When security finally did open the man looked around embarrassed. He looked like he forgot to shave and didn't put deodorant on that day.

"Mmm sorry, miss," he said. "Do you mind just pretending to go through security? We didn't actually... We don't actually have the equipment working yet."

McKayla thought this was strange but didn't know what to say. She didn't want to miss her flight. So she agreed and went on through.

"Thanks, miss. We'll get this fixed in no time."

In the terminal she thought of what her mom stressed. "YOU GOTTA BE THREE HOURS EARLY!" McKayla wondered where her mom got t hese ideas. Maybe if she was getting on a plane at O'Hare, things would be different. But she was in the middle of nowhere. In fact the nearest airport was an hour away in a bigger city, but she didn't like going there. Too many cars and trucks. Bad architecture.

Instead she took a flight out of the obscure airport near the town her mom lived.

She had spent a few weeks with her mom. She had told nobody where she was going. Not even her mom. She had shown up at the door and knocked. The old fashioned way.

She had a bedroom for her still. Cooked her meals like old times. McKayla would go to town for coffee and just to get a break from the house.

She would go daily to Kim's Cappuccino and Wade's Foods. She would get a cappuccino which the owner would take about four minutes to make and pour into a ceramic mug. He'd always make a comment about how the milk wasn't frothed perfectly, that it was either too watery or too foamy, and then she would say it was perfect and he'd shake is head. She'd take the white ceramic mug ontop of the saucer over to the window and watch into the street while listening to what other conversations took place within the small cafe. The owner making more coffee using

Bialetti

moka pots and then frothing mthe milk using mechanical milk frothers, also from Bailetti. she wondered why the man didn't just use a real espresso machine and an electric milk frother.

She wondered this but didn't dislike his method. It was slow, but it was nice. Especially if you weren't in a hurry. After the cafe she would return the ceramic mug and saucer to a brown plastic tub. She would wave to the owner before leaving and he would always say goodbye.

Town didn't have much traffic. You could jaywalk without feeling guilty. At Wade's Foods she would get a kombucha and whatever her mom asked her to pickup.

These memories of the past few weeks repeated in her head as she waited for her plane. Now it didn't seem so b ad that she had to be stuck there waiting so long because of her mom's outdated misconceptions. The memories would make her feel like she was reliving her visit. In some guilty way, McKayla sort of wished she could just live there. A quiet life in a small town. A slow pace. With good but not perfect cappuccino.