We slowly shuffled forward, pushing and pulling our luggage along with us. The line was long but it was moving fairly quickly. We got to the front and a ticket agent waved us over.

“Welcome to Thai Airways. Four?” she asked.

“I wish,” my mother said. “Just three.” She placed our tickets and passports on the counter and the agent took them.

“How many bags?” the ticket agent asked.

“Three to check and three carry-on bags,” my father said. He put the first two bags on the scale and I added the third.

“Did you pack the bags yourself, and have they been out of your care since you packed them?” she asked.

“We packed them, and they’ve been with us at all times,” my father said.

The agent put tags on the three bags. She then handed back the tickets and passports. “Boarding is at nine-thirty so you should head through Security within the next fifteen minutes.”

“Thanks,” my mother said.

We walked along, my father leading, my mother with her arm around my sister’s shoulders.

“One more thing,” my father said. “I’ve left you a list of emergency contacts and my bank card…you know the PIN, right?”

“Of course, but I really don’t need your bank card,” she said.

“Just in case of an emergency. Suppose the car needed to be fixed, or there was some sort of problem at home like the furnace breaking. I’m sure nothing will go wrong, but just to be sure…okay?”

“Okay.”

“I wish you were coming with us,” Dad said, “but it’s good to know that if anything goes wrong we can count on you to take care of it.”

“You are so responsible,” my mother added, giving my sister a little hug. “Now remember, we’ll call you as soon as we get there.”

“Best to call me on my cellphone. I’m not planning on spending much time in my room.”

“Your room?”

“At the dorm. I’m going to go back to school tomorrow.”

“But you don’t have to be back at school until the twenty-seventh, do you?” my mother asked.

“No, but I just can’t see staying at home all that time by myself. At least at school there are a few people still around. Some kids live too far away to go home for the holidays. And of course there are the international students, too. There are even a couple of members of the swim team who are sticking around over the holidays. At least I won’t be completely alone.”

My mother made a little gasping sound. God, she had almost made me feel bad.

“Honest, Mom, it’s okay. We’re going to have our own little Christmas gathering and everything. It’ll be fine.”

We stopped in front of the security gates.

“I think this is it,” my father said.

My mother and then my father gave my sister a hug goodbye. I could tell that my mother was working hard at not crying. She wasn’t doing that good a job.