Chapter 5--The Crutch Incident

If you've been following our little adventure, you know we are now in Minneapolis. We were literally squeezed on the standby flight. We were the last 2 passengers to pass through that special door. However, being the last 2, there was no longer any overhead storage. By then we are not thinking clearly and we allowed them to throw our carry on bags into 'the hold' where ordinary luggage resides. We forgot that all of Wayne's medications were in his carry on bag, including the injectable blood thinner and the sharps disposable container. And Wayne is in severe pain by now and we are both tired. Whereas there were skycaps galore in Greenville and Atlanta, we find, upon disembarking in Minneapolis, that nary a one can be found. It was "Here's your wheel chair. Good luck." I could push the wheel chair until we arrived at baggage claim. That was worrying me. I can't possibly push the chair and handle the luggage. But Bionic Man insists that he can wheel the chair himself.

Bionic Man did concede to getting one of those smarte cartes, which was HUGE for him, the King of Frugal. But we had 2 ginormous suitcases, one medium one, 2 small carry ons, a walker, crutches and his wheel chair. And, guess what, the carry on with the medications is missing. I am standing there wondering how I am going to manage all this stuff on one cart. I can pile up the bags and put the walker on top, but the carte isn't that smarte, and has a wheel that isn't working right. You must have gotten a grocery cart like that at one time or another, but I'll bet you didn't have 150 pounds of stuff in it. I am pondering what to do with the crutches, and whether we will get our bag or not. Bionic Man is saying he can put the crutches between the 2 largest suitcases and I'm telling him it won't work. So, down by customer service/baggage issues, we are arguing, and it begins to escalate. I stomp off to deal with the customer service person. While I am gone, Bionic Man stands up, and takes everything off the cart and re-stacks it with the crutches sticking straight out about 4 feet in front of us. I was livid when I returned to see what he had done. We did get our bag back, but the sharps container thing was smashed. So, all the way to the elevator we are arguing. And I am wrestling with the recalcitrant cart.

We get to the elevator and sure enough, the cart is too long to get into the elevator. If the wheel had been functioning I might have been able to finagle my way around in a couple of hours, but I could see immediately this was not happening in my life time. I am so upset now, that I am tossing bags into the elevator, off the cart, until everything is inside. (I wondered later if they caught us on the surveillance cameras.) When I turned around to push the button, I noticed a sweet family of 4 waiting, wide eyed, a witness to the entire debacle. I smiled at them and said, "I think there's room for you." The mother just said, "Thanks, we'll take the next one."