I was pulled back to reality by a gentle hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Diem’s face as she explained that It was time to check in for our flight. There was no line, and we walked straight up to the counter. It was apparent from the exchange between the ticket agent and Diem that something was wrong. The flight had been delayed an hour and a half, and I would have to pay 300,000 dong because my baggage was overweight. Apparently, I hadn’t offloaded enough of my stuff at Bào’s. All I was traveling with was a carry-on. 
She seemed upset because I think she thought I would be. I pulled up Google Translate and tried to explain to all parties that I wasn’t even sure I was still alive and that getting upset about anything at this point would require a combination of energy and effort, both of which were in short supply. Nothing seemed to make sense to anyone, and in both concept and words, everything around me was becoming lost in translation. I slumped back in the booth at the cafe and again became an invalid.
An hour later, I was summoned to get up and head to the security area to check-in. In what I’m sure looked like a scene from The Night of the Living Dead, I, with great effort, dragged one foot in front of the other and slowly, painfully made my way to the queue. As We stood in line and approached the checkpoint, a voice came over the intercom, and from the expression on Diém’s face, I knew what it meant before she could say it. In a high-pitched, thickly accented sound, she said one word. “Delayed”. It appeared that we were delayed yet another hour. After the local language announcement, I heard the English version. It was due to heavy rain. It seemed that the last dying fiery breath of the monsoon Dragon might hold me captive here in Da Nang. I slumped in a seat at the gate next to a Burger King. It was the first sign of the west I’d seen since my arrival. It was not lost on me that it was in the airport. 
An hour ago, the airport was almost empty. As more and more flights were being delayed, the seats began to fill with impatient passengers waiting on news of their flights. The once quiet airport began to rumble and fill with noise as its empty seats became fewer and fewer. I took a sip of my water and again wandered off into the emptiness of my current thoughts.
