The sky was blue and the breeze perfect. It felt like he was on the coast of
Hawaii
. Such weather made him wonder whether he ought to go on this trip at all.
But the path was already set. He had purchased new
sunglasses
and a six pack of Hawaiian shirts. And there was a first-class seat with his ass' name on it.
He placed his new sunglasses and rubbed three fingertips across the Hawaiian shirt, pretending like he was brushing the dirt off his shoulders. Smooth he thought.
But this trip was going to be anything but smooth.
"Hawaii? Boy you're on lucky son of a gun aren't ya?" his coworker had said once the news of his assignment to Hawaii had been made public by another coworkers'
Outlook
mishap -- she had accidentally
cc
'd the entire company.
"Oh sure, you think so, but trust me I don't like Hawaii," he had reminded his coworker. But that coworker along with every other coworker laughed at his face and didn't believe him. On his final day at the
desert
office the team had gifted him a six pack of Hawaiian shirts. They probably thought the shirts were supposed to be ugly but the joke was on them. Once he got home and tried them on, he liked them. He might even wear Hawaiian shirts once he got back from the
island
.
"How long are you going for?" that one coworker had asked.
"Not sure. It's a one-way for now. But according to Christoph is sounds like about a month."
"Boy. Quite a trip!"
He found it funny that some people never sweared, and instead used almost child-like vernacular. Son of a gun instead of
son of a bitch
. Boy, instead of Shit.
"Well have a good time. Bring us all back some
pineapple
!"
He gave a fake smile. That was the last smile he had given them before leaving the office holding the six pack of Hawaiian shirts.
That was three days ago. Now he was waiting outside the terminal to his flight. First class was boarding. As he walked into the tunnel he looked back over his shoulder and thought, Well. see you again in a month.
But of course, he would be gone for much longer than a month.
