?" a call came from another room. Bandit winced.
"I see you've already been roped in. Good luck!" he said and continued on.
Argus wanted to ask what he meant by this, but his hesitation proved to be his downfall. Steeling himself Argus powered on into a small room, with a kiwi fruit rug, yellow walls, and access to the veranda. Toys of various sizes, shapes, and colors were strewn about the room but primarily pushed to the edges and off the carpet to make an open space for interaction. It was in this space that he found Bluey and Bingo both sitting with their legs crossed and tails wagging eagerly waiting for him. Deciding that there was no turning back now, Argus sat down across from them.
"Do you know how to play 20 questions?" Bingo asked
"Pretty sure I do. We just take turns asking questions until we reach 20, right?" Argus responded.
"Exactly," Bluey said while aggressively nodding. "Where in Australia do they speak like you do? I thought everyone from Australia spoke normally."
"I'm not from Australia" Argus answered, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Like a record scratching to a halt, their tails stopped, and their eyes widened.
"Are you cereal!?" Bluey asked.
"Yes- wait, cereal?" Argus responded confused.
"I like to say cereal instead of serious. Where are you from?" Bluey answered and asked.
"I'm from the United States," Argus said.
"Do you have a wife?" Bluey asked, getting right back to the questions.
"No, I'm not married," Argus answered.
"Why not?" Bluey pressed.
"Never found the time to get to know someone well enough," Argus said with a shrug, though internally he felt bad for lying to a child, even if only partially.
"What's your job?" Bluey asked, not allowing a pause in the conversation.
'Spending millions of taxpayer dollars' "I'm a pilot," Argus responded.
"Ooh. Where have you flown to?" Bluey asked.
"Uh, well- I don't fly to destinations specifically. I fly missions," Argus said hesitantly.
"Oh wow! Are you in the army?" Bluey continued.
"No, I'm in the navy," Argus corrected.
"What's "the navy"?" Bingo asked.
"It's a branch of the military that deals with all things on the water," Argus answered, but seeing their confusion grow he decided to revise his answer. "It's like the army but in the ocean," 'If anyone from the 94th hears that I'm never living it down!'
Bluey and Bingo nodded in understanding before Bingo asked the next question. "What do you like to do for fun?"
"I like hiking, and nature I suppose," Argus answered. "What about you two?"
"We like to play games! Most of them we come up with ourselves," Bluey answered. "What do you not like?"
'Engine failure' "Foods that are too sweet," Argus answered simply, though his internal voice was much more bitter.
"You don't like dessert?" Bluey looked almost hurt by this revelation.
"I do, it just can't be too sweet. Like, uh- pie! Pies are good," Argus explained
"You can't have pies for dessert. They're not a dessert food!" Bluey exclaimed like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Well some pies you can't, but some fruit pies make great desserts," Argus said somewhat defensively.
"Fruit pies? Like pavlova? Pavlova isn't a pie," Bluey said.
"What's pavlova?" Argus asked.
Bluey and Bingo stopped as if what he had asked had been the most critical question in their entire lives.
"You've NEVER had pavlova?" Bluey asked incredulously.
"Never heard of it," Argus said.
Bluey suddenly stood. "Bingo!" She started while raising a hand and pointing toward the ceiling. "We have a mission!"
Bingo stood too, and they both ran out of the room.
"Wait- Hang on! Oh no," Argus called after them uselessly. With a sigh, Argus produced his phone and stared at it for a moment. He wondered if Bandit had a charger he could borrow. He had a lot of phone calls to make.
A/N: I *huff* hate *huff* midterms! I had to put writing on pause for a moment to study for midterms, but now I'm back. I'm also thinking that an update every week might have been too ambitious. I'm going to try for every other week now. On top of all that, this chapter was way longer than I initially thought, and I kept adding to it. I feel like I could have gone longer than it is now, but also leaving readers in the dark (as I have) just isn't fair. Please rate and review!