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the small staff immediately stepped forward to assist the travelers. As the group prepared to go through paperwork and passports, the sunglasses salesman and his son entered the building and continued soliciting potential customers.
    â€œGet away from us,” Gary told them in a harsh tone. “Those sunglasses were probably stolen from tourists on the beach.”
    â€œGary!” said Emma in a disapproving tone.
    A large islander wearing a blue security shirt stepped forward and waved for the old man and his son to leave. “Go! Go! Get out!”
    The old man responded with a rapid fire of words in the local language. The security man shouted back at him, also in Gilbertese.
    An argument broke out and the security guard quickly lost his patience. He grabbed the cardboard out of the old man’s hands and tossed it away, sending sunglasses scattering across the floor. The elderly man’s shouts grew louder and the boy joined in, high-pitched and panicked.
    The confrontation quickly escalated with the security man pushing the old man and his son out of the building. The old man attempted to resist, arms stretched out, slapping at the security man, demanding to return inside for the sunglasses.
    Through the open doorway, several of the travelers witnessed the security man strike the old man, knocking him down. The old man’s son burst into tears and cried out, “Papa!”
    â€œOh my God,” said Kelly, heading toward the door. “Rodney—you have to do something.”
    Rodney grabbed her arm.
    â€œNo,” he said. “Stay out of it.”
    She whirled to look into his eyes. “What?”
    â€œI mean it,” said Rodney.
    Gary called out to the group. “C’mon, let’s not miss our flight.”
    They boarded the small plane for Honolulu.
    Nestling into their seats, many of the passengers shut their eyes for sleep, drowsy from the early hour.
    Carol pulled out her cell phone and called up her email.
    Jake, sitting next to her, gave her a gentle nudge. “Honey, let it rest until we get back. Don’t start now, save it for home.”
    She began working the keyboard frantically.
    â€œYour boss will understand,” said Jake, leaning toward his wife. “What could be so important that…”
    Then he glimpsed her screen.
    Carol was deleting all of her emails, one by one.
    â€œHoney…” said Jake, shocked. “I don’t think you want to do that.”
    She continued the systematic deletion of every email.
    Jake watched as she deleted, unread, a message from one of their sons.
    â€œHey!” he said, and he reached over for the phone. “What are you, delirious?”
    She gave him a sharp elbow jab and he retreated.
    â€œJesus,” he said.
    In the row behind them, Sam made his first sound in more than an hour. He started laughing.
    At Honolulu International Airport, during the wait for their connecting flight to Chicago, the group found a sit-down restaurant at the food court and filled a table to order lunch.
    â€œAs much as I like fish, I am looking forward to a good old-fashioned American hamburger,” said Jake.
    Gary began snapping his fingers for a waitress.
    â€œGary, that’s rude,” said Emma, annoyed. “What’s gotten into you?”
    â€œI’m hungry and I want one of these bimbos to take our order.”
    His words were loud enough to reach one of the young waitresses, a pretty Hawaiian woman with long, sleek dark hair. She advanced to the table with a look of trepidation. She forced a smile. “Are you ready to order?”
    â€œHoney,” said Gary, “what I want is not on the menu.”
    Jake shut his eyes and shook his head in disbelief.
    â€œLet me apologize for my husband,” said Emma. “Too much time in the sun, I think it baked his brain.”
    â€œNo problem,” said the waitress, with a small, nervous laugh.
    Gary straightened up in his chair.