![\"\"](\"https:\/\/argyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/flying-birds3.jpg\" "\\"flying-birds\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nStrangers give me answers to dangerous questions.\u00a0 We begin and end at the center.\u00a0 I never miss them when they go.<\/p>\n
A stranger warned me that turning 30 would be hell. What she didn’t realize is that I have been trained to dread things long before they occur. But no one warned me about turning 31. What<\/em>, I thought, there\u2019s<\/em> more<\/em>? It took me years to get over 31.<\/p>\n I like to time things to arrive on the nick, the very edge of possible. En route to India with Aaron, I waited for our names to be called before going into duty free and sampling French perfume. Aaron was drunk so it was easy.\u00a0 By the third call, I had a bottle of well-aged Scotch and a crystal decanter of Je Reviens<\/em>. They were angry when they drove us to the plane but when we got there the stewardess motioned us to the left. They handed us a glass of fake Champagne. I was on the very threshold of First Class.<\/p>\n When we got to India, I pined for home. I walked to the poste restante\u00a0 more than twice a week. Once I got a letter from my mother about Anna Nicole Smith’s\u00a0 death in a hotel room.\u00a0 The whole letter was about this. She wasn\u2019t giving me a message, I never had drug problems one way or the other, she just didn\u2019t know what to write.<\/p>\n My family has a long history of hooking up with strangers. No sooner do we board than someone strikes up a conversation. Guaranteed. There may be vacant seats all around but still they are drawn to us. Even when I put my purse or a book on the seat beside me, they move it and sit down.\u00a0 This happens on trains too.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n