There was the stranger, pointing to me, "He is going to blow up the Amtrak!"

The man told police he understood Arabic and had overheard my conversation. He thought I was talking to some terrorist cell when I was chatting with my mother.

Turns out the stranger doesn't speak Arabic at all. I wonder if the police, who Ahmad says were courteous, let the stranger go, or if they can press charges against him for making the whole thing up, like in the run-away bride case. In some places you can be fined for placing false emergency calls.