Liam was scared shitless. The baggage carousel had stopped moving five minutes earlier, and the last bag had already been collected. Miami International was practically deserted. He looked up at the siren light, praying that it would start flashing again. His friend Brian put his hand on his shoulder and said simply: “Dude, that’s fucked up.”
Liam sat down on the cement floor and shook his head in disbelief. He didn’t want to cry—not in front of his friends. He just wanted to forget the whole thing, to be back home in Connecticut with his mom and dad.
After a few minutes, Brian reached out his hand and gingerly pulled Liam back to his feet. The 300-pound linebacker lifted the receiver with no effort. “Come on, man. Let’s get out of here. Jonathan’s got the car.”
“But I can’t leave,” Liam said trembling.
“Waiting around here’s not gonna solve anything. Look, it’s really late. I’m sure everything’ll be fine.”
Jonathan skipped into the terminal, jingling the rental car keys and smiling. “Let’s roll, gentlemen, it’s Miller Ti…” he stopped abruptly when he saw Liam’s watery eyes. The lanky quarterback’s smile vanished. “Fuck! You still haven’t found your bag? God Damn It! There goes the whole week! I told you not to fucking check it!”
Liam couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He lunged at him and exploded: “Our week?! Our week?! Is that all your care about? You asshole!”
Jonathan was about to shove him back, but Brian stepped in between them. “Come on, Jonathan. The lady didn’t give him a choice.” He turned to Liam, whose cheeks were now streaked with tears. “Alright, man, calm down. You should’ve brought a smaller bag.”
Jonathan muttered a weak apology then continued: “Okay, great. Now what are we going to do?”
“Now,” said Brian, “we’re gonna go report the bag missing and get over to the hotel. We’ve got a whole week of partying ahead of us, and I don’t want the keep the babes waiting for me any longer.”
Jonathan gave Brian five, his spirits returning. “Girls of South Beach, here I come!” Liam tried to relax but couldn’t. Of all the bags on the plane, how could they lose his?
It was to be the greatest Spring Break ever. The three 19-year-old football players sat around the living room of their frat house just below Columbia. Cigarette butts and empty bottles of Pete’s Wicked Ale covered the floor. Jonathan sat on the couch rolling a joint, while Liam read last year’s Spring Break edition of Playboy. Brian finished a beer and immediately opened another one.
“Sweet,” said Liam excitedly. “We have got to check out The Coconut Room. It says here they have the biggest wet T-shirt contest every half hour. And the winners have to take it off!”
Jonathan shrugged. “Relax, Freshman. We’ll be there soon enough.”
“Ah, don’t listen to him, Liam. He’s still bitter ’cause Sarah dumped his Jewish ass,” Brian said laughing.
“Hey, at least I had a girlfriend, you tubby bitch!” Jonathan snapped back, chortling.
Brian retorted by burping long and loud. Then he grabbed the magazine from Liam, opened it, and gave a low whistle.
Liam picked up a beer and drank it quickly, his pride slightly wounded. He wished that he had the same rapport with the other guys. But whenever he tried a put-down, it always fell flat. This was his first year in college and his first year in New York. He had always wanted to be in a fraternity, and he knew that making the football team had been his ticket in. But he still didn’t feel fully accepted yet. He wasn’t a great player, even by Ivy League standards, but he trained hard and the coaches liked his enthusiasm. Free tuition was certainly a major plus, especially to his middle-class parents.
After a few minutes, Brian closed the magazine and set it down. “Okay, dudes, I think we better figure out who’s carrying tomorrow.”
The room quieted. Nobody wanted to be the runner, least of all Liam. He liked to get drunk and party as much as the next guy, but he had never imagined how big a role drugs played in New York frat life. Snorting large amounts of cocaine was part of the daily routine, and none of them could picture Spring Break without it. Besides, extra coke was the surest way to guarantee a big party and lots of girls.
“Alright,” continued Brian, “I did the purchase, so one of you guys has to pack the stuff. You gonna flip for it?”
“Wait, why don’t we all divide it up?” asked Liam.
Jonathan rolled his eyes. “Because fifty grams divided among three people is still way too much to get caught with. There’s less risk if one of us just packs it carefully. So do you want heads or tails?”
Liam knew this was his chance. He didn’t have access to tons of cash like Brian, so this might be his best way in. He looked up, swallowed, and announced somberly: “I’ll do it.”
They unloaded their stuff into the hotel. Brian and Jonathan fell right to sleep, but Liam lay awake the whole night, worrying about what would happen if he got caught. He’d be kicked off the team and lose his scholarship for sure. For that matter, he’d probably be kicked out of Columbia, which would end any chance he had of getting into a good law school. Law school?! What was he thinking? He’d be lucky if he didn’t spend the next three to five years in a Florida prison. And even if he got off with less, his dad would certainly kill him. He decided his only hope was that his bag would never be found. He tried to imagine all the cities it could be in. He didn’t care about his clothes or the drugs. He wished he had just stayed home. And he really wished that he hadn’t volunteered to carry the coke, or at least that the baggage ticket wasn’t in his name.
At 10 am, he finally managed to fall asleep, but ten minutes later, he was startled awake. Brian was shaking him excitedly, shouting: “Wake up, dude! Our vacation’s saved. They said downstairs that the airline found your bag. You just need to call the airport.”
Liam wasn’t sure this was such good news. “They found it? What should we do? Do you think it’s safe to call them?”
“What?! Are you fucking insane?” demanded Jonathan. “Of course we have to call them. Our entire week is in that bag.”
Liam clenched his teeth and turned red. Brian shot Jonathan a warning glance.
Jonathan quickly tried to repair the situation. “Besides, what’s the big deal? You guys hid the coke, right?”
“Yes,” said Brian irritably. He put his hand on Liam’s shoulder, and coaxed: “Go for it, Liam.”
Liam picked up the phone, dialed the front desk, and was transferred to the baggage claim. Brian and Jonathan stood next to the receiver so they could hear too. Liam told the baggage handler who he was, and then she said: “Okay, sir. Now could you please just identify one or two items in the suitcase so we’re sure we’ve got the right one.”
Liam’s chin started quivering and Brian held up his hand, exhaling slowly as an example to help calm him down. After a moment, Liam continued: “Uh, yeah, sure, I guess so. There should be some red running shorts at the top and a pair of black flip-flops. That’s enough, right?”
Brian mouthed the words: “Stay calm.”
“Yes, sir. That’s all we need. This is the right bag. We’ll send someone over with it right away.”
Jonathan shook his head emphatically and cupped his hand over the microphone. “No way,” he whispered, “If it’s a trap and they bring it here, we’re all fucked. You have to get it.”
Liam stammered into the phone: “No! No, wait! Don’t do that. Uh… I’d rather pick it up myself.”
“But, sir, you don’t have to do that. It’s our mistake. Really, it’s no trouble at all. We can have it there in under an hour.”
“No, please, you don’t understand. I don’t want anything else to happen to it. I’ll pick it up myself.”
“Well, if you insist. It’ll be in the claim office in the Continental terminal.”
Liam hung up the phone and looked to Brian for advice. Suddenly Brian wasn’t so confident, and he looked down and said, “Good luck, man. I’m glad I’m not in your shoes right now.”
Before Liam could freak out, Jonathan took charge. “Alright, gentlemen, here’s the deal. I’m gonna drive Liam to the airport. I’ll leave the motor running while he goes in for the bag. Liam – if anything looks suspicious, you just run out as fast as possible. They don’t know us by sight.”
The baggage-claim office was much more active than the night before. A number of people were milling about, but none of them looked particularly like cops or DEA agents. Taking deep breaths, Liam walked up to the desk and tried to spot his bag before revealing his identity. A man behind the desk spoiled his chance.
“Good morning, sir, may I help you?”
“Uh, yeah. I… umm…” Liam finally spotted his brown duffel bag, momentarily relieved to see it again. It didn’t appear to have been too tampered with. He hesitated another moment, bit his lip, and said, “I’m here to pick up that bag there.”
“Oh, so you’re the person who owns that bag.”
“No! I mean… uhh, well,” he stammered, not sure what to do. He realized there was no turning back. “Yeah, it’s my bag.”
“You have your claim ticket?”
“Yes. Of course, it’s right here.”
“Okay, thank you, sir. Hey, Wanda – the guy you spoke to on the phone is here. The one who insisted on picking up the bag himself.”
Uh-oh. Small beads of sweat started to form on Liam’s forehead. The man handed him the duffel bag as a female baggage agent and a security guard came out from the backroom. Liam snatched the bag and walked quickly for the door.
“Wait!” called Wanda.
Liam picked up his pace and nearly sprinted out the glass sliding doors. He saw Jonathan waiting in the car forty yards away. Jonathan looked thrilled to see the bag in his hand, but his jaw dropped when he saw the two uniformed women run out after Liam.
“Hold it. Hang on there!” yelled Wanda.
Liam knew he was caught. He sighed and stopped. So much for the next few years of his life. He turned around slowly, promising himself that if he got out of this, he’d give up drugs and move back into the dorms. At least the security guard’s gun was still holstered.
“What’s the rush, son? You wanna give me a heart attack?” asked the out-of-breath guard.
Wanda held out a clipboard. “You can’t leave without signing. It’s for Continental’s records. Any time a bag is reported missing, the insurance company needs to know it was received.”
Liam smiled to himself while Jonathan fretted about what was happening. He signed the sheet and smiled. The women thanked him and walked back inside. Liam breathed normally for the first time in twelve hours.
Back in the hotel room, Brian listened attentively while Liam and Jonathan gave him a detailed play-by-play. Then Brian quickly unpacked Liam’s bag and found the condom boxes still rolled inside the socks. He opened the boxes, but the cocaine was gone. Instead, he found a scrap of blank paper with the scrawled note: Welcome to Miami. Have a sober Spring Break.