On our way to Bahrain- a short absurd play for 11 men, 2 women and 2 children

Dubai international airport.  3 am. Half asleep, I’m walking towards the gate to board the plane to Bahrain. Rather surprised that I’m the only person there at the moment, I’m handing my passport and a boarding pass to a man at the gate. He studies my passport for a moment and says: There you go beautiful Ms Marta. Have a good flight.  Say whaaaat?! –I’m thinking. That rather inappropriate and unexpected comment wakes me up. And it’s a good thing as what is about to happen next is a full on entertainment. So, after I pass the gate I’m heading down the stairs to a bus that is to take me to the plane. Another man, gracefully invites me to get on the bus that is already waiting in front of the building.  As I enter the bus, there are already 5 men there. Two Arabs dressed alike in a striped t-shirts sit on the only seat there is. Next to them, sits a man that looks like Jack Bauer with a fancy sun glasses on his head. At the end of the bus stands an Indian man that looks like a student-immersed in a book although it’s rather dark. And then in the middle of the bus stands a white man that looks like he’s on a business trip. I’m finding a place opposite the businessman. And so we wait. Five minutes pass. Nothing happens.  Another five. After that two Arabs move away from Jack Bauer to make a space for me as they must decided it might be a polite thing to do. I choose not take on the offer continuing to stand. Then the door of the building opens and another three men enter the bus. One older Arab that quickly takes the seat made for me by the other two. He’s going to try to figure out his new phone until he actually get on the plane. The next one is a white man that carries a large bag from duty free shop-he’s wearing a winter hat and stands somewhat between the businessman and the student. And then there is another Arab. Tall, confident, dressed in a blue shirt with his sleeves rolled up. And so we wait. 8 men and me. Silence. It’s rather hot. We all are a bit anxious for the bus to finally move. But this situation is starting to entertain me. It’s a theatre in itself. Noone is doing anything specific and yet any smallest, meaningless, it would seem, movement becomes noticed by the rest. And than an Indian family gets on the bus. The woman is holding a roughly one year old daughter, followed by an older daughter of about 5 and her husband that carries their bags. The baby starts to cry. The woman tries to rock her but it doesn’t help. For a longer moment the cry fills the silence. The pace of tiny, meaningless movements of men speeds up. I feel sorry for the kids. It’s 3 am. They should be sound asleep and instead have to wait for the bus to move. It might have helped if the two Arabs in similar t-shirts offered the only seat to that family. They don’t. Maybe it’s my fault-I must have offended them by not accepting the seat earlier. I wouldn’t count on the older Arab with the phone but Jack Bauer?! Surely, Jack would have moved but this one on the bus must be a cheap impersonator then! And then something unexpected happens. The tall and confident Arab sees a man coming from the building (the one who gracefully showed us to the bus). He leaves his bag and ready to fight (his sleeves are already up, mind!) goes towards the airport worker: “What the hell is this?! Why aren’t we moving?”-he screams. “Please get onto the bus”-the worker speaks calmly. “Are you kidding me? We’ve been waiting here for almost 15 minutes now. When are we going to get onto the plane?”-he asks with his voice still raised. “Just now. Go in”-says the worker. So the tall and confident Arab comes back to his bag. I smile to him. After all, I’m enjoying this rather absurd situation (well, apart from the poor baby crying). And then we wait again. After another couple of minutes, and no sing of the bus moving the tall and confident Arab has had enough. He gets off and heads towards the worker that is now hiding behind the glass door of the building. He notices the Arab and bravely moves toward him. “Do you think we are sheeps ?!”- the Arab asks. The worker is speechless. “You keep us in this bus like sheeps! We could have just wait in the air-conditioned building, seating comfortably but no,  noooo! we needed to get on this stupid bus. This is stupid! Stupid!  The worker is still trying to find something to say, I’m having a blast and don’t even try to hide my amusement. The baby stopped crying. The father moved closer to the entrance like a little dog ready to support the tall and confident Arab-warrior! And the rest, including the disappointing impersonator of Jack Bauer, have no reaction at all! And then, the door of the bus closes with the tall and confident Arab outside of the bus. The father protests to the driver who either must have been sleeping through the whole situation or closed the door on purpose. He quickly reopens the door allowing the tall and confident Arab to get on. And then we finally move. I glance at the worker who wipes his forehead as the bus is moving away. It takes about 10 minutes to get to the plane. We get onto the plane in silence. The plane is half full already.

I quickly fall asleep and wake up as we land in Bahrain about an hour later. I’m going to enjoy this journeyJ