Positive Press

Optics

The optics were fair. I could tell the deal was going to close. When the outlook was poor, my manager and the CEO stepped back a pace or two from my presentation, in more ways than one, and I felt I was out in the cold. This was a good litmus test for the viability of a project, and I was pleased that this new business venture was likely going to fly.

I was sitting in the lounge at the airport. I’d arrived at my destination, but my ride was going to be late. Rather than try to strike out on my own, I waited for him. The drivers my company secured were uncannily good and thankfully, very helpful. I sipped a soft drink mixed with fruit juice, and napped intermittently.

Rousing after a few moments of sleep, I noticed a break in the clouds. A plane was heading in, but there was something on the tarmac that disturbed: A luggage truck was on the runway. Was the driver asleep? Did the traffic controller not see it? Who was I to call? There was practically no one in the bar area, it was 9pm, and just getting dark.

The only other inhabitants of the lounge were toasting, ignorant of the situation. Maybe an anniversary? I was not sure. Frantically, I looked around. Finally, I banged madly on the glass window as the happy couple gaped at me confusedly. I was afraid I might break the glass with my pounding, but someone saw me from outside, so I pointed crazily towards the plane and luggage truck. The situation seemed ripe for disaster, and even the couple stood up and seemed to see the method in my weirdness.

The woman on the ground below was an aircraft marshaller, as luck would have it. She took her life into her own hands, by running in front of the truck, and waving her handheld, illuminated wands. The pilot, by some miracle, saw her, and veered around the truck. It was a near miss, and a night I’d never forget.

My driver arrived soon after, and I went on my way to the hotel where I hoped to get a safe nights’ sleep, before heading to the meeting to close the deal.