Postcards: Flight to Safety in a "Small World."

A surprise rally in the market defies expectations as investors turn to the bond market as a place to hide from geopolitical tensions

Dear Fellow Expat:

As I’ve noted, one of the five things I learned at five years old was Gin Rummy. The 10-card game has extended into the next generation as my daughter slowly picks up the patterns. She knows to dump the high cards because you don’t want to get stuck with them… and she’s quick enough not to throw me anything under a 4.

Last night, I arrived at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. A man and wife sat at a restaurant table, and I pulled up a chair. They were playing 10-card rummy, and she called Gin, leaving him with a stunning 47 points in his hand.

Not even the 5-year-old loses hands that badly.

We got to talking. And… as always… it’s Baltimore.

Everyone knows you… or knows your parents. The man asked where I went to school… and he meant high school. Like me, he was a lacrosse goalie.

He went to Hopkins (I went there for graduate school).

And his wife was in the mother’s club with my mom when my brother attended my high school.

Small world.

They live in South Caro…