- When they reach Port-au-Prince, Sophie's impressed: she's never been to the city before.
- Atie points out all the places she remembers from her youth and remembers coming at Christmastime with Martine.
- As they approach the airport, they run into some trouble: the airport is being re-dedicated, the name changing from the dictator François Duvalier to the former name, Maïs Gaté.
- They pass a car that's on fire, and see soldiers and students fighting with each other. Sophie and Atie see a girl bloodied by the butt-end of a soldier's pistol.
- When they get inside the airport, Atie tells Sophie that she should be glad to leave all this behind, but Sophie's twelve—she only knows that she's leaving the only mother she's ever known.
- A flight attendant comes to take Sophie to the plane, and they have to say goodbye quickly. Atie makes sure that Sophie understands how much she loves her.
- On the plane, Sophie's seated next to a little boy who fights with the flight attendants. He's crying and a mess because he just saw his father die in the fire that Sophie passed on the way in.
- The father was a corrupt government official, the attendant tells her. She feels sorry for the boy. Once they're in the air, they both fall asleep.