**
Picture yourself in an airport. You're not there to travel. You're not there to pick anyone up. You're only there to watch. Everything is very busy. The lines to check-in wind around like a maze. There are whole families with their bags packed, no doubt on their way to Hawaii or some other exotic vacation spot. There are single business men, backpackers headed to Europe, and college students.
Their faces tell you little pieces of their life. You can tell that the college student second in line at the United counter doesn't want to go home. She feels like she has to because her parents are paying for her schooling. She would much rather go on a road trip with her friends or something. The business man behind her probably had a fight with his wife right before he went to the airport. He's tapping his foot impatiently. He's not late for his flight because he doesn't look at his watch. However he's still in a rush to leave.
You decide to move on to the security checkpoint. This is where people are separated and reunited. You watch a young man in a gray suit with a dozen roses waiting for his lover. He is on his tiptoes trying to look over the crowd in his way. You see a mother squatting down talking to her daughter. You can tell her daughter is excited to see her father. She holds up a folded piece of paper and asks if daddy will like it. Her mom picks her up and reassures her that daddy will love it. She taps her daughter playfully her on the nose. Then someone else catches your eye. It's a middle aged woman sitting down out of the way. She's wringing her skirt with her hands. She face shows you a certain nervous terror. She moves to pick up her cup of water with her shaky hands but it spills over when she touches it. Dripping all over her clothes she brings the cup to her mouth and takes a sip not even noticing that half the liquid in the cup is now all over her clothes.
What could she be waiting for that would make her act this way. You can't put your finger on it as easily as with the other people in the airport. You take a seat and decide to wait and watch. How will all of this turn out?
Ten minutes pass by and the four people continue to wait. The little girl is getting impatient, pulling on her mothers skirt. The man with the flowers is beginning to look discouraged. He has given up looking over people's heads and he has lowered the roses down to his side. The middle aged woman seems to have calmed down a bit. Just then another crowd of people rush out through security and she looks scared again.
Suddenly you see the man's posture change. He lifts the roses back up to his chest and pulls himself up on his toes. He starts waving at someone on the other side of security. You turn your head to look over and see a hand waving above people's heads, but you can't see who's hand it is. Then you see a man in a business suit running past people. You assume that he is running to the mother and daughter but he is intercepted by the man in the grey suit. They hug for a long time and walk out hand in hand. You can't help but laugh and shake your head.
Then the daughter starts pointing to someone telling her mom to look. You see another man's hand waving. A clean cut man with gray hair wearing a t-shirt and jeans meets his daughter half way, falls to his knees, and holds her tightly. She backs up a couple steps and holds out her piece of paper. When he opens it up you wish you had a camera to capture the look on his face. You see him tell her "it's beautiful." Then he picks her up and walks over to his wife. As he kisses her you see him say "I'm home." They walk out hand in hand.
You catch someone walking by quickly. When they look it you it feels like looking in a mirror. Before you see anything more they are gone.
Then you see the middle aged woman stand up. There is a girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, standing still looking at the woman. Neither of them move for a long time. Finally the girl begins to walk to the woman. You get up and move closer out of curiosity. The woman's face goes through a range of emotions. First she seems happy, but then she looks ashamed which quickly changes into embarrassment. The girl however seems steady. She looks curious. The girl stops a couple meters away from the woman.
"Mom?"
*to be continued*
so were you actually at the airport watching the crowds of people?
2. Why aren't you writing a book?
Very beautiful, I almost got choked up there at the end
You're an amazing writer, as kaylin said.