Lawson Returns Home to Poway Ahead of Games 3 and 4

[Nyx 68]

 

 

 

   As he sat towards the back of the coach, his eyes glued to the window - his attention was moved elsewhere as the plane slowly lurched forward, coming to a slow roll down the runway. Over the intercom came a woman's young lively voice, a flight attendant, as she cheerily went over the demonstration, explaining emergency protocol to all the passengers onboard. As she spoke, almost as if on cue, the screens in front of them would show a display of everything she would explain - how to fasten your seatbelt, as well as urging the passengers to please turn off their celluar data and place their devices in airplane mode when prompted by a light overhead. Wrapping up her instruction, she reminded the passengers that should they feel the need to revise anything, every seat had a safety card in the backpouch - so should they like to, they could reach in front of them to grab the card. With that, a loud click could be heard overhead as the intercom shut off and the plane began taking off into the air.

 

   Shortly thereafter, a gruff voice would roughly come over the very same intercom. "This is your captain speakin'," he started lazily. If he had to guess, the pilot had likely had been working here a loong time - evident by his clear disdain for the job. "Welcome aboard," the man continued in a slur, "We are presently flying at forty-thousand feet on our trip from Houston to Los Angeles. Expectin' a smooth flight and anticipate an, err, on-time arrival in Los Angeles around 9:45 A.M. We hope you enjoy your flight," he croaked, before a click would be heard overhead once more as the intercom would go silent.

 

   Tyler would let out a small sigh, relieved to have that all over with. Honestly, he wasn't a fan of flying. As a kid on a summer vacation trip to China with his family, they'd experienced some turbulence that really shook him up - and ever since, he wasn't 'afraid' of planes per se, but it would be fair to say he had a general disliking for them. He would look down, and ever so slightly unfasten his seatbelt as now that his ears weren't being nagged at by the flight crew, he realized that it was a bit of a tight fit around his waist. 'Much better,' he thought, having loosened it up a bit. The sound of a baby's cry already began to ring out throughout the plane, much to the annoyance of . . . well, everybody else. Almost as if to counteract this, he'd put in an earbud, playing music he'd downloaded the night prior as to allow him to listen to music locally without service enabled. He look down at his phone, shuffling his playlist, with the first song filling his ears being 'Well I Wonder' by The Smiths. Setting his phone aside, he rummaged through his carry-on bag, retrieving a neck pillow and resting his head on it, where he'd doze off.

 

   He would later awake in a bit of a sweat - it was pretty cramped, he would admit, and the warm pillow around his neck didn't help too much either. He tried to orient himself and recall what this situation was, as well as figure out what woke him. He quickly realized that the intercom had woken him, as the captain was explaining how they would be touching down shortly.

 

   It wasn't too long before he'd realized that they were touching down - as the plane, somewhat roughly, approached the runway and the plane darted down the track. Eventually, it would come to a stop after continuously slowing down the aforementioned runway for what had felt like forever. Knowing he had places to be, Tyler was quickly growing impatient. He didn't have very long to take this trip for himself - in all honesty, he was surprised that the coach and GM had even allowed for it in the first place, even with it being such a short trip.

 

   As he found his way out of LAX to the front of the airport (with minimal difficulty, he'd been there a dozen times before), he gave his mother a call. "Hello? Yeah, I'm right out front, like you asked . . ." He told his mom, pacing around in a bit of a circle as he talked. "Yeah, no, of course I've grabbed all my stuff - I'm literally right outside the front door," he instructed her, "Yeah, just . . . uhm, I'm wearing a maroon jacket - oh, you found me? Alright, cool." The phone clicked as he watched on as his Mom drove over to pick him up.

 

   The two would hug as she pulled in before he'd pack his bags up into the back. Somehow, it had felt like forever since he'd seen his mother even though he'd only left for the VHLM such a short time ago. He could almost swear his mother seemed older somehow - even though her physical appearance looked to be nearly exactly the same before he'd left for Houston. As the two got into the van, he couldn't help but smile being back in California. As the two made back home for Poway, Tyler felt what he had deemed to feel like a huge cloud over him, or a weight on his shoulders, seem to disappear. Being home, even if it was only going to be a short period of time, felt great.

 

   They would chat about his season, and about the playoff games to come as the team had only played two, with a split 1-1. As the team had a few days piled up with no games, he took the opportunity to ask if he could take a day-trip home before returning to Houston to get ready for the games to come. Initially, they were worried about the idea of jet lag, but Tyler assured them it'd be a non-issue; after all, it wasn't that bad of a flight.

 

   Spending the rest of his day back home, he would thank his mother along with the rest of his family for the incredible day and for welcoming him back with such open arms. He would return to the airport that night (told you - short trip), and prepare for yet another flight. A smile grew along his face as he felt more prepared for the playoffs now than a million practices could ever have helped him. His family were the only reason he'd made it this far - to have the chance to see them as well as a few of his best friends from college and high school would make all the difference, he'd thought.

 

   Though, he did miss Houston - which he often referred to as his new home. He thought of all the late-night food spots he would frequent, and to the new friends he'd made on the team. As he sat on a bench inside the LAX Airport, he thought of the day he'd had, as well as what was to come as the next playoff game drew closer.

 

* 1,170 words; to claim for week 2/18 as well as 2/25

[Nyx 68]

claiming for week ending in 2/25