Nicky sat in a window seat with his nose pressed to the glass, and Jilder sat looking out the window of the row behind him.
It was just a little before 7pm, and the sun was fast approaching the western horizon. The sky was a gorgeous turquoise blue over the Pacific Ocean and darker blue to the east. Fuchsia pink and bright orange and yellow bands of sky layered above the horizon, and the lights of the Los Angeles metropolitan area sparkled brightly in all directions from the sea to the east.
"Dad! Look at the tiny cars and all the lights from the cars along the freeways. Lights are on all over the city. It's awesome!" Nicky observed to Kevin.
"Nicky, look over there. Can you see the ships with lights out in the ocean?... There's a lot of em parked just off the edge of the land," Jilder yelled up to Nicky.
"Yeaaah! That's awesome too!" Nicky yelled back.
The aircraft made a steep westbound ascent and then a deep and graceful banked turn to the south, putting the boys window seats on the relative bottom of the aircraft. "Look! Dad! We can see straight down at the houses and things," Nicky said.
"Yes. It's beautiful, isn't it," Hugo answered.
"Jilder, look! There's the Hollywood sign, way over there... see near the little mountains...And there's a shopping center with all the cars parked in the parking lot. There's a lotta cars down there!"
"Yeah! And I bet we could see our house if we was over San Diego," Jilder replied.
"It's a little hard to identify things when you're really high up, but I'm sure you could see it. Everything's really clear this evening," Kevin commented.
The aircraft remained in its steep banked turn to the south until it had pulled around yet another 90-degrees and the nose of the ship pointed east to New York City.
With the turn completed, the ship began to settle into level flight, allowing the boys to see the twinkling lights from the city for miles in all directions. It was indeed a clear, bright evening, and visibility was stupendous. Unfortunately, most of the flight would be after dark, given the delay provoked by the added security inspections of the flight and the passengers.
"Hugo leaned up to Kevin and said, "I guess we'll be arriving in New York City about midnight West Coast time, that'll be what-- uh? about 3am New York time."
"I'm glad that they rescheduled our departure for Dublin until 9am east coast. But even with the rescheduling, we'll only get about 4 hours of sleep. I'm guessing that there will be sleeping accommodations near the airport that we can use for 4 hours. I think the boys will do better if they can get a few hours of restful sleep."
"The boys?" Hugo said. "I'M beat! I feel like I could sleep for 24 hours. I don't think I'm going to have any trouble sleeping while we fly."
"Me either," Kevin answered. "I'm feeling the stress of that terminal experience now. But the boys look pretty energetic. I'll bet they want to eat and watch those in-flight movies."
"Oh, I'm sure you're right... Say, Kev, how about you and me ask the steward whether we can move to those two empty seats over there, say after they serve dinner? I wanna sleep, but I'll rest better if I'm holding on to you," Hugo admitted.
"Yeah. I'm with you on that. The boys might want to move so they're next to each other when they sleep too. I'll suggest that to them in a minute." Hugo replied.
And together our two travelers and their curious sons were settled into a quiet and peaceful journey into the night, to New York, to whatever life had to offer next.
Soft chimes sounded and roused Hugo to consciousness. Very dim lights above the carry-on storage compartments flickered to life and bathed the cabin with a warm and comfortable glow that made Hugo want to go back to sleep-- like for another whole night, he thought... Good Luck...
A Stewardess announced: "The pilot has turned on the landing lights and entered the landing pattern intending for Kennedy Airport. The aircraft should be sitting down in about 20 minutes. Please prepare for landing."
Hugo looked over at Kevin, and he was still dead to the world, sleeping peacefully with his head on Hugo's right arm. Hugo glanced across the aisle where Jilder and Nicky slept in a clump of legs and arms. But the boys were not asleep at all right now. They both had their heads jammed up to the same window looking out at something that held their attention. They spoke quietly to each other and continued to stare out of the port hole.
Hugo hated to disturb Kevin, but he slipped his arm out from under his sleeping loved one and stumbled across the aisle to see how the boys were doing.
"Look, Dad!" Nicky said in almost a whisper. "There's the Statue of Liberty!"
"Isn't it beautiful?" Jilder observed. "I know how important it is too, 'cause it reminds us that we live in a free country where people are all equal, and we can talk about God and nobody can make us stop. And we don't have to agree with each other, but we do have to respect each other..."
"Where did you pick up all that, Jilder?" Hugo asked a bit surprised at this Civics Lesson he was receiving from Jilder at 3am!
"My teacher told me that we was all Americans now even though we come from different places. She put up pictures of the Statue of Liberty on the bulletin board and said the statue welcomes everybody, like me and Hugo too."
"And there's a poem written on the bottom of the statue that welcomes everybody," Nicky added.
"I remember some of it: 'Give me your tired, your poor, your 'hudded' masses' (I'm not sure what 'hudded' means, but it's a really nice poem." Nicky recalled.
"Yes." Hugo said, quietly reciting the entire poem for the rapt boys:
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,
yearning to breath free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
Hugo finished but couldn't speak further. His eyes had clouded with tears and his heart swelled with great waves of pain, and he wept openly in front of the boys.
Kevin had realized that Hugo was not next to him any longer. He looked across the aisle seeing Hugo talking quietly with the boys while they turned and gazed out of the window of the aircraft. When Hugo began to sob, Kevin got up and went to him wrapping him in his arms saying, "Hugo, it's okay, it's okay, baby. We're all here, and we will not leave you. I love you, Hugo." And he kissed Hugo behind the ears.
The boys sat quietly and watched all that passed around them. The world could be a wonderful and safe place for those who trust and let in love from the creator.
A stewardess passed by the seats that all four of the guys were huddled in. "You gentlemen will have to return to your seats and put on your seatbelts. We'll be putting the landing gear down in about 5 minutes, and landing in about 2 or 3 minutes after that."
Jilder went back to his window seat in the next row, and Nicky remained in the window seat from which they had been admiring the Statue of Liberty. Hugo slumped in the middle seat of the three seats abreast from Nicky, not moving, while Kevin sat next to him with his arm still around him in the middle seat. Hugo put his head in his hands and sobbed and sobbed.... mainly because the love he was feeling from Kevin and the boys was so over-powering that he wondered that it could ever avoid annihilating him: Loving so strong that he looked up at Kevin and said tearfully, "Kev! I'm SOOO lucky... it scares me to think about the love that has come this way to me."
"Oh, Babe, it's only the love that we all deserve-- and you're just feeling your share right now." And Kevin held Hugo even closer as the chimes sounded again softly and the stewardess spoke over the loudspeaker system: "The pilot has lowered and locked the landing gear in place. The aircraft will be touching down in a minute or less. Our pilot is one of the best... Don't worry, Ladies and Gentlemen: this will be a wonderful and gentle landing. Thank you for flying Transcontinental with us, and have a wonderful day in New York.. It is now 3:15am, New York City time."
"Click."
The boys piled into the limo with their laptops hung over their shoulders and clutched tightly at their sides. Hugo and Kevin followed behind and in moments they were whisked away to a motel not of their choosing but arranged by Dr. Kavanaugh's staff who had been following their delay in Los Angeles.
In their room, the boys jumped on the huge king sized bed covered with a peach colored bedspread that they would be using, and Hugo and Kevin dropped onto the other bed, Hugo falling back onto the soft pillows and Kevin turning to bury his head in Hugo's armpit.
"Oooooh, my God, I'm tired," Hugo said. "But I'm also relaxed; so I think I can make good use of the next 4 hours."
The sobbing had left Hugo supremely peaceful.
He turned his head to look at the boys, "Okay, you guys. Now we'll have to meet the limo at 8:15am; that's in just 4 hours from now. I wanna get some serious sleep; so if you're not sleepy, that's okay with me, just don't leave the room and don't make a lot of noise.
"If you wanna watch tv you have to keep it low; and I'm sure there are snacks in the little frig over there. But go easy on em. I KNOW they're SHIT FOOD; all that snack stuff is. So don't eat a lot. We'll get a regular, healthier breakfast after we get back on board the plane headed to Europe. Now.... I'm going to sleep. "NITE EVERYBODY!"
And with that pronouncement, Hugo pulled off his pants and shirt and dropped them right on the floor with his shoes. And in his underwear he climbed under the covers and almost before Kevin joined him, Hugo was snoring some serious "zzzzzz's"