“Sorry.” Some guy apologized for bumping into me on his way past and he was gone before I could put my mind back together enough to process language. People were milling about, loading up wide black trays with plates of food and drinks. No one was pushing or shoving, or throwing food at each other. Briefly I wondered if last years bout of pneumonia had actually killed me and I was just on a delayed trip to heaven.

“What’s the hold up grandma?” Alice asked, popping up behind me with a full tray and my heart jumped into my throat, beating so hard I thought I’d choke on it.

“Nothing, just uh, can’t decide what I want.” I replied, shakily heading for a cart. Concentrating as hard as I could on not looking like an idiot I reached out and confidently pressed down on a protruding plate. I stopped breathing for a second as it dipped down and disappeared, then let out a sigh of relief when it sprung back up and into my hand. Holding the plate firmly in one hand I yanked a couple of utensils free from the hole they were set into and pressed forward. The cart that I had happened upon was full of stuff I didn’t know the name of, but some it looked vaguely familiar. I plated up what was probably macaroni and cheese, except it had chunks of some kind of fluffy marbled red and white meat in it. I figured I could just pick that stuff out if it was disgusting, then caught sight of the little sign under the pan that read “Creamy Lobster Mac”. Lobster. Hmm. From what I remembered people generally liked it, so I stuck with it. After that I just kinda piled stuff on, noticing that the rest of my suite-mates were pretty much done and not wanting to stick out anymore that I probably already was. I had just managed to get my stuff on a tray along with a drink and a square piece of something off-white and dense-looking that came off the dessert cart when to my horror I heard a loud clatter followed by the sound of breaking glass.

Whirling I looked at the floor around me, only to find it clean and my food still safely on the tray. Then my gaze went up a few feet ahead of me and my breath caught, it was the lost girl from earlier, now surrounded by bright pieces of shattered china. Putting my tray down on an empty counter I walked over and knelt down beside her, suddenly glad for Papi’s lessons as I deciphered the string of curses she’d released in rapid-fire Spanish.