Long Time No See

The Chicago skyline seen from Promontory Point, on the shore of Lake Michigan

Chicago was experiencing extreme weather conditions caused by thunderstorms and O’Hare was in a ground stop–no inbound planes were allowed to depart their origin airports. Meanwhile Pittsburgh’s weather was fabulous–sunny and warm. I was sitting near Gate A10 at the Pittsburgh International Airport, waiting to board the now delayed 8:35 AM flight to Chicago.

I hadn’t flown in almost three years. The previous flight I took was in September 2019, from Newark to Pittsburgh. I was a high school senior visiting CMU.

Airports are exciting places. On the “people mover” connecting the landside and airside terminals, I heard an ad read in a calm, clear, and formal tone that would remind you of an airport: “British Airways is now offering direct flights to London” (or something similar). That gave me goosebumps. London? What is it like? I am in Pittsburgh. At that moment, the distance between them seemed to have shrunk, as if the Atlantic Ocean had disappeared and the globe had become smaller.

Being at the airport made me feel I was ever so close to distant places – all I needed to do was to step through a gate and get on an airplane, as if the gate was some sort of magical portal. Denver, London, and Boston… I saw these cities on the displays as I passed them on the moving sidewalk. I’d be lying if I said the prospect of visiting these places didn’t intrigue me.

I had never been to Chicago. Kevin had invited me to visit him in Chicago during winter break last year, and I finally booked plane tickets to visit him in mid-July. Kevin and I were good friends in high school. We were almost “inseparable,” according to some. A girl thought we were brothers. A few, I heard, thought we were more than friends. Kevin and I always had a lot to talk about in person, but when we texted each other, the conversation wouldn’t flow naturally, so we almost never texted. Instead, we would set up a Zoom meeting once every few months, and chat like we did in high school.

The flight wasn’t delayed for too long, and I arrived at O’Hare at a quarter to twelve. The thunderstorm had ceased, but it was still raining. Although the sky was overcast and gloomy, I was excited and in a good mood. I hadn’t seen Kevin in more than half a year, and I had only seen him once after graduation. Who would have thought that after saying goodbye to each other on a sunny day in March 2019 before spring break we would only see each other once? I also hadn’t traveled in so long, especially on my own. Naturally, I had anticipated the trip.

Kevin couldn’t meet me at the airport because he had classes that morning. I checked the Uber fare from the airport to Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago, where Kevin told me to meet him at. It’d cost me almost $80. So I decided to take public transportation, against Kevin’s advice. He told me not to take Chicago’s subway, because it might not be safe.

I took the Blue Line from O’Hare to Jackson, then from Jackson to Garfield via the red line; finally I got on the 55 bus and arrived at Ellis Street in Hyde Park – which boasts more Nobel Prizes per square kilometer than any other neighborhood on Earth according to WikiVoyage. I told Kevin that I had arrived. Soon I saw an old white Jeep approaching me, and then I saw him in the driver’s seat. He parked the car along the street and got out of it. We walked towards each other, smiling. He looked well, relaxed and well-rested.

“Long time no see.”

“Yes. Long time no see.”