onLeave a Comment on At dinner, my sister threw water on my pregnant wife’s dress and sneered, “Don’t sit there, that’s my spot.” My mom laughed, “Pregnancy makes you clumsy,” while my dad sent her to eat in the kitchen. My wife silently grabbed her coat. I grabbed my keys—and called the travel concierge. “Cancel the first-class flights and VIP Mediterranean cruise resort.” On Monday, my family arrived at the airport with designer luggage. Then security escorted them out. 
“Arthur! What the hell is going on?!” my father bellowed into the phone, looking wildly around the terminal as if expecting me to jump out from behind a pillar. “Where are you?! The airline agent here is an idiot! She says our tickets don’t exist! She says the reservation was voided yesterday!”
My iPad suddenly pinged loudly with an incoming video call notification.
I looked at the screen. It was a FaceTime call originating from an unknown, generic email address. However, beneath the email, the location data indicated the device was connected to the ‘JFK Free Public Wi-Fi’ network.
I smiled. The trap had officially sprung shut.
I clicked ‘Accept’.
My father’s face filled the high-definition screen. He looked absolutely horrific. He was flushed a deep, violent, sweaty red. He was breathing heavily, and his eyes were wide with a frantic, feral panic I had never seen before.
