14/365

Fearing the worst from the Christmas rush, I pulled into LAX Parking Lot C a couple of hours before my flight, and hopped on the van to the airport. As we rounded the loop, I saw all the TV vans were parked by Tom Bradley terminal so they could do the holiday travel photo-op. Predictable. But there was no drama, and I was in the terminal in no time. I opted for a sit-down breakfast.

I see people sometimes and think that it might be fun to walk around in their shoes. On the plane, across the aisle from me was a shave-headed mid-thirties guy, scruffy, some tattoos. He wore a T-shirt and jeans on the plane and spent most of the trip working on reading (unsimplified) Chinese from a folder, and then writing Chinese on blue-lined paper. Homework? I wondered. Translation?

When he left the plane, he pulled out a coat that was nearly a parka, with a fur-lined hood.