58. The Kowalczyks, part 1.

They walked through baggage claim, where not a single conveyor belt was moving. A few loiterers (or perhaps they were passengers of an earlier flight) wandered around. One of the duty free stores was open, more of a cluttered lean-to than a storefront as such, a sharp contrast (with its hand-lettered sign, Nan noted) to the sleek consistency of Zurich.

The baggage claim, like much of the airport, was tiled entirely in white marble, yet with the ghoulish lighting and stray signs of indifferent cleaning, created the effect of squatters inhabiting an expensive hotel bathroom. Everything seemed slightly worn, nothing entirely new.

"You'll see a lot of that, too," Sid said. "Things are kept in service a long time here. There's not so much of an emphasis on replacing everything to keep it new." Passengers from their flight were beginning to file into the baggage claim area, having made it through immigration.

Nan didn't understand why they were pausing. Sid was looking over the signs that were supposed to indicate which flight went with which conveyor, all of them currently blank. "Sid, we don't have any luggage."

He glanced toward the passengers taking their places along the curving belt. "No, we don't."

Nan frowned. Sid's eyes locked onto two young men, walking side by side toward the belt. She followed him as he approached them.

"Hello," Sid said.

The young men looked puzzled. To Nan they seemed to be about her age, college students for sure. They were clearly related; brothers, probably. The taller of them spoke. "Hey."

Nan did the uncomfortable wave-curtsy that seemed to be an involuntary action when she was introduced to strangers in odd circumstances, and inwardly cursed herself for it. "Hey," she said by way announcing her presence in some way other than the wave.

"Do you live in Delhi?" Sid asked.

Now the other one spoke. "No, our parents do. We're visiting them." They both still looked a bit confused, wondering why Sid had accosted them, but noting, as everyone did, that there wasn't anything the least bit threatening about his appearance or manner.

"Do you mind if we stay with you?" Sid asked. The two young men's confusion deepened.

"Well--" The conveyor belt they were standing next to made a lurching sound as the sign above it flipped crazily through various combinations of airlines and flight numbers, settling at last on their flight.

"We'll help you with your bags," Sid offered.

"My name's Nan," Nan offered. "He's Sid."

One of the brothers offered his hand as the other watched the still empty conveyor belt. "I'm Drew, and this is my brother Matt. Drew and Matt Kowalczyk," he said, reaching forward to shake her hand.

Matt, the one near the belt, raised his hand, in his own version of the uncomfortable wave. "Hey," he said.

"Nan Pressman," Nan said, since Drew had offered his last name. She wished now she hadn't made up such an absurd last name for Sid on his disembarkation card, because now she couldn't think of anything suitable. The sudden appearance of a bag on the conveyor allowed her to drop the subject.

Sid reached into his pocket, fished out the disembarkation card, read the name she'd written on it, and said, "Sid Ister." It came out, even in his evenly modulated tone, just as silly as she'd meant it, the ridiculousness of him claiming he didn't have a name or that it didn't matter: her poetic, playful fusion of "sinister" and "kid sister." Drew's focus was still on Nan, preventing her from shooting Sid a look to keep quiet, but now Matt was looking at him coolly.

"So your parents live here?" she continued, hoping Sid would step back in and finish what he had started, turn on the mojo he used in situations like this to get total strangers to welcome him into their homes. Like he had with her, she thought, her mind once again slowing down to a halt. Like he had with her.

"Yeah," Drew said, still evidently a bit puzzled by the two of them. "My dad works for the embassy here. The American embassy." Seeing that none of the bags rolling along the belt were theirs, he turned to Sid and Nan, and looked Sid in the eye. "So, are you serious that you need a place to stay?"