Chicago, Christmas Eve, Airport:

“Sir, Sir, I understand that you’d like to leave this airport, but traffic conditions are terrible and we advise everyone to stay inside until the weather clears up,” answered the patient women sitting near the desk, typing away.

“But it’s Christmas Eve, what am I supposed to say to my family?” argued the middle-aged man looking at the woman with piercing eyes.

“I’m sorry, sir, but they just told us that most of the roads are blocked off because of the icy weather conditions, and…I’m sorry, I have a call on hold, I’ll get back to you,” replied the woman, turning her attention back to the phone conversation.

The man stomped off from the desk and sat down in a chair away from an older man in a beige coat and hat engaged in his newspaper.

“Guess we are all stuck here for Christmas Eve, huh?” answered the older man, slightly glancing from his newspaper to the middle-aged man who was running his hands through his hair.

“This was supposed to be a special Christmas this year, and now what am I going to tell them?” the middle-aged man sputtered.

“Tell them exactly what happened: you were stuck in the airport because of the rough icy blocked off roads. I’m sure they will understand,” advised the older man.

“I can’t, I have no phone signal. Excuse me, are you sure there aren’t any buses heading into the city?” pleaded the middle-aged man, but the woman at the desk didn’t hear.

“My, you’re so stubborn, you remind me of my son,” answered the older man, reaching out to shake his hand. “I’m so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Walter.”

“Harry.” The middle-aged man shook the older man’s hand and continued to stare at his signal-less phone.

“Nice to meet you, Harry. ”

“Where were you heading, Walter?”

“To my stubborn son, who’s Harry too, he told me he can’t come home for Christmas this year so I wanted to surprise him with a visit. I haven’t seen him for such a long time.”

“How come?” questioned Harry.

“He got a job in New York for a large company 8 years ago. Every year he worked on Christmas Eve and every year he told me he couldn’t travel down even for a day to visit me. For two years I told him I’d visit him, but something unexpected always fell on that day. After those two years, we stopped talking altogether. This year I wanted to change that, to forgive all those lost years. I was planning a trip to go visit him. But because all the airports closing and rescheduling times, I’m stuck here.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be, you’re stuck here too. As for my son, I advised him to take that job because it was his dream job. He was working so hard for it and he earned it. Enough about me, where are you going, Harry?”

Harry smirked, “To my stubborn father. I wanted to tell him that I missed him after all these years and that I’m sorry and that I left that job in New York after they claimed to be moving to Canada. So I packed my bags and was planning to stay a little longer with my father than just Christmas Eve.”

Walter placed the newspaper down and laughed. “Son?”

“Yeah Dad, I’m sorry for all those years,” replied Harry, reaching out for a hug.

“Harry! I can’t believe you came to visit me! And you left that job?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t for me. I wanted to spend this year with you."

"Well since you're here and there's a vending machine around the corner, we can get some Snickers or something and celebrate Christmas Eve here."

"Sounds great, Dad."