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December 22, 2004
Strange People You Encounter In Airports
In much the same way that dinner in Tijuana can often acquaint you with new species of Kingdom Protista, a day of air travel has a tendency to introduce you to new subsets of the human race. Today, for instance, I encountered an example of People Who Adopt Other People They Don't Know In Airports. In this case the adoptee was an elderly lady whose family had either decided to gamble on the collective good will of humanity to get her safely to Newport News, Virginia or just didn't give a rat's ass where she wound up, one or the other. Assuming the role of adoptive caretaker was a woman with a midwestern accent and presumably some number of frighteningly over-parented children who have fled her nest for saner ground. The Good Samaritan had delivered her self-imposed charge to Terminal F of the Philadelphia International Airport at considerable personal inconvenience considering that her connection was out of Terminal B. We know this about her from the way she was storming about, quizzing other passengers as to their final destination and constantly grumbling, "I've got to get back over to Terminal B for my flight." Having finally identified one young man as a Newport News passenger, she demands that he take custody of the lady and ensure that she find her way to the family that obviously cares so much for her.
"Lady," the poor kid asks, "isn't that the airline's job?"
You see, the airline employees were the only people she wasn't attempting to engage. Because it takes a village, you know.
Posted by Dan at December 22, 2004 12:49 PM
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