Lost in 60 Seconds

It was 6.15am on Tuesday and we were on the Shinkensin (bullet train) platform waiting for our 6.57 train to Kyoto. Get it? We were EARLY!! Yes, the Paykos Pod was ready and waiting to start the first leg of our trip across Japan. It's pretty hot and humid here in Japan, even in the early morning hours so I headed back to one of the station convenient stores to grab some agua for the ride. I remember smiling to myself as I strolled back toward the down escalator thinking about the adventures ahead and how incredible it was to have had my great aunt visit and now my mom and dad here. As i stepped onto the escalator I saw my mom walking toward it at the bottom shaking her head back and forth with an annoyed look on her face. Naturally, I thought there had been a coffee mishap down the front of a certain someone's (ahem, dad) white collared shirt and the tide stick was missing- nothing unusual. When I got halfway down I looked at her and said, "What's wrong?" I did not expect her reply. "Your father's gone." Dumbfounded, I smiled and said, "What?!!? What do you mean gone?" I thought maybe they were playing a trick but it was way too early in the morning for games. My mom was more worried than mad and I was just confused. "Yes, he's gone. The train came and he put our luggage on, went to ask an attendant a question, she made some motions toward the luggage, so he got back on to get them and then the doors shut and the train left! And he's on it! Without any ticket. Where is he going?" I got this nervous smile on my face- the one you get when you know you're about to play a prank on someone and they're trying to call you out but you want them to fall for it anyway. I looked around and my dad was really gone. So I did what anybody would do at that time. I started cracking up- I couldn't stop laughing- just the absurdity of it. I mean bent over, slapping my knee laughing. Of course things were going too smooth with the pod! "Pull yourself together, Alisa!" After a bit of a game of charades with the attendant we figured out that all trains on that track head to Kyoto, so that was one relief. Here is the jist.