February 1995

A FIRST KISS

            “Would you like me to take you to the airport and show you how to say good-bye?” he asked. His intentions were far from honorable.

            “Oh, yes! That sounds like fun.” She replied. She was not naive. And a sporting woman at that. This piqued the hunter’s instinct in him.

            It was on this day that the maiden was to embark upon a journey to a wedding. Not her own, although that would have made it interesting, but that of her brother’s. The airport was Orange County’s John Wayne Airport. A small airport where you can stand at one end of it and see the entire airport, staff, visitors, cars pulling up to drop off passengers, and gates. There was only one gate open on this particular day: Gate 2.

            The couple did not travel alone, but were accompanied by friends. One of each of the lover’s friends came to chaperone. Although the friends did not intend to play that role, their presence had it’s effect. Our young man was getting cold feet.

            How could they come along. I can’t go through with this! he thought to himself. But he looked into the eyes of this new woman he sought. Her smile, her dimples, her golden hair that seem to shine from within. Her jeans...they fit so tight!

            His resolve had returned and the announcement of his lady’s flight led them all to Gate 2.

            “How much time until the last boarding call?” She wanted to know.

            “Just a few minutes,”  said the X-ray scan technician.

            She set down her purse at her feet and turned to her companion who had propositioned her. “It’s time for me to learn how to say good-bye.”

            I hope I can teach her something, he told himself. “Over here.” He showed her to a spot out of the way of foot traffic. Her back was to the wall. “Here’s how to say good-bye.” He kissed her. A long kiss. Deep too! And it went on.

            The two chaperones began to feel out of place. They didn’t like each other. It would have been ideal had they hit it off together. But that doesn’t seem to happen very often, and true to form they tagged along not wanting to be left alone with the other.

            The kiss continued.

            The friends were beginning to find they had something in common after all. They were feeling embarrassed.

            The kiss continued.

             And the chaperones realized almost simultaneously that they were being replaced as the right hands to their friends. No more movies together. No more, ”let’s go get coffee.” For a moment the two looked at each other and wondered....Naaaaa! It couldn’t work.

            “This is the final boarding call for flights 217 to Spokane, flight 406 to Denver, and flight 102 to Las Vegas. Flight 311(he said it ‘three-eleven’) to Dallas-Fort Worth is delayed approximately twenty minutes...............and if your interested KISSING LESSONS are being given at Gate 2 as you board the aircraft!” The announcement finished.

            The kiss continued, but they laughed into each other’s mouth. Flight ‘three-eleven’ was her flight. Twenty more minutes! For a second his mind flashed Raymond Chandler’s The Long Good-bye. He renewed his fervor.

            The exploration of another mouth is an art. When we are children we measure the whole world with our mouths. Everything we touch fits into two categories: things I can put inside my mouth, and things that I cannot put inside my mouth, no matter how hard I try. Science, though, explains this as an extension of your hand. It’s just another touching, sensory device. I don’t think we ever grow out of that phase. We just skip over it until adolescence.

            Then there was a pause in their kiss. The two people who had met only a week before looked longingly into each other’s eyes. His lips swollen, young Romeo turned to the X-ray guy again. “How buch mo’ time do we habb?”

            “About five minutes.”

            Juliet’s hand touched his shoulder and turned him towards her. They fell together. The announcement speaker cracked to life once more, “And there they go again!” The smoochers laughed into each other again.

            Finally, they parted at last call. She picked up her purse and flitted through the gate. Romeo turned to his remaining companions to see they had left him to sit away from the staring onlookers. They stood and said nothing as he approached. They were not happy. He was.

            On the way out the door, back into the blistering heat of the southern California summer, the sky-caps applauded. Yes, he was happy. His lips hurt, but he was happy. A romance had begun.

-dougg williams