This morning began in a not-so-usual fashion. I had to
take my father to the Ottawa Airport for 4:15 am which
meant I had to wake up at 3:30 am and get to the house
for 4:00 am. The problem with this premise is that I
really didn't even get into bed until 2 and fell asleep
around 2:30 (after going to an open mic with a few
friends and having a few drinks). As you can see, there
are already serious problems with this situation.
The alarm went off and I don't remember hitting the
snooze but Sarah woke me up by saying 'Please don't
hit the snooze again!' which triggered my sub-conscious
and got my arse out of bed by 3:38 am. I trudged to
my snowy car after an hour of very deep sleep, turned
the key and hit the empty, snowy roads. While on the
queensway, I started to remember patches of the night
(which had ended only a few hours previous) and
something about singing backup vocals to the song
'Happen Now' by Plaskett as my friend Meredith
played it. I rubbed my eyes. I also remembered
something about Meredith running full tilt to the
stage to sing backup for 'Knockin on Heaven's Door'
and wiping out on the carpeted stage in a fury.
Did this all really happen?
I arrived at my parents' house. My dad was watching
for me through the front windows as I saw his head
move in the wintery silhouette of a dimly lit front
hall. I was there at 4 am sharp. The lights went off
and he emerged from the front door with his
airplane golf-bag carrier (which looks like an
artillery holding device) and a few bags. He got in
the car and thanked me several times for taking
him so early. He told me of his purchasing a new
blackberry and not really knowing how to use it. I told
him about the texting benefits but I could barely
speak I was so tired. We passed a few snowplows and
made it to the terminal. We exchanged goodbyes and
I hit the airport parkway on leg 3 of 3 of this early
trip, excited to get back into bed. I remember
thinking about Obama on the way home (which was,
after all, the reason why I had to drive my dad as the
airport wasn't able to guarantee parking or taxi
service today because of security) and how the
airport looked extremely empty. I wondered what he
would think of Ottawa or if my dad would pass him
in the air somewhere between Florida and DC.
I made it back to my driveway and back to my warm
bed (after a quick gas station pit stop for some pepto
as I seemed to be having some burning acidity). I
slammed back some pepto and hit the warm sheets.
The next thing I knew, I was in a store with chain-bar
windows and everyone in the store was saying 'Oh!
Here he comes. Everyone get down!' as everyone
started ducking down low. Out in the street, there
were several rifle-toting fatigued men with red lights
on the ends of their guns. The lights came in through
the store and scanned the streets and buildings. All
of the soldiers then stopped and stood at attention.
A very futuristic looking white car whirred past the
store which obviously encased one President Obama.
The car had red-stripes down its sides and had a
massive fin on the hood (like that of a fish). That's
all I remember.
I woke up to Sarah asking me about my time at the
open mic. I was disoriented and wondered what had
happened to the white fin car.
It is now 2:41 pm.
