Wandering around the airport terminal, after learning my flight had been detained four hours, I heard an announcement: "If anyone in the vicinity of Gate 4-A understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately." Gate 4-A was my own gate. I went there. An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly. "Help," said the Flight Service Person. "We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this." In my halting Arabic, I was able to soothe her worried mind. Not only that, by the end of four hours, all the women at the gate were as one, bonded by the old woman sharing her cookies.
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