It was chilly out.  James Federon was waiting by the sign.  He was glad he had brought a jacket, because he would’ve frozen by now.  He had been waiting for twenty minutes, and it was him alone.  Now, another man came to wait, too.  They looked at each other, and by that quick glance at each other it was communicated that they were both friendly.  “I’ve been waiting twenty minutes, and it’s still not here,” said James.

“Twenty minutes? Wow, I thought I was going to miss it.”

“Nah, it’s really late, and it was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago.”

“I wouldn’t mind waiting if it wasn’t so cold out here.  And I don’t even have a jacket.”

“Yah, I’m glad I brought mine.  It’s days like this where I welcome global warming.”  The two men laughed.  This laughter was followed by silence.  The only thing that could be heard was the chattering of the men’s teeth.  James, even with the jacket, couldn’t help but chattering his teeth.  He felt bad for the other man.  “What’s your name; I haven’t seen you around here.”

“That’s probably because I wasn’t in your area.  My name’s John.  It’s pretty simple name.”

“Well nice to meet you John.  It’s always easier to have a simple name.”  They both went silent again, the cold wind hitting their faces.  Snow covered the ground, but that was common here.  The silence continued for a little while more.  “I hope it’s not too late.  I have to get home,” said James.

“Yah, I need some warmth, can’t wait to be back home.”

“I know what you mean.  Nothing beats the welcoming of a home after being out so long.”

“You know, I think it would be here by now.”

“Maybe it’s picking somebody else up first.  It has multiple stops you know.”

“I hope there are enough vacant seats, I don’t want to be squished between a bunch of people.”

“Maybe all that extra body heat will do you well.”  More laughter followed.  After the laughter, a long ten minute period of silence, and then both men started to become angry.  “Where is it, it should’ve been here a long time ago,” exclaimed James. 

“They better have a good reason for being this late,” replied John. 

“Maybe there’s a lot of traffic.”  Both of them laughed at this joke, and after this the infamous silence did not ensue.  “They better be here soon, it’s getting colder by the second,” said John.

“Do you want to use my coat; we could switch off every couple minutes.”

“That would be nice, thanks.”  James removed his backpack, and then took off his jacket, handing it to John.  John put on the jacket, and now James had to suffer the extreme cold.  They switched the jacket a total of twelve times, and then the jacket was left on James and never switched again.  Both of the men now lay in the snow.  The red flare had gone out.

                The extraction helicopter never came.  It had totally forgotten about the Antarctica expedition.