Killing time at the airport

I'm stuck at Dulles Airport waiting for a delayed flight to Savannah GA to spend a weekend with my youngest sister.  It's catchup time -- just us girls-- to reconnect as our lives have drifted apart for the last couple of years.  I don't travel much anymore and am glad of it, so to be delayed late at night and then arrive at 1AM is not at the top of my list of fun things to do.

Dulles has grown up.  The "people movers" are gone.  Instead of piling in those oversized buses to cross from the main terminal to the outer terminal, there are sleek automated driverless trains, and then lighted floors guiding me on the long walk down sterile shiny halls full of Mariah Carey's voice softly floating through the air.

At gate C28X at the very end of the hall, I sit with quiet people buried in books (yes, actual printed books), tablets, smart phones or laptops.  A few children, wrapped up in their jammies, whine.

There's a guy standing about 15 feet from me eating from a fruit cup while he talks on his smart phone via earphone and wire about Republican politics, senators and players.  I catch references to Goldwater and "thanks for jumping on that for me."  During his second phone call, he tosses the fruit cup into a nearby bin then calmly sips his Starbucks coffee.  Soon, he's onto a third call which has lasted for some time now.

The dude's well cut suit, light blue shirt and dark blue tie separate him from the rest of us.  He would be handsome if he were taller and his shoes weren't scuffed. The rest of us are in jeans, sweats, and are generally wrinkled, showing the wear of a long day. The worst of waiting passengers wear tight shirts that reveal lumps that are definitely not worth sharing and they really don' look good when the shirt is pink.  Then there's the lady speaking into her phone as if it were a walkie talkie while she pushes, not pulls, her carry on bags.  Another guy is blowing his nose into his handkerchief while he searches for his gate.  We are a motley crew, except of course for the Republican operative.  It must be swell to be so sure that your are so important.