Em Gessen

To Priscilla, the most frightening thing about the letter was that Alan clearly had no intention of coming back anytime soon.

After the frenzy of trying to get the court order and reach Alan, and after this email, she could only wait.

Christmas came and went, then New Year's, and still they were gone.

It turns out that Lena and Alan, and Elle, spent a couple of weeks vacationing in Canada, staying at a fancy hotel, skiing.

Then they headed to the Montreal airport.

They had tickets to London.

From the time the three of them entered the Trudeau International Airport, law enforcement were tracking them.

When Al and Lena and O tried to board, the agent told them to wait by the gate.

They sat down, and pretty soon a group of officers appeared.

From what I can gather, there were eight or more of them, seemingly out of nowhere.

One officer came up from behind and lifted O up in the air, straight out of his seat and over the back.

Another got in front of Lena, blocking her access to Alan and O. And the rest of them slammed Alan on the ground and handcuffed him.

There was a lot of yelling.

On the ground, on the ground, was what O remembered hearing.

Then the officers led O away.

His dad was lying on the ground face down.

His grandma was screaming too and trying to hand him things.

The officers let him take the violin.

Now, whenever the subject of Canada comes up, O says that he had a wonderful vacation there and loved the snow.

He never mentions what happened at the airport, and I don't want to ask him.