My 5-year-old son got lost while waiting for our flight. Panicked, I called his dad, who hurried over to assist find him. A 30-year-old lady discovered him at the airport two hours later.
My kid turned and remarked, “Dad knew her!” twenty years later as I told a friend about this lovely stranger. I froze when he said, “I wasn’t lost that day. Dad took me, and she…
I was sucked back into that airport by the recollection.
Calling his name over baggage and boarding announcements, my hands shaking and heart racing. My throat was sore from shouting as I kneeled to search under rows of chairs and ran into bathroom after lavatory. Airport security joined in, but every second felt like an hour.
Sami, his father, arrived pallid and wide-eyed. He grabbed my arms and asked where our son went. Though I saw terror in his eyes, I convinced myself it was worry.
We split up and maniacally comb the terminals. A woman approached me with my son’s hand two hours later, as I lay on a bench gasping for breath. She had kind eyes, short brown hair, and a yellow scarf.
My son appeared peaceful. She stated she found him outside Gate 12’s coffee shop. I thanked her repeatedly, barely able to process his return.
Rest of the day is fuzzy. I hugged him too firmly, swearing to never look away. Sami drove us home silently.
We never talked about it, and I thought it was a scary accident. Life progressed. Five years later, we divorced for various reasons—or so I believed.
Sami moved to another place, visited our son on holidays, and remarried. Our son became a quiet but strong young man, and I always thought the “lost at the airport” incident was just one of those bad parenting situations. Two decades later, when my 25-year-old son was visiting and I was having coffee with my friend Laleh, it came up again.
I laughed about how airport security has changed and described the yellow scarfed stranger who returned him. My youngster set his cup down, looked at me, and said, “Dad knew her.”
I blinked, hoping he was joking. “You mean what?” I requested.
He acted immediately. Mom, I wasn’t lost that day. Dad took me and her.”
I sensed a tilt.
My first thought was no. Impossible. Then memories of that day returned—Sami’s expression, my son’s calmness when he returned, the woman’s avoidance of my eyes as I thanked her.
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