a race against time James sat at the back seat of the family car with his mother and

baby sister. in the front passenger seat was his older brother John. his father was driving the car. they were all on the way to Subang International Airport to send John off the Australia for further studies. It was already dark at 7.30pm, but the powerful headlights of the car lit up the road clearly. they were making good time for they had half an hour to travel the 15km to the airport. John was to check in at 8.00pm. suddenly without warning, raindrops splattered down onto the windscreen. Soon it rained cats and dogs. James' father switched on the windscreen wiper to full speed but the rain was so heavy that visibility was reduced to few meters. they had to slow down and could only plod along carefully at 50 km/h. it was quite a strain to travel in such adverse conditions. James could see the consternation in his father's face as he glanced at his watch ever so often while driving. James realized that they might be late. As they passed by Angkasapuri and the marble arch that marked the boundary between Selangor and KL it was already 7.45pm. The traffic stopped completely as they neared the Hilton. Frustration mounted. James' father swore softly. James could see that John was restless . everybody looked at his or her watch, except Joanie. The little baby did not know how to read a watch yet. She was oblivious the tension in the car and was happily looking at the lights of PJ. throught the misty veil of the pouring rain.