excerpt
“Abbotsford Hotel to the airport,” the dispatcher said.
“Roger”
“He was lucky to get an airport trip”, Costa thought. It would be
nice if he could get one of those. Knowing that the blue stand was close
by, he started his car, left the Georgia Hotel, where he had stopped, and
drove a block and a half north on Hornby Street, only to find that car
62 was already sitting at the blue stand, which was usually a very busy
stand. For this reason, Costa continued onto the right on Pender and
right on Howe Street, and ended up at the Four Seasons Hotel, where
he was first on the line.
“Car 79, Four Seasons,” he informed the dispatcher.
“Roger 79,” the dispatcher confirmed.
From where he was sitting, he observed the hotel lobby where
a young couple had an animated conversation with their hands and
bodies indicating an argument was in the making. Two other couples
stood further away. One of the two women of that group addressed the
two men, and after she said something to them, they all started laughing.
Another couple, in the middle of the lobby, was investigating a
hotel brochure. A middle-aged man walked between all the others,
and when outside, he lit a cigarette. Costa lowered his window and,
looking at the man, asked.
“Need a cab, sir?”
“Not right now, but I’ll need one in one hour to go to the airport.
Could you take me?”
“Certainly, sir, in one hour exactly I’ll be here to give you a ride,”
Costa said, showing him the number 79 on his vehicle.
“Ok, 79, I don’t have to call the central service?”
“No, no need; I’ll be here to take you,” Costa confirmed, and the
smoker walked out towards the Georgia Hotel on the other side of
Howe Street.
Costa, while quite absentmindedly watching people come and
go from the Four Seasons Hotel, thought of his parents: what were they
doing this time of the day, it must have been eight in the morning, in
the small village with the name Kolibari, in Western Crete.
Libros Libertad 