Chapter 6

They put their coats and sneakers back on and got into the Ranger and headed south to Buffalo International Airport. The twins have already flown from Denver to Buffalo, so they considered themselves world travelers and as soon as they hit the airport, they pulled off their jackets and put on their sunglasses and strolled through the facility with their backpacks and carry-on roller bags. There was slight confusion at TSA when the agents found that juice boxes had somehow been added to the twins’ back packs and had to be disposed of.

“That is not what I meant when I asked you to help pack your bags,” scolded Andi.

“But we need them!” pleaded Sandy.

Madeline put her arm around her sister. “She gets very thirsty.”

“There will be juice for you on the airplane, Ma’am,” said the TSA agent.

“He called me ma’am,” said Madeline, beaming.

“No, he called ME ma’am,” said Sandi.

“No, ME!”

“MOM! What’s a ma’am?”

“Put your shoes on and let’s go!” demanded Andi.

They made it to their gate with plenty of time to spare, and the doctors whiled away the time, reviewing plans for the new clinic and reading medical journals while the twins played with their stuffies at Paul and Andi’s feet. Finally, the plane was ready for passengers to board.

“Welcome to United flight 775 direct service to Orlando. We will start boarding shortly. Keep in mind that this is a sold-out flight today, so there will be no empty seats. We have a standby list, so if anyone would like to take a bump and fly later, please come up to the desk now.”

The twins started packing up their tablets and stuffies, then donned their sunglasses, ready to hit the beaches. They were still wearing their bright yellow church dresses, but the sunglasses made them look cool.

“We will start boarding with anyone who needs extra time...”

Paul had to nudge Andi to get her to close her laptop and get ready to board.

“Any newlyweds traveling with twins, please board now, any newlyweds traveling with twins...”

The people waiting to board chuckled at the announcements, but Sandy and Madeline left their parents behind and walked onto the jetway, pulling their carry-on bags and wearing their shades, their noses in the air like they owned the airline. As the embarrassed couple had their boarding passes checked, the flight attendant said, “Ernie and Mary Kraft say bon voyage.”

Andi probably didn’t hear because she was scrambling after Sandy and Madeline, but Paul did. “Pardon?” he asked.

“Ernie and Mary Kraft say bon voyage,” repeated one of the attendants, and then she pointed over her shoulder to the customer service desk behind her. Over there was one of Ernie and Mary’s granddaughters, waving to Paul. Was that one Gwen or Sarah? Paul could never keep them straight. He waved back and thanked the attendants, then dashed to catch up with his bride. Paul didn’t think that Ernie was the kind to pull a gag like this. ‘Well played Ernie’, he thought.

The family had first class seating, and it was decided that Paul and Madeline would sit on one side of the aisle, Sandy and Andi on the other. The twins complained about the seating, but Andi played the parent card and sat the two on separate sides of the aisle with a separate parent each “because I say so.” Actually, it was the airline that didn’t want the two toddlers seated side by side without a parent at hand. Both twins refused window seats. They wanted to sit in the aisle to be nearer her sister.

During loading, the twins looked at each other. The agony of their separation was painted plainly on their faces, their eyes filled with tears. Occasionally, little hands would reach across the aisle for each other. Silently fat tears crept down their faces to collect on quivering chins.

Their silent suffering broke the hearts of the entire cabin crew, and the flight attendant tried to cheer them up, but Sandy and Madeline’s world didn’t include anyone but their sister at this moment. “They’re so pitiful,” said the flight attendant as she handed Andi a glass of cranberry juice and a small bottle of vodka. “How old are they?”

Andi looked at her suffering babies, and her heart ached for them. “They just turned five in November,” she said as she sipped the cranberry juice and slid the bottle into her purse.

“Oh my gosh, I would have guessed three, maybe early four. Preemies?” and she sat another bottle of vodka on Andi’s tray table. Andi looked at the bottle and picked it up while the flight attendant said, “from one twin mom to another.”

Andi smiled and said, “Thank you. They were born at 28 weeks, they’re never apart.” Andi upended the vodka into her cranberry juice.