car was parked in the wrong spot or my ticket was wrong. Cursing under my breath, I turned and stomped back toward the rental agency.
As I walked, I thought of the classic movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and laughed. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see the rental car scene the same way again; who knew it could happen in real life?! Feeling not unlike the main character, I double-checked that I had my rental agreement with me.
“You’re fucked,” I quoted with a chuckle, tightening my grip on the necessary papers.
The wait to get up the counter was even longer this time and then I wasted another twenty minutes while they tried to figure out what had happened to my car. Seeing as it wasn’t my car, I would have been perfectly content to just get another and go in my way while they sorted it out without me standing there, but that clearly wasn’t in the cards.
“Could’ve shifted and run home by now,” I muttered. Probably not, considering a white wolf would have stood out a bit and I didn’t think I could get to the island without crossing a few highways. I envied some of my gray wolf friends. Then again, while I was wishing to be a different type of animal, I envied the shifters who could fly. My buddy Kessel would have been landing on his balcony by now.
I was feeling quite a bit more grumpy and tired by the time I got to my car, this time thankfully it was actually there.
As I loaded up the car the unseasonal melancholy I had been feeling about returning home faded and I felt myself getting excited, not just to be back on Half Moon, but to be getting back in time for Christmas. And to think I had almost considered extending my year away so that I could avoid the holidays.
I was so distracted thinking about it that I missed the turn out of the parking garage. I cursed and continued down another level and found myself stuck amid all the taxis and buses and ride shares as they jockeyed for passengers.
Well, it wasn't as if I was in a hurry. If being immortal teaches you anything, it’s a dose of patience. I got out from under the covered portion of the road and smiled at the sight of snow flakes, although given the way they were blowing, it looks pretty windy.
I drove by one of the little sheltered bus stops and to my surprise, spotted Cody. I slowed down to make sure I wasn't imagining things, but sure enough, Cody was on a bench, looking somewhat miserable and frustrated as he fiddled with his phone. I chalked it up to still having Planes, Trains and Automobiles on the brain, but I pulled over and stopped, wondering if he had been lying about going to Frostbourg.
I got out of the car and walked around it. Cody looked up in surprise.
“Oh, hi,” he said.
“I thought you had a connecting flight,” I said.
“I did.” I could hear a tremor of emotion in his voice. “There's a blizzard in Frostbourg and all the flights are grounded. So, the one here got canceled.”
“Oh, I'm so sorry,” I said, feeling genuinely bad for him. He had seemed so excited about Frostbourg, I almost wanted to go. “Are there any other flights?”
He shook his head. “It doesn't seem like it. It's a pretty bad blizzard. So, it's looking like I'm not going to make it there at all...” His shoulders slumped and he frowned at his phone before throwing his hands in the air. I was worried for a moment that his phone was going to go flying. “And I can barely get any service to find if there are any hotels in the area!”
“Are you going to stay around here?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don't know. I kind of…” He winced. “I kind of spent most of my money on the trip and supplies. I've got a really nice contract to do some holiday paintings, but if I can’t get to Frostbourg to paint, I won’t get paid.”
“Do the paintings have to be from Frostbourg?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “The theme is cozy small-town Christmas, so I could do it anywhere but… Well, now I’m stuck out here.”
Feeling like I was still stuck in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles I found myself saying, “You know, Half Moon Island probably counts as a cozy small-town Christmas.” He looked up at me in surprise. “It's a