Author: Stark
Summary: "She could be anybody"
Author's Note: I know I said I was going to work on a sequel to S is for Spy and I still and but I swear my muse is like a small annoying dog. It bites my ankle and will not let go until I appease it or it gets bored. This starts off rather... randomly but I promise it will come together.
Passing Shadows
She could be anybody.
People watching fascinates me. One of the most incredible things in life is to root myself to one spot and look on as the entire world passes me by.
I spent an entire day in the same seat of metro train once doing just that. It's amazing the things that can be learned with just observing and overhearing.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not some kind of stalker. I won't follow your children home or watch you undress through your window. It simply fascinates me to see the different masks every single person dons throughout a day. Calling someone two faced is only an insult because we are all thousand faced. Each face seamlessly slips away and another takes up its place.
I pride myself on my ability to see the person behind the face.
This ability is the reason I've found myself shifting through a myriad a careers in my sixty years of life. I've been an English teacher, a med student, a profiler, an amateur philosopher, and even a photographer. Now I'm this.
It's a simple relaxing job for a retiree like me and it lets me watch people pass to my heart's content. See I have one of those odd jobs you never hear anything about. I work in an airport. It's a busy one in California called LAX. There are all kinds of people here with all kinds of purposes. All of them are important. From the pilots that fly the commercials jets to the young kids who toss the luggage from the conveyor belts to the cargo holds.
Then there's me. I'm not called upon to perform my function much but no one doubts that it's important. My job, you see, is to do what I do best. See people for what they really are.
When the friendly folks at check-in see a conflict between a passenger's face and his passport they call me. I can pick up the nuances that indicate if a discrepancy is a result of plastic surgery, an out right lie, or a case of dyed hair. I'm also pretty handy with identifying smugglers and other would be criminals.
For all the masks they wear, some people have the truth written plain across their faces.
In the ten years I've worked, here I've nipped as many potentially dangerous situations in the bud as all that fancy new security equipment. I've seen such a multitude of people you wouldn't believe it.
Movie stars, drug dealers, military personnel, brain surgeons, terrorists, politicians, businessmen, yes- men, teachers, children, bums, millionaires, drunks. And even some I couldn't pinpoint. All I know is they wore dark glasses, dark suits and went around talking to their wrists and people that weren't there quite a lot. The only ones I've never seen are the ones you hear so much about. The "normal" people. I'm beginning to doubt that they exist.
Some of the people I've met would have you saying, "I'll never wash this hand again." They're fine to see and make wonderful topics for small talk but they're not really the type to peak my curiosity.
The one's I'm interested in are the ones who perplex even an old pro like me. There have been few enough of these over the years. Of the ones there have been I managed to puzzle out all of them eventually.
All except her.
To be continued????? What do you think?
Summary: "She could be anybody"
Author's Note: I know I said I was going to work on a sequel to S is for Spy and I still and but I swear my muse is like a small annoying dog. It bites my ankle and will not let go until I appease it or it gets bored. This starts off rather... randomly but I promise it will come together.
Passing Shadows
She could be anybody.
People watching fascinates me. One of the most incredible things in life is to root myself to one spot and look on as the entire world passes me by.
I spent an entire day in the same seat of metro train once doing just that. It's amazing the things that can be learned with just observing and overhearing.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not some kind of stalker. I won't follow your children home or watch you undress through your window. It simply fascinates me to see the different masks every single person dons throughout a day. Calling someone two faced is only an insult because we are all thousand faced. Each face seamlessly slips away and another takes up its place.
I pride myself on my ability to see the person behind the face.
This ability is the reason I've found myself shifting through a myriad a careers in my sixty years of life. I've been an English teacher, a med student, a profiler, an amateur philosopher, and even a photographer. Now I'm this.
It's a simple relaxing job for a retiree like me and it lets me watch people pass to my heart's content. See I have one of those odd jobs you never hear anything about. I work in an airport. It's a busy one in California called LAX. There are all kinds of people here with all kinds of purposes. All of them are important. From the pilots that fly the commercials jets to the young kids who toss the luggage from the conveyor belts to the cargo holds.
Then there's me. I'm not called upon to perform my function much but no one doubts that it's important. My job, you see, is to do what I do best. See people for what they really are.
When the friendly folks at check-in see a conflict between a passenger's face and his passport they call me. I can pick up the nuances that indicate if a discrepancy is a result of plastic surgery, an out right lie, or a case of dyed hair. I'm also pretty handy with identifying smugglers and other would be criminals.
For all the masks they wear, some people have the truth written plain across their faces.
In the ten years I've worked, here I've nipped as many potentially dangerous situations in the bud as all that fancy new security equipment. I've seen such a multitude of people you wouldn't believe it.
Movie stars, drug dealers, military personnel, brain surgeons, terrorists, politicians, businessmen, yes- men, teachers, children, bums, millionaires, drunks. And even some I couldn't pinpoint. All I know is they wore dark glasses, dark suits and went around talking to their wrists and people that weren't there quite a lot. The only ones I've never seen are the ones you hear so much about. The "normal" people. I'm beginning to doubt that they exist.
Some of the people I've met would have you saying, "I'll never wash this hand again." They're fine to see and make wonderful topics for small talk but they're not really the type to peak my curiosity.
The one's I'm interested in are the ones who perplex even an old pro like me. There have been few enough of these over the years. Of the ones there have been I managed to puzzle out all of them eventually.
All except her.
To be continued????? What do you think?