Nothing is Funny There Anymore

I used to love it here. People watching here used to be so fun. But now everyone is uptight and angry, looking to get out as soon as possible. Everyone is anal about their personal space bubble, but it’s to crowded to observe it, so everyone is slightly uncomfortable. It’s so small though, you just forget the emotion is there.

I’m not thinking about this as I sit at the information desk and wait. The only thing I’m thinking about is the fact that I was on my feet for 6 hours yesterday, and all I want to do is sit down. I’ve already visited the Starbucks to try and wake up, but it doesn’t work. I’m still tired and burnt out from trying to find a spot in long term parking. I remember the old man who asked for directions to the exit, and I couldn’t help him. He wandered off, and I absentmindedly wondered how long he had been wandering around. I imagined him as a young man, coming to pick up his new bride, but losing his way and wandering in long distance parking for all eternity.

Suddenly there is a horrible noise that jolts me from my thoughts; like a car crash, but I am inside. The grinding of metal and then a snap; I look wildly around to find the source of the sound. After a minute I find it; the escalator had broken off a piece and it had jammed into the machinery. I’m amazed at how scared I had gotten so quickly, almost as if I were on edge and I didn’t even know it, just because of the very building I was in. I looked around and saw that I wasn’t alone; men and women alike were clutching their chests, as if to stop their palpitating hearts from beating so loudly. All of us were shaken to our core, and all because of a broken escalator. Had this been in a mall, no one would’ve even noticed that the escalator suddenly grinded to a halt. I heard a security guard say “At least there was no one on it when it stopped, they would’ve gone flying.”

Five years later, and we are all still terrified in the airport.