Thread by @DrSamiSchalk

Update: I have been on this plane on the ground for 50 minutes with no estimate of when we will move. There is a toddler who is now just wailing/screaming/asserting “NO!” in varying intonations between crying.

The toddler speaks for all of us.
The toddler speaks for all of us.

Update Update: We are going back to the gate. No word if we are allowed to get off or not. The toddler wails continue in protestation.

The toddler is the people.
The people are the toddler.

Update Update Update: We are back at the gate, but no one will tell us if we can get off. Everyone keeps looking to the front in anticipation. The toddler wails have waned, but their brave screams for liberation still echo in our ears.

Update Update Update Update: They are letting us off the plane with the caveat that we must return in 15 min. White men have rushed to the front, leaving their belongings behind. Parents lift their toddlers toward the doors. A mass exodus is upon us. The people rejoice.

Update.5: We have been off the plane for 20 minutes. Next update in ten min. We live here now. The airport is our nation. The gate and airplane are our home. We dare not travel far.

Update.6: Some people are on the plane. Some of us are at the gate. No employees at the gate at all and the door is closed. We are now a divided people, us plane folks and gate folks.

Update.7: The plane people have been forced off their land. Some have their belongings. Others do not. We are told the air gods will update us again in an hour at the latest, but they could summon us at any moment. We, the gate people & the plane people, reunite to make camp here

The children, now free of the confines of the plane land, run free around the gate, their giggles lifting the hearts of the people. We have begun to accept our fate: we may not reach the land for which we are destined any time soon, but we believe in the gods of air & technology.

Update.8: In 3 min the air gods are expected to reveal their greater plan for us. The buzzed in anticipation. Fortified with @AuntieAnnes, @Cinnabon & @Chilis 2 Go, bladders freshly emptied, we are prepared to face the next part of our collective journey.

Update.9: The air gods have not communicated to us through their representatives at 3:30 as promised, but I secretly checked the air god website & it now claims we will leave at 4:45...our original departure was 1. We trust nothing anymore. We are a people who do believe nothing.

Update.10: The representatives speak. They say we shall fly at 4:30 & they will herd us back onto the plane land in 20 min. The people delight in the idea of being able to return to their belongings so soon, but still...we have been fooled before.

Update 11: we are on the plane. They are doing the safety talk. We may...we may be on our way...just 3.5 hrs late. My people. My people.

Update.12

*Waves as signal fades.*

Farewell, my friends, farewell.

Update.13: We landed safely but it was turbulent AF. Our toddler hero yelled “No!” & the reprise “No Way!” repeatedly while crying as a fellow child screamed “I don’t WANT to be on this plane anymore!” & we the people, we understood.

Update.14: My friend from ATL was supposed to meet me here but her flight was cancelled so now she is flying into Providence, RI which means my next adventure is getting a rental car and driving to another state to get her. What a day. With many more hours ahead before I sleep!