leaving my family

I was staying with my family and A was with me. It was in the hours before we were due to return home and we were organising flights over the Internet and packing our bags. Finally, we sat in the dining area, which was more like a restaurant than a home dining room with several tables in the room rather than one large table, and the entire family shared a meal. We ate and talked - a time of togetherness and community. I had the sense that A and I had done this before, that this was our second 'leaving', but I could not recall the details of the first event. Before we had finished our meals, A said that it was time to go. I glanced at my watch and realised that we had left it very late; we only had minutes to get to the airport before the plane was due to leave. I took a hasty bite of my fish and removed a long, thin bone from my mouth, then collected my handbag from under the table and stood to leave. My family were saddened and surprised that we had to leave so soon. Several family members followed me into another room inside the house to say their goodbyes. One by one, we embraced and I told them I loved them. There seemed to be immediate family members as well as grandmothers and great-grandmothers who are no longer alive. I knelt on the ground in front of my great-grandmother - a final farewell and a gesture of respect - and then left the house. A was on the street doing her best to hail a taxi. It was raining and night was falling. Cars and buses sped by but taxis were few and the ones we could see were occupied or turned off the street before passing us. I decided to phone and book a cab but the numbers on my mobile phone shifted around as I pressed them. Meanwhile, A was searching for our tickets as they had disappeared. She had unpacked the contents of her entire hand luggage and had it sprawled over a raised bank. I joined her and rifled through my hand luggage, looking for our tickets. We found other things: a lost silver ring, letters, towels, money and such, but no tickets. Too much time had lapsed and we had to accept that we had missed the plane. We calmed ourselves and repacked our things, deciding to go to the airport where we could order new tickets. A said that she was surprised that I didn't just stay with my family. I felt torn between this home and my home far away.