Summary

Sid Estiva, having spent the last decade in San Francisco, arrives at an airport in his native Manila. A strange woman seems to identify him and gives him a card with a "toothbrush, bristles up ... sketched in black ink" (159). At an information desk, Sid is told the card was really meant for Mr. Lao, a man he recognizes as a passenger on his earlier flight. However, in the midst of Sid digging for his pocket to retrieve the card, a stampede sparked by the arrival of "some foreign pop singers" (159) carries Sid away. On the upper floor of the airport, Sid finds the card crumpled into a handkerchief on the ground. Typed onto the card are different appointments with notes, such as "Wednesday noon. Luncheon meeting. Election" (163).

Sid tries to take a taxi to his sister Adela's house, but the...