DWP - the airport: prompt

Ruth feels a bit of panic as she swipes the passport on the self-serve kiosk beside the Lufthansa counter. The images on the monitor give her options to press and she chooses them diligently until the machine spits out the desired boarding pass. She pulls at the hem of her blazer and straightens her body as she makes her way towards the departure gates. She has exactly one hour to wait until her direct flight to Frankfurt leaves. Reaching the appropriate gate, she chooses a chair at the very corner of the waiting lounge, a vantage point where she can see everyone and everything that goes on until she boards.

Sunshine floods the interior of the terminal and it gives her reason enough to put on her wraparound Serengeti sunglasses. She takes a book from her small carry-on and pretends to read. A group of student tourists converges near her and her attention is diverted to their loud and noisy conversation.

Fifteen minutes later, the overhead speaker fills the lounge with an announcement: Paging passenger Ruth Marowietz of flight United 867 bound for San Francisco. Passenger Ruth Marowietz of flight United 867 bound for San Francisco, please proceed to Gate 3 on Terminal 1 immediately.

Ruth smiles. Flight 867 is terribly late. It should have left twenty minutes ago.

Twenty-five minutes later, she hears the call for boarding to her flight to Frankfurt and she calmly takes her passport and boarding pass out of her purse and joins the other passengers to line up for boarding. The ground steward scans her boarding pass and looks at her passport, smiles at her and gives her back her documents. Ruth proceeds to enter the gate. The security guard, however, stops her, asks to see her passport and requests for her to lift the sunglasses off her eyes. She obeys. He examines the document and looks at her before giving it back to her and thanking her.

Just as she is about to enter the walking tube to board the plane, she hears the call on the loud speakers: Final call to passenger Ruth Marowietz of flight United 867 bound for San Francisco. Passenger Ruth Marowietz of flight United 867 bound for San Francisco, please proceed to Gate 3 on Terminal 1 immediately. Ruth pauses to check the leg of her pantyhose and long enough to hear the announcement before continuing towards the plane.

Once inside and seated, she opens her passport and looks at her picture and the name beside it: Verna Guarin. Born: August 27, 1958. She smiles and puts her passport back inside her purse.

Earlier

Ruth Marowietz smiles and mutters a polite "Thank you" to the United check-in person as she takes her passport and boarding pass. She checks the two stickers on her ticket, the receipt for her two large luggages for which she paid an extra sixty-dollars for one due to its extra weight. She follows the other passengers to the Immigration and Customs Inspection for the United States and is quite surprised at the very brief questioning she has received. She reaches the assigned gate and sits beside an elderly couple. She takes out a magazine and reads it halfway through when she decides to leave her seat and, pulling her little carry-on behind her, she walks to the farthest washroom. As she has guessed, it is empty. She goes inside the handicap cubicle.

After twenty minutes, she emerges from the cubicle, washes her hands and exits the washroom after drying them, pulling her little carry-on behind her. She walks back and past the assigned gate for her flight. She goes past the Customs Inspection area and calmly tells the security guard, "I forgot something." The security guard does not even look at her.

The terminal has become fairly crowded now but she manages to make her way through until she reaches the less travelled part of the terminal, sees a woman's washroom and goes inside. She takes out her toiletry bag and prepares to brush her teeth. When she finishes, she leaves her toiletry bag on top of the counter and her little carry-on on the floor directly below, then goes inside the stall just behind her. She hears someone coming in, the door to another stall opens and closes. Ruth takes her time, she can see her bags through the narrow space between the door and frame. She takes off her moss green sweater and moss green track pants and hangs them on the metal hook of the door. She opens the stall door and steps out to retrieve her toiletry bag. The other person is still inside the stall with a carry-on just outside. She checks her make-up and decides to brush her hair.

She hears the occupied stall's door open. A woman wearing red blazer comes out, and looking at each other through the large mirror, they greet each other with a polite smile and hello. Ruth starts to walk out and pulls the little carry-on bag behind her. She walks back to the busy part of the terminal once again and takes the escalator up to the platform and boards the Skytrain to Terminal 3.