The airport is crowded and holiday travelers are everywhere. TSA agents look tired and want a break. They have a serious job to do and they want to get it done right. When a writer travels, who knows what will happen next!
A woman and a man go through the motions. They put their bags into the containers and on the path into the x-ray. Shouts of ‘bag check’ ring through the crowded hallway. She puts her shoes, purse, and phone in a container. Then she walks through the scanner. She gathers her things.
Her husband keeps getting buzzed and has to remove his belt and everything from his pockets. Finally he makes it through, but his bag isn’t there. It’s the computer bag with his work computer.
When a writer travels
The TSA officer asks him to step aside as they go through his bags and test his computer. They pat him down as the wife looks on. Focusing in on the wife, we realize she is excited and asking questions.
The TSA officer ignores the wife and she tries to apologize. But she continues to ask him how he feels. His wife is a writer.
To a writer, every experience is a new scene in a future book. Her family and friends will sometimes misunderstand. She tries to be sensitive, but this is just too good. The tour of a factory turns into a chase scene in her mind.
My husband will consider if he should bring his work laptop again. And yes, that was us last year in the airport. He survived and I got a wonderful idea for a scene!
