The Last Flight Out of Duluth

The Last Flight Out of Duluth is a stranded-together romance about two people who meet on the worst night of their year. A blizzard cancels every flight out…

1. 9:12 p.m. — Cancelled

The departures board at Duluth's little airport blinked once, shuddered, and turned every line red. CANCELLED. CANCELLED. CANCELLED. Like a row of dominoes tipping over. Outside the tall windows, the world had vanished. It had started snowing at four in the afternoon, politely, and by dusk it had become something else entirely: a sideways white roar that swallowed the runway lights, the parked planes, the sky itself. The wind moaned in the jet bridge. The plows had given up an hour ago. Iris Kowalczyk stood at the gate counter with a blue cooler clutched against her chest and said, for the fourth time, in a voice she was working very hard to keep level, "I understand the storm. I do. But I need to know exactly how long this building will be heated." The gate agent, a young man named Brandon with the glazed look of someone who had been shouted at since noon, spread his hands. "Ma'am, I can't promise anything. If the power goes..." "It's not for me," said Iris. "It's for the apples." Brandon blinked. "The... apples." The cooler had a sticker on the lid, in her own careful handwriting: LIVE PLANT MATERIAL. KEEP COLD. DO NOT OPEN. Inside, nested in damp paper towels and zip-top bags, lay forty-one twigs of apple wood, each the length of a pencil. They had to stay between one and four degrees Celsius: cold enough to sleep, not cold enough to die. A warm room would wake them. A frozen one would kill them. And there was no second chance, because the tree they came from was scheduled to be bulldozed in January. "There's a vestibule by the east doors," said a voice behind her. She turned. The man was somewhere in his late thirties, tall and a little rumpled, in a battered canvas jacket with a thermos tucked under one arm. He had a short beard going gray at the chin, and the tired, patient eyes of someone who had spent a lot of time waiting for things to get better. "Between the two sets of sliding doors," he said. "No wind in there, no heat either. I'd bet it sits just above freezing. If you've got a thermometer, you could find out." "I have a thermometer," said Iris slowly. "I have two, actually." "Then you're better prepared than I am. I came to this airport with a paperback and a bag of pretzels." A quick, crooked smile. "I'm Callum." "Iris." "Nice to meet you, Iris. Let's go find out how cold the doorway is."

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Quick answers about The Last Flight Out of Duluth

What is The Last Flight Out of Duluth about?

The Last Flight Out of Duluth is a stranded-together romance about two people who meet on the worst night of their year. A blizzard cancels every flight out…

Is The Last Flight Out of Duluth free to read?

Yes. Every story on RapidTale is free to read in the browser, with no sign-up and nothing to install.

How long does it take to read?

This story runs 8 chapters — most readers finish in one sitting, and you can stop and return to any chapter using the contents list.

Who wrote it?

Nimra Khan — original fiction published on RapidTale.