They Forgot I Had No Passport

Chloe returns home after a twelve-hour double shift to find her parents and her sister Tina rolling their luggage out the door. They are leaving on an overseas trip, and no one thought to mention it to her. Her mother tells her to buy a ticket and catch up; her father orders her to load the suitcases into the trunk. Then the sedan speeds off without a backward glance.

Alone in the dark living room, Chloe finds a pet resort confirmation slip filled out in her mother's handwriting, pages of careful instructions for a toy poodle. Every detail of the dog's care was planned. Chloe was forgotten. So was the fact that she has no passport and cannot board an international flight.

Days later, from a cramped apartment, she answers her mother's calls and repeats the truth: she has no passport. Her family calls her a liar, selfish, cruel to a sister who cries and offers to destroy her own passport. No one asks where she is living or whether she has eaten. When disappointment finally runs dry, Chloe makes a choice of her own.