Accidental Swap

Alexa sat as comfortable as one might in a plastic airport chair. Her laptop was playing some trashy romcom to fill the air. Carol sat next to her. Sipping on her decaf coffee, Alexa slowly nodded her head a bit. Placing her laptop in her bag, she knew she'd take a nap and was worried her movement might make it fall on the ground. After another sip of the coffee, she completely passed out in the chair, tuckered out after a stressful past few hours.

Carol was taking a call from her husband. Standing up, she went to get some steps in. Lexi would be fine sitting there, taking naptime. Pinching herself a bit, Carol reminded herself that Alexa was not her daughter, merely a girl in need of some help. She shouldn't think of naptime in relation to her, especially since she was an adult woman.

Carol strided down the airport, enjoying hearing her husbands voice.

As Alexa slept, a woman sat down next to her. Stressed, lost, and quite annoyed at her husband, the woman finally was able to take a breather from dealing with an idiot husband and 5 children. Not noticing the similarities between her daughter Joan's diaper bag and Alexa's bag, she too let herself laze around. Alexa stirred a bit, and the woman stayed still. Her phone vibrated.

'Hun. I meant Gate A-17. Not Gate D-17. Mistype, sorry.' The text from her husband read. Huffing a bit, she stood up. Grabbing her bag, she quickly slung it on her shoulders, annoyed at the change in plans, and also ignoring the change in weight with the bag.

The problem with the bag swap wasn't realized till hours later, when the woman was nearly landing at her flight. Opening it up to get a wipe, she was puzzled at the complete and utter absence of anything beyond a laptop and changing supplies. Taking the laptop out, she was puzzled a bit. Thankfully, their was contact information on the bottom of the laptop, laminated cute pink text 'If Found, Please Contact Alexa Johnson at [email protected]'.

Just when had she swapped out her child's diaper and clothing bag for a bag with diapers and a laptop?

Alexa struggled to wake up and get out of the plastic seat. Being shook like there was an earthquake certainly helped rouse her. Opening her eyes like a madwoman, she stared right at Carol.

"Plane's beginning boarding in a few. Sorry to wake you from your nap." The woman said, handing Alexa her bag.

Groggy and none too pleased at being roused from dream world, Alexa shook out the tenseness, and got her backpack on.

"Did you need a change at all?" Carol whispered, receiving a shaking head from Alexa. Nodding in reply to Alexa, they both heard their group called.

Carol's ticket scanned fine, as did Alexa's. The flight attendant briefly stopped the two, speaking directly to Carol.

"Miss, just so you're aware: our airport has a policy that any leashed backpacks must be held by the guardian at all times. Otherwise there is a tripping hazard." The woman said to Carol, as both Alexa and Carol looked at the woman confused. As if on autopilot, Carol grabbed the leash and proceeded with Alexa.

Both were confused. Alexa wondered if Carol put the leash on the bag, and Carol wondered if Alexa had put the leash on the bag. Neither had the desire to ask, stemming from tiredness, so they maintained the awkward situation until they reached their seats. Carol got the bag off Alexa, and helped her into her seat. Without much prompting at all, Alexa passed out in her seat, fading back into dreamworld.

Carol took the precious few minutes remaining to respond to a few emails and texts. The plane soon lifted off, and Alexa's head bobbed over onto Carol's shoulder. The sky was clear, a night sky ready to be flown through, and Carol stared out the window, half asleep herself.