“Are the pilots good at steering?” she asked.

“They’re professionals.

They do this every single day.”

“Oliver doesn’t like loud noises.”

“I’ll sit right beside you and Oliver the whole time,” I said.

I had spent twenty-six years learning how to stay calm, but nothing had prepared me for a stranger making my daughter cry.

A booming voice cut through the background noise of rolling suitcases and terminal announcements.

A man in a tailored gray suit paced in a tight circle near the priority boarding desk.