Chapter 46: Off to Atlanta

Thursday, November 4, 1982

Angie, Jasmine and I, packed and ready, met our passengers first thing at school and transferred their bags to my trunk. We’d be flying out around seven and should make Atlanta by eleven (counting the time change). Late, but we couldn’t justify taking Thursday as a travel day out of school, and trying to get from Memorial after classes to the airport and on a plane by seven was itself a minor feat, since we’d be risking an early rush hour.

We’d be taking Cammie, Gene, and Carole. The Emory crew had somewhat dwindled as some people dropped out. From Drama, Lexi and Sheila were going, along with Caitlyn, who was mostly treating it as a college-visit trip. From Debate, we’d have Janet and Lizzie, Sue and Amit, Megan and Anne, Callie and Kenzie, and Bree, along with — surprisingly — Linda, Darla, and Jaya. I’d figured Linda might go cheer at the football game, but apparently not. Jaya was the least surprising since Amit was going.

Calling twenty-one people a ‘dwindled crowd’ for an out-of-state tournament is a bit strange, but that’s where we were at this point. Six CX teams, three LD’ers, two Duo teams, and a bunch of Extemp, Humorous, and Dramatic entries.

Meg and Steffie had arranged for the remaining students to go to Katy with the Westchester delegation. Ms. Simmons, Westchester’s coach, was much better than Ms. Demme. Some of them might well qualify, and we might take more kids than Westchester was bringing.

Jas and I briefly talked about Blue’s call during a quiet moment. She’d gotten a similar one. We agreed it seemed like a good sign, and we’d both hope for the best.

After a just slightly nerve-wracking drive through what was, in fact, rush-hour-level traffic — and one very important stop along the way — we made it to the airport. We had our own collapsible luggage carts, of course — a virtual necessity — but Angie still found two airport carts for the luggage. Gene and I, of course, were the designated luggers of the luggage.

Once we’d found Meg, and the rest of the team — everyone safe and sound and on time, thank goodness! — we got our luggage checked and trekked to our gate. The timing was awkward: we didn’t have time for a real dinner, and the airline wasn’t going to feed us, either. The plan had been for us to eat in Atlanta, but that would be awkward, too.

This being 1982, there wasn’t the plethora of quick-service food options in the airport that you’d have found in the 2000s. You could get coffee or a drink, and possibly some iffy bar food, but meals were all sit-down-and-wait.

That’s when I deployed my surprise, courtesy of the very important stop. I took off my backpack, opened it, and tossed a package to Angie.

“Here you go!”

“Thank you, Sir!”

That drew some eyes, and more when I tossed similar packages to Jasmine, Cammie, Carole, and Gene.

“Hey!” Megan said.

“He’s ... like ... got food!” Janet said.

“Did you bring enough to share?” Meg said, in what passed for an elementary-school-teacher voice.

“Actually ... yes.” And I started tossing sandwiches to everyone. Being such a tight-knit group, I knew what nearly everyone would eat, and had gotten intelligence on the others. Meg got the last sandwich out.

“Awesome,” Janet said, opening hers. “Dude! You rock!”

“Thank you so much,” Anne said. A bunch of people echoed that.

I shrugged. “We drove right past Antone’s and it just seemed like a good idea. This way, hopefully, we can just get to bed and sleep, instead of being either half-starved or trying to sleep right after eating.”

“Next time, we’ll make sure to pick up food,” Meg said. “This time — thanks, Steve!”

“What do we owe you?” Amit said.

“A couple of bucks will be fine. It’s no big deal.” It wasn’t, but letting them pay me back — at a bargain rate — would go over better than throwing money around.

The whole thing was partly learning from my first life. Our analogous trip, to U Penn, had been a mess, with a diversion to another city for a connection instead of our non-stop, then a delayed flight. We’d gotten in at three in the morning and had to be up at six — and we’d had, at most, some crackers from a vending machine for dinner.

That was not going to happen this time, not if I could help it. We were on a better airline, on a flight that had a solid on-time record, and we’d eaten before we started.

The difference — or the biggest difference, at least — was simple. We’d gone to U Penn to go. To do something adventurous and get a bit of a reward. We had one person — one! — break. At the time, we’d been more grumpy than happy, because their breaking had screwed up the rest of us getting a chance to sightsee in Philly.

We were going to Emory to compete. Every person on this trip had a legitimate shot at breaking — even Jaya, even Linda and Darla — and once you break, who knows what might happen? We were thinking of sightseeing in Atlanta, at least a bit, but that’s because we were taking a Sunday afternoon flight back instead of a Saturday-night red-eye (which we’d done with U. Penn so we could travel on the cheap). We’d spent two hotel nights in Philly (one with just three hours in bed) but had three nights for Emory.

And, this time, Steffie was going. Drama and Debate had never teamed up the way we were now, and none of the Drama gang had gone on the first trip. Believe me — I’d have noticed if Jasmine, or Lexi, or Carole or any of them had gone! Strange, exotic girls? Of course I’d have noticed! I wouldn’t have done anything, but I’d have noticed everything.

Our flight — American, this time, not Eastern, thank goodness — was on time. I got a row with Angie on one side and Jasmine on the other. After intense negotiations, Angie got the window seat this time, with Jasmine getting it on the return flight.

Once seated, Jasmine gave me a kiss, so Angie gave me one on the cheek. Then, for ... reasons ... Jasmine and Angie gave each other a kiss. Cammie, looking over, made kissy-faces at the three of us. She was sitting with Janet and Lizzie, who both noticed, and seemed quite unsurprised.

Uneventful flights are what you want, and what we got. Jasmine wound up snuggled up most of the way. Angie and I both read a bit and listened to our Walkmen (or, Walkmans, as Anne insisted they be called, just to be difficult. Cute, but difficult).

We landed in Atlanta around nine-thirty and were on a chartered bus to our hotel by ten. Such a difference from U Penn! We’d be to bed four hours earlier, and we didn’t have to get up at six, but rather by eight-thirty. There was a welcome brunch at ten, presentations from some of the summer programs (including, obviously, Emory’s) at noon, and we’d start competing just after two.

We arrived at our hotel — a smaller local place immediately adjacent to the campus — just before eleven. This time our evidence cases wouldn’t stay on the bus. We’d cart them to and from the campus on our luggage carts, and a bus — maybe the same one, maybe not — would take us back to the airport Sunday.

As always, we had a major gender imbalance to contend with. For this trip, it was Gene, Amit, and me along with eighteen girls. Three boys, two beds, and — as before — we agreed each of us got a bed to himself one night. We flipped for it, and I wound up sharing with Amit tonight, Gene tomorrow, and on my own Saturday. Worked fine for me.

Angie, Cammie, and Sue would be sharing. The girls were three groups of four and two groups of three. No matter how they divided up, there was gossip potential, but ... it’d be fine. Of course, it would.

I’d jokingly suggested to Meg that couples should share rooms. That got a glare and a bit of a growl. I’m pretty sure that she was joking back.

I gave Jasmine a hug and kiss goodnight, and then Angie got a hug and a kiss on the cheek, which she returned. That prompted several other girls to want hugs. And some kisses, too. Gene and Amit weren’t immune — of course, since their girlfriends were along — but they got fewer hugs and kisses from other girls than I did. But, somewhere along the line, both of them had gotten on Lizzie’s will-hug list, which made me happy.

Once in our room, we all got ready for bed quickly and were quiet, lights out, by eleven-thirty. Again: we were here to compete, and rest was essential.

Friday, November 5, 1982

My alarm woke me at eight, and by nine our whole crew started walking across the campus, CXers rolling our carts with evidence cases, others carrying Extemp files, or — in the case of the Drama people — perhaps quietly laughing at those of us who were lugging all that paper with us. I’d gone with a burgundy shirt and a cream tie for this. As usual, it should make a bit of a statement. Angie had dared me to wear pink. Well, there were still two more days. Who knows?

We converged on the University Center, where they’d found a space big enough for a brunch along with room for everyone to stow their luggage. Tables were assigned, and we wound up with three tables of eight. Just one chair left over!

Most of us fanned out to mix and mingle. We had about half an hour to meet and greet. I bumped into a few casual acquaintances from Indiana, but no one of note. I was pretty sure Wesley would be here, but he wasn’t here yet. That, or I just hadn’t spotted him.

Janet and Lizzie seemed to have found a few people from Redlands. Sue was talking to a girl, Amit was talking with a guy, and Anne and Megan were chatting with two girls. I figured they were also summer acquaintances.

At ten, a man in a rather dapper suit stepped up to the lectern. After a few seconds, he tapped on it a few times, getting a surprisingly loud noise from it. People looked around, then quickly headed for their tables.

Once the room had quieted down, he introduced himself as Dr. Benton and welcomed us to the tournament. Apparently, we were at least a reasonable approximation of ‘the best of the best,’ at least at this point in the year. Sixteen people in the room had been at Nationals last year (three were at my table!), many people had placed highly in their state tournaments, et cetera, and so forth. He wasn’t the most exciting speaker. Perhaps that’s ironic, but most of us can only do so much with a welcoming speech.