I leaned casually against the airline ticket counter, trying to look nonchalant. I hoped the ticket agent wouldn’t notice that, in addition to my two suitcases, I was trying to slip in a cardboard box filled with tortillas, cheddar cheese and zip-top bags for my expatriate sisterin-law in Italy.
The clerk looked down at the box, bemused, as if to say, “How dumb do you think I am?”
He then smiled and asked, “What kind
