Burmese Connection. Ashish Basu

Diego, for the meeting. He started watching their plane descending into the Bob Hope Airport through his window.

      Upon landing in Burbank, the sick lady was stretchered off the plane, and the other passengers were asked to wait in a quarantine room adjacent to the terminal building. Kip noticed a stern looking lady in the corner of the bare room they were in.

      As he and a few other passengers approached, she lifted her gaze and said, “Please fill out this yellow application form, and then form a line on the left side of my desk. And please stay six feet apart; we observe social distancing at the Bob Hope Airport, no exceptions. We have a very high standard of passenger hygiene at this airport, and we want to keep it that way.” Nobody disputed her claims, so she shifted her focus on her tabletop.

      The form had questions about their general health, travel plans, if they had a fever, if they had visited Wuhan in China recently, etc. It stated that the nurse would take body temperatures with a thermometer. It also said that depending on their answers on the form, passengers could be quarantined at the state-of-the-art quarantine facility located at the Burbank Airport. Apparently, the quarantine facility was so comfortable that some passengers wanted to stay there longer!

      After his experience so far, that was the last thing Kip wanted, even if the facility was state-of-the-art, so he followed the instructions. While they were departing, the nurse handed each passenger a set of disposable latex gloves and two surgical masks. She also advised each of them to wear a mask at all times in the Burbank Airport. Kip was happy to note that mask wearing in public places was gradually becoming a norm, at least in California. The whole process was long and inefficient to say the least, but he liked the fact that people were following the process. As Tim would say, “It is the process of compliance that protects people,” not the intent. The nurse took a lot of time, but eventually, she let all passengers go back to the main terminal building. All first half flights were already gone—short hop flights were a lot fewer, anyway.

      Kip got back to the airline counter at the terminal and found the only options were late evening flights. Then, he went to the rental car counter and found that cars were readily available, and he could potentially pick up the car from AVIS in Burbank and drop it off at AVIS in the San Diego Airport. The distance was not much, but if he opted to drive in a rental car, he could be stuck in LA traffic for hours. Traffic jams on I5 South were legendary. Interstate 5 (I5 for locals) and other routes to San Diego through the city of Irvine were all likely to be clogged with traffic at that time of the day. The last time he had tried going that way, he was stuck near the UC Irvine campus for three long hours!

      Ultimately, Kip decided against going to San Diego. Instead, he called Dr. Kang, explained the situation, and re-scheduled his meeting for a later date. After he ended the call with Dr. Kang, he got back to the terminal building to check the options for return flights to San Francisco and even Oakland. He checked with United, Delta, and Southwest Airlines. The earliest outgoing flight was around 8:00 p.m., which meant he would be home around 11:00 p.m. at the earliest.

      As he was checking the flight schedules, one thought occurred to him. He could simply go to his friend John’s house in Glendale and borrow his old car for a drive back to San Rafael. John and Kip were in high school together in Boulder, Colorado, and they had always stayed in touch. Lately, they had not met each other in a few months after the COVID-19 lockdowns. The last time John was visiting a studio in Emeryville, he did not have time to drive down to San Rafael because he had to fly out of Oakland Airport, so they missed each other. Then came the lockdowns. Everybody had to drastically cut down essential and non-essential travel by air. As it was, John did not travel much for work. Kip was the one who did, so he might as well make up for the missed opportunity in the Bay Area. This was a good time for Kip to meet John and his son Joe. He knew John’s wife was at her parents’ place in Santa Barbara looking after them. The extended lockdown had complicated life for the elderly more than others could even imagine.

      With a little luck, that option could get him home probably by 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. Kip’s next call was to his friend John. As expected, John Abreo was at home because of the lockdown; his post-production company had switched to “working from home” mode. John readily agreed to lend the old Acura Integra to Kip. He said that the old car was only occasionally used by his son, so Kip could borrow and keep it for a few days. John’s son was college bound, but the admission he was longing for was not in hand yet, so Joe did not have a use for the car during the lockdown, and it stayed parked roadside. John said the car had not been serviced in a couple of years, so Kip should keep that in mind.

      Kip knew he would have to visit Southern California (SoCal) in a week, he could always drop off John’s Acura during his next trip. In a few minutes, Kip picked up his backpack, came out of the terminal building, called a Lyft ride, and left for John’s house in Glendale. Like many folks do in Los Angeles, Kip’s Lyft driver used some shortcuts and made it to Glendale quickly. As he was alighting from the Toyota Camry curbside, Kip could see John doing some yard work. His yard needed attention after the recent rains—leaves were scattered all over.

      On seeing him, John called out, “Hey, Joey, come and say hello to Uncle Kip—he is here.”

      By the time Kip climbed the two steps onto the porch, Joe was out greeting him. Much as he would have liked to, Kip could not hang out with John and Joe for long because John had work. John had to do a series of conference calls with his creative director. John’s company was outsourcing parts of the shooting to a company in Austria where the COVID-19 lockdown was less intense and movie production was going on uninterrupted. Like Norway, Austria managed the lockdown well. They closed the country early and opened early, and movie production was continuing there as per CDC guidelines.

      Joe told him that he was hoping to get admission into Arizona, that he had a good GPA, but his SAT scores were low. Joe thought he did not make it in the first list of admitted students because of his SAT scores. Kip encouraged Joe to stay positive and said that his admission would probably come through because of the low volume of international students this year. Kip had read that news item on the internet and also watched the president of the University of California system say so to a reporter on live TV. Joe said he was hopeful because some of his classmates had just started receiving their scholarship and admission offers. After a while, Kip picked up the car keys, joined John and his son Joe for a quick falafel sandwich lunch, and departed for San Rafael.

      He topped off the gas talk in a Shell gas station on Los Feliz Boulevard and picked up a few bottles of water and a bag of snacks for the six-hour drive back. He knew once he reached the Interstate 5, he would have a pretty smooth drive at this time of the day. Because of the recent wildfires in Southern California, there was a rerouting of traffic on I5, based on what he had heard on the car radio—Kip hoped that would not impact him too much. He should be able to manage.

      As he headed toward I5 Northbound, Kip told himself that he had made a good decision; there was really no point in pushing himself to go to San Diego today. It made no sense to him. It was not a great idea to just wait in Burbank Airport till 8:00 p.m. for the next flight and then learn that there had been a schedule change. Travel had really become a nightmare in 2020 because of the lockdowns. In terms of traffic and driving, it was not just San Diego—he had to take into account the driving distance to Chula Vista as well. Within minutes, Kip drove out of Glendale and hit the freeway, and the car handled itself well. That was one thing he liked about the cars made by Honda. Like his friend John, he liked cars made by Honda for their reliability. The traffic on I5 was light, and he was making a steady seventy-five miles an hour.

      After all, ninety-six thousand miles is not that big a deal for an Acura made in the early 2000s, Kip told himself. The temperature outside was seventy degrees and sunny; it was indeed beautiful California weather for driving. Given the beautiful weather and the broadcast from the local PBS station, Kip did not need to stop soon. He crossed the suburbs of Los Angeles, Bakersfield, and decided to do a gas refill and coffee break. He stopped over at a gas station and an adjacent Denny’s at Buttonwillow. After he filled the gas tank, as he was departing the gas station, he heard a noise coming from the undercarriage of the Acura.

      He ignored it for several minutes as he went around the overpass and merged onto Northbound I5. He thought the noise was caused by the