the TSA agent walked up on him
he voluntarily requested a pat
down
he wasnt sheephe wouldnt walk into a machine that its manufacturer attested
was safe he
remembered other despicable manufacturers company managements who declared
their products safe their cigarettes their oil their opiods and all the while winking
and noddingsniffing back laughter modifying their products to attract addict their
consumers Miserable fuckingreedy
bastards Gawddamn liars and he particularly remembered the politician
who pushed cajoled ramrodded the legislation for their adoption that they become mandatoryrequired that they
would help assure safe air travel in the New World the congealing Homeland Fatherland
Muthaland
legislation passed
the politician left Congress to
sit on the scanners board for a fat chunk of change
the TSA agent was obviously sweating he muttered Christ
apparently
annoyed he hadnt follow the herdhadnt taken the clue not to stand alone stand
oblivious to the mainstream
he said Good morning
Yeah. TSA used the back of his
gloved hand to wipe a trickle of sweat from his temple Good morning.
Busy morning this morning
Busier than I thought it was
going to be. Almost hectic.
he looked at the line it was proceeding smoothly everyone
was following orders
he was the only hitch in the
gittyup
TSA snapped his blue latex glove
at the wrist
the wrist didnt snap it splittore down into the palm of his hand
he didnt say FUCK although his
eyes screamed it Aw, man, I’m sweating like
a pig.
Glovesll heat you up
They do he said yanking at the
torn glove
it stuck to his flesh like
glue Fer Christssake.
Youre a better man than me I hate wearing gloves . .
.
. I do too, but it pays the bills.
Gotta pay your bills
Gotta eat.
he stripped off the ruptured
glove
he struggled to slip a fresh one
on
once he donned it he paused Hmm. I think . . as he said that he pulled a
swab out of its sterile container and began wiping the palm and fingers of the
glove containing his obviously dominant right hand . . I think I don’t want to
finger you.
Finger me
Yah. You’d be surprised the
contaminants we pick up off of shoes and bags, the luggage we handle . . we
have no idea where we picked them up. But they’re there.
Contaminants
Yes.
Contaminants that would point to me
Yes.
he placed the swab in the machine
moments later it buzzed the test failed
Man, good thing I swabbed my
glove before patting you down. he
struggled to pull the clinging glove from his sweaty hand
Good thing A good thing because it failed I didnt
Had I patted you down, swabbed,
it failed; you would have failed.
he didnt answer
he let TSAs remark hang in
the air
a pregnant pause
I would have failed
Yes.
Youre pretty casual about that
What would have followed
We, I, would have had to detain
you; further scrutinised you, gone through your belongings.
Because of your error
We wouldn’t know it was our error.
You said prior to swabbing you didnt want to finger me
I did. I didn’t want to finger
you. That’s why I checked, why I swabbed the glove.
But you could have
I could have.
You wouldn’t have known the
difference.
I do now
You do.
If I ever fail my pat down Ill
challenge it You might see this is cold comfort
I do.
Cold comfort But a perk
Perk?
Yes
I didn’t mean it as a perk. I
meant next time you might want to be more efficient, use the scanner, it’s less
invasive.
Less invasive because you know that Or
you were told that
Because it makes things more fluid.
Fluid
Ill say this as Brad Pitts character said in the film A
River Runs Through It . .
. . Good film
. .
.
. Then we have something in common He tells his brotheryou might remember Ill never leave Montana
Ill never submit to be scanned
They could make it mandatory.
Id drive
0556, Thursday,
16 5. 19
1239, Friday,
24 5. 19
