Loily's Novella - Chapters 2 and 3

(This is the second of a series on Loily's account of the Great LA reunion. Best to start from the previous entry. Ang Nakaraan: "Loily flew in from Virginia to LAX. She was up at 4 a.m. East Coast time, arrived at LAX at 4:30 p.m., rode the sky cab to Burbank. Here she tells how what should have been an hour ride turned to four hours; because of the LA traffic, she reached Burbank at 8:30 p.m.)

Chapter 2

So I haul all my luggage to the shuttle stand. I wait for 20 minutes. The shuttle arrives and I'm the only passenger on board. The driver is not content so he goes around the airport f*#@ing FOUR times to look for more passengers. He does this for another twenty minutes till he finally gets two more. Then, we all proceed to Burbank.

BBBBUUUUUUUUT it's a Friday in December in LA in the rain at rush hour.
The moment the van rolls my phone rings and it's Betchay.
Betchay: "Louella, where are you na?"
Louella: " I'm just about to leave LAX for Burbank."

Betchay: "Call me when you're almost there."

Wellllllll.....I ask the driver (pogi siya) how long it will take and he says that he doesn't know cause traffic is at a crawl. After thirty minutes, my phone rings and it's Betchay II.

Betchay: "Louella, where are you na?"

Louella: "Halfway, I think, cause we've been on the road for half an hour." Later I'm told that we haven't even gone three miles from LAX.

So it's raining...and yes, we ARE crawling.

My phone rings again and this time it's Kathy I.

Kathy: "Hi, Louella! Kamusta na? Where are you na?"

Louella: "I dunno." (I'm whispering here cause I didn't want the driver and the other passengers to know that I wasn't familiar with the streets nor LA itself and its environs.

Kathy: "I'm the one assigned to pick you up so please call me na lang when you get there."

So this goes on, the exchange of phonecalls between Betchay, Kathy and me for the NEXT TWO AND A HALF HOURS!!!!.

Well.....at 7:05PM, we finally get to the Burbank Airport. I give the driver a huge tip cause he was really nice and ......handsome. So there I was standing by the curb and it's still raining. I have to take off my gloves to call up Kathy and she finally shows up after ten minutes.

You know how it feels when you see a classmate. No matter how exhausted you are, you suddenly get energized. So Kathy and I are that way with all the kamustahans and tidbits. We proceed to Betty's place but we get lost at the exit from the airport.

We find our way but now I really feel worn out. I just don't feel like partying anymore. I just want someone to give me a warm bath and tuck me in bed. That or a bullet in my head at that point.

Chapter 3

It's 7:30pm and Kathy is expertly negotiating the hilly terrain going up to Betchay's place. Soon, we're right at her doorstep. and yes......I'm still excited about seeing her but I don't have any energy left to carry my bags. Betchay and her son help me with my luggage. I just drag myself and the rest of my carry on into her house. Once there, they suggest that we have dinner out while waiting for Tet's call.

Tet was also scheduled to fly in at Burbank at 9pm. I'm hungry but I'm too tired to eat. Can anyone just eat for me while I sleep?

So off we go, Kathy Betchay and I. We go to a nearby Mall and have Japanese food courtesy of Betchay. The food was good but my teeth hurt from all that stress and the kind ladies wanted to do a little window shopping. So we w...a...l..ke..d and w..a..l..k..e..d looking at stores and their wares. I was feeling like a zombie by now.

My throat started to hurt. I tell Betchay this and she buys me a bottle of Airborne...a nutritional supplement put together by a teacher who says that it can help your immune system fight airborne germs that abound in crowded places like classrooms, elevators, airplanes..etc.

We head for home. On the way home, Becthay's phone rings and it's Tet on the other end. The HAIR QUEEN has finally arrived. The two considerate ladies decide to bring me to Betchay's place first so I can pack the stuff that I'll need for the PARTY.

They leave me behind while they head off for the airport. I go thru my suitcases and bags but I'm just soooooo tired and really feeling like fermenting mashed potatoes so I do a haphazard way of picking thru my stuff, tossing things out and putting this and that in plastic bags. After fifteen unproductive agonizing minutes of trying to put my bags in order, the ladies finally arrive from the airport. GEEEEEE. They left me behind to save time so that I could pack my things, take a shower and change to PJs. Pero heto ako still sorting thru my stuff like an unfeeling robot. I really have to be recharged. I'm just dead tired. I needed a shot of adrenalin. As soon as I see Tet, I do get that needed booster shot and I start getting organized with my packing. I take a shower in Betchay's master's bathroom which is on the third floor. Kung hindi pa ako energized that time and it wasn't winter I would have just asked one of them to just hose me down in the driveway and spray me with Tilex.

After I'm almost done with my packing, Sylvia's, the reigning QUEEN OF SPONSORS and current PLATINUM QUEEN OF CASINO HOTEL RESERVATIONS, arrival is announced by Betchay. Nowwwww, I'm starting to feel better. Sylvia has this bearing and projects an aura much like those of a thousand ringing slot machines.

Soon, we haul ourselves and our plastic bags into two cars. By this time, you're wondering why we had to put our stuff in unglamorous plastic grocery bags. That's because each of us had to bring bulky sleeping bags and with Tet's and my make-up kit thrown in, there wasn't enough room left for our carry-on luggage in the trunk of two cars.

After everyone has taken a shower and changed into PJs, we head for Carmel's house. The trip will take about 30 minutes and we leave at 10:30 pm.

It's the 3rd of December 2005, and five classmates are on their way to rendezvous with seven other sscHS1970 classmates for the Annual Get Together of the US based coralbelles.