Math IA

It was inside the terminal, where the summer heat and the never-ending shift and never-budging shift of the clock hands caught up with him. Through hooded lids, Barry sneaked a peep at the time. Midday was dawning; his morning coffee, on the other hand, was wearing off. The airport was anything but buzzing. Upon second thought, the only thing buzzing was the horsefly whizzing around his head.

Barry Baker was the sole security guard at Redrock Airport. In fact, he was one of a mere two working staff there, but Wayne Wakowski never showed up. He was always busy consumed by the telly, and always, always consuming Four ‘n’ Twenties. Wakowski could never get enough of Grant Denyer’s blinding smile. Nothing ever happened on Mondays. The peace and quiet, with a provision of free coffee and biscuits were the sole reason Barry ever turned up these days. Barry couldn’t think of anything better than lounging in the peace and quiet of the terminal, surrounded by a landscape built from Orange Creams, and Tim Tams, and mounds upon mounds of Milo. It was this that he wanted to do forever and ever; comedy. ‘It’ll be any day now’ , he reckoned. After all, the horseflies definitely enjoyed hearing his jokes. Yet, it was just as Barry was about to come up with his best joke to date, that the automatic doors creaked open, blasting him with red dust and hot air. A rare sight indeed, that left the man startled beyond belief. “Bugger it!” Barry grumbled under his breath. Frustration engulfed him; ignited by the prospect of his failing memory erasing the glimmering joke hidden in the cobwebs of his mind rather than by the stranger. Yet, it was frustration all the same. The red dust swirling in the doorway settled, revealing a pair of Birkenstocks settling into the terminal. Accompanying them, were a pair of khaki cargo shorts, and a blue collared t-shirt - too spick and span for Central Australia, Barry thought, hidden under a prickly beard and the brim of a brand-new cork hat still boasting the price tag from the servo down the road. From it, beckoned a voice dripping in a thick American accent.