ephemera

when i arrive at the kuala lumpur international airport terminal with my luggage i am adopted by an old lady from phnom penh. using gestures she is somehow able to communicate to me that she’s lost and doesn’t speak any english … she has a boarding pass, so she has checked in, but she’s about as far away as she can be from where she needs to go, which is the departure level, gate c33.

she is pointing at me and then at herself, and then at me again.
i say : you want to go with me?
ok.
we get the lift upstairs together, and the sky train to departures. she is hanging on to my trolley. i think about pol pot. occasionally we look at each other. she keeps smiling at me. but when we get close to c33, a huge beatific smile appears on her face as she recognizes the friends she must be travelling with and has obviously become seperated from. they are as pleased to see her as she them. she indicates that she is ok now, and thanks me with gestures and much smiling. we shake hands and i wish her happy travels.

i head to starbucks for a caffeine fix. when i walk past her again later, she has already forgotten about me and is deep in conversation with her friends.