About 45 minutes into our flight from Dallas to Cabo San Lucas, we hear the captain say, “Nothing to worry about folks, but we're making a landing in El Paso—a little emergency.” My daughter and I look at each other, then out the window, then at everybody else. We are all looking for flames or geese or a wing breaking loose or Jon Lithgow looking in at us. Nothing. Nothing but two big white clouds shaped like horses. Where is Pegasus when you need him? Finally we land, but stay onboard on the hot tarmac for close to an hour. Then we file in to the “airport,” which is about as big as a 7-11 and not as well stocked. Turns out it's Jennifer Anniston's birthday tomorrow. The band we're talking to, in line for baloney sandwiches just like we all are, is headed to Cabo to play at her party. And after all that, we didn't get invited.

Meredith Pond lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, a nuclear-free zone and haven for aging hippies and their pets, children, and folks in exile from Virginia. She received her MFA from American University in Washington, DC, where she made some excellent friends and studied the fine art of storytelling. She is working on a novel about (someone's) adventures in the Baja. You can read her blog at http://www.meredithpond.blogspot.com.