The last time Tamara was in Sydney I offered to drop her off at the airport so she could take her very early Sunday morning flight back to Rome. Tamara has always had a great fear of flying even before the tragedy which would befall her family so taking her to the airport and making sure she is okay is a very important job as her friend. You see Tamara lost her sister Shelly in an aircraft accident off the coast of South Africa, so you can imagine she doesn’t enjoy flying and it makes her nervous and upset, and that is being very general when it comes to how she feels regarding the matter.
So as Tamara was checking in at the Qantas counter she began to get very anxious about the impending flight. I had advised her she should inform the check in clerk of her circumstances so he would sympathize with her and give her the seat where she felt the safest in the aircraft but by the time she was loading her bags onto the conveyor belt she was becoming gripped with emotion. I took charge of the situation because by this point Tamara would not have spoken at all. I just told the check in clerk the truth of the matter, that her sister had died in an aircraft accident and she wanted to sit in a particular row and seat as this is where she felt most comfortable.
The Qantas check in clerk was amazing to say the least. He was probably in his late 40’s and looked like a real true blue Australian surfer boy from way back. As soon as I told him why Tamara was upset he stopped what he was doing and looked us both in the eye and asked if we wanted to hear a great story that he hoped would help Tamara with how she was feeling. He said he was also dealing with the grief of losing someone close to him and he wanted to share the story with us. Of course I was happy for any diversion especially if it helped to calm Tamara’s growing nerves. He told us he had a life long friend who he had surfed with and partied with since they were teenagers.
This friend had been with him threw thick and thin and one day told him he was going to live in Thailand as he wanted to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle. The check in guy said he was happy for his friend and knew he would see him often as he could travel over to visit anytime with his staff travel. He said he traveled back and fourth to see his friend plenty of times and they always had a great time.
One day his friend called him and told him he had prostate cancer, but that he shouldn't’t worry as he was getting treated and should be okay. Unfortunately he said his friend after a short period of treatment was not responding well and the cancer was becoming more aggressive. Not long after he spoke to his friend another friend of his called and told him to go and visit his life long friend in Thailand as soon as he could as he feared he may not last too much longer. Of course he said he rushed over to Thailand to visit with his friend and they spent the time he was there surfing and doing all the normal things they would do even though his friend was by this point becoming very sick.
When it was time for him to return to Australia he said he felt really sad and didn’t want to leave his friend. So as one last big night out they went on a drinking binge the night before his flight to Sydney. He said he was so pissed he couldn’t recall even getting on the flight home but half way into the flight he started to sober up. He then had to go to the toilet and to his horror noticed his balls were pad locked together with a giant home made chastity belt his friend had obviously put on him as a prank. He said he had to go to a locksmith upon arrival in Sydney to get it removed. He said it was pretty funny, even though it hurt like hell.
Within a few weeks he got a call from his friend advising him that the cancer was becoming untreatable and he didnt know how much longer he had to live. He said his friends main reason for the call was to inform him he had left his sandals at his place in Thailand and not to rush back because he wasnt going to get them back as his friend had liked the look of them and wanted to keep them for himself. He said that was the kind of friend he was a real joker. In fact he said he thought he may have even knocked the sandals off from his suitcase before he left. Who knows.??
A few weeks after this call from his friend the Doctor in the Thai hospital where his friend was receiving treatment called to tell him to come back to Thailand quickly as his friend was dying and he should return immediately as his friend had only a little time left on this earth.
The check in clerk said he flew to Thailand within hours and caught a cab straight to the hospital. Fortunately his friend was still alive but in a semi consciences state and had not spoken for many days to the other loved ones who were also there with him. Upon the check in clerk walking into the room his mate sat bolt upright and started laughing hysterically. He told us it made everyone in the room start to laugh hysterically but nobody knew what was going on or how he could have got the strength to start laughing. His friend never said a word, just laughed until he fell back into unconsciousness. He said within hours his friend died surrounded by himself, family and friends.
The check in clerk then said as he was leaving the hospital after his friend had died a nurse approached him and gave him a letter written by his friend outlining his final instructions for funeral and burial arrangements. The letter said he wanted the check in clerk to go and wash and dress his body and then he was to be cremated in a traditional Thai ceremony then the check in clerk was to return his ashes to Sydney and spread them over the beach where they used to surf together.
The check in clerk said he was nervous to go and do such a job as washing and dressing his friend but he knew he had to do it. He said the nurse agreed to help him and brought him the clothing which had been set aside for his friend to be dressed in. Upon walking into the room where his friend lie dead and waiting to be bathed he said he took one look at the silly bastard and burst out laughing, the reason for his laughter at his now dead friend was due to the fact that his dead friend was wearing the check in clerks sandals which he had left behind in Thailand on their final holiday together.
After the cremation ceremony and all was said and done he was provided with his friends ashes to return back to Sydney with. So he boarded the Qantas flight and began the long journey home with his friend safely placed in his hand luggage in the over head compartment. He said some way into the journey home he just started crying and really wanting his friend back. At this point in the conversation the check in clerk was crying and so were we. He told us how much fun they had together and how whilst flying home he was mourning the loss of such a funny and true mate. He wondered how he could continue on without him in his life. So at 30 thousand feet above the ground and all of a sudden he said he had the sudden urge to just hold his friend, he said he just wanted to be close to him. So he jumped up and grabbed his bag from the over head locker and took his friends ashes out to just sit in his seat and hold onto him.
At this point the check in clerk began to laugh hysterically as he said that for some unknown reason as he went to sit back down in his seat he lost his footing and took a few steps backwards and the lid came off the ashes and he dropped them everywhere throughout the flight cabin. He said he was laughing his head off as he looked around and saw most of the cabin in a plume of his mates ashes.
Of course he said his mate would have thought this was the best possible outcome, bugger the beach this was piss funny. We all stood there at the check in counter wetting ourselves laughing and crying at the same time. There was a huge queue of people waiting and none of us seemed to care, we were relishing in his story of his true friend and mate and the glory of life and death.
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