11 26 pm pst [ airport adventures ]
It all began with this guy. He was
in front of me in line to get a boarding pass, and I couldn't help but
gape at his outfit.
It spoke of wealth and status just as a gold tooth
does. I thought the pattern looked exactly like that one would find on
luggage, and his shoes matched his outfit. Yes, he was wearing special
shoes which he only wears with that outfit.
I wondered how he would respond if I asked to take his
picture and then decided against it. The plane was already delayed, so I
settled into a chair and got out my book. But eventually I couldn't
resist turning around and taking covert pictures of him as he scarfed his
burger from Mickey D's.
I could have spent three hours watching that guy and I
still wouldn't have ceased to have been utterly fascinated by him and his
luggage outfit.
I'm actually nearing the end of Closing Time, which wouldn't
have taken me so long to read if I hadn't read so many other books in
between.
So I spent a good amount time reading and keeping an
eye on luggage man until I was distracted by yet other voyagers.
I can't describe the qualities I saw, but it was
immediately apparent that their camaraderie was that of co-workers and
their dress and manner was that of persons who had just come from a trade
show. That air of exhaustion that is specific to working at a convention
emanated from the corner of the airport they had claimed for themselves.
And it was fun to watch them having such a good time.
Two men stood up and played soccer with a small yellow ball, and everyone
cheered loudly when a goal was scored. I laughed loudly.
One of the airline employees was clearly proud of the
fact that he could make a passable bird noise and thusly made his noise
via the announcement system repeatedly.
How is a girl expected to read with bird noises and
cheering all around? Ok, so I was distracted. At least I wasn't trying
to do work, as I had originally planned.
I went back to watching the co-workers. Several of
their numbers noticed that I was enthralled with their activities. I
tried to discreetly take a second picture and got caught capturing a
moment when one of them ran to retrieve the staying ball. I did my best
not to look in their direction after that.
I went back to burying my nose in
my book when an attractive man approached. "Would either of your ladies
be willing to participate in a survey on fiction?"
I looked to my right, at the woman he was addressing
with me. She spoke first. "She's the reader," she said with a nod in my
direction. I consented.
So I began rattling off answers to his questions. Do
I buy sci-fi DVDs? What talk radio programs do I listen to? What search
engines do I use? What do I least like about fiction books? Two thirds
of the way through I asked him if I could take his picture. I'm sure he
consented just so I'd continue answering his questions.
After that I amused myself by taking
two pictures of me and one of my foot. I bought brand new New Balance shoes today, but instead of my
traditional schleppy travel outfit, I dressed up to see Matthew, in a
short dress. I even wore a locket with a teeny little picture of him in
it. Of course, as soon as I saw him I was embarrassed for being so silly.
However, my airport adventures paled in comparison to
my flight. The dozen trade show people were seated starting in the row
right behind me, so I turned around and asked one of them if they were
coming from a conference. Mike was very nice and answered all my
questions about his job. He even parted with his last business card just
for little old me.
Then I got into a wonderful long
conversation with the lawyer sitting next to me. John had me giggle over
and over and he was lovely enough to explain about his occupation. I
loved the pride with which he talked about his house. I can't wait to be
a home owner. I may hit him up for a double date to the Velvet Lounge in
the next few weeks. What a fantastic journey!
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