Pink fluffy dress and departure

I am back at the airport the next morning. We ride on a van and a taptap, a large open pickup truck with a covered back. I am with the group from Nebraska. One girl isn’t unable to understand why people leave their trash on the street and not in a trash can. I am unable to understand if she thought about where the trash can would dump it’s waste except in the rivers. I’m too consumed in gathering reflections to respond back. Though her comments trigger me they help me better understand what the world outside is like when they look in.

We get off, everyone starts walking towards the second terminal. I am the only one to walk towards the one behind us. I wait in a line that circles around. I am surprised they have some of the airport equipment they do. I don’t know where to sit in the waiting room.

My flight travels from Portauprince to Fort Lauderdale. After we get off the plane, the next stop is a long one at immigration. There is a Haitian lady with two children. One is a toddler wearing a-line puffy pink dress. The mother has two children, she holds one along with her luggage and her daughter with the dress walks in front of her. She is having a hard time, I hold the girls hand and guide her out. We get off the plane. She thanks me. This tiny hand that I hold for maybe ten seconds is my last physical connection with Haiti. This moment hits me.

When I finally make it through many lines of immigration, for extra exploration of my luggage and barely make it on to my flight I am relieved. I arrive in Houston. My first few images are of a girl with a name brand purse, styish fingernails and starbucks in her hand. She is dressed for fashion, walking down somewhere. I continue to walk, I wander around the airport making my way to appropriate places. I look like a stranger in a foreign place. My face is blank. Everything zooms by me. I see a girl waiting for me, holding flowers. She is waiting for me, she asks why I look lost like a nomad. “Who are the flowers for?” I ask, “you of course,” she respons. This place has become new to me.