I was reaching for my bag having just passed through the scanner in ATL when suddenly....one of the security agents SCREAMS,"Everybody FREEZE!!! Nobody MOVE!!!"
Oh my GOSH I about had a heart attack! Everyone froze as commanded (I was momentarily taken back to 1969 when we'd play freeze tag on those hot summer nights in the south)
"I said FREEZE!!!! NO ONE MOVE!!!!," again he screams. (someone had moved...probably lowered a mid-air foot as this instruction had come quite out of nowhere and the body truly hadn't had time to weight-shift)
Surprisingly, I had a sudden urge to run. My brain had dumped every available adrenalin chemical into my bloodstream and this intense self-survival mode was trying to force me to remove myself from what was about to be (or seemed to be) a scene of explosion and bloody body parts.
Juuuust as I was sorting out the ramifications of sprinting (a shot in the back perhaps?), the agent said, quite casually...almost too casually as if he were ordering pancakes at IHOP..."Thank you for participating in an emergency drill. You can now carry on."
And where might we find the clean underwear aisle?
Has anyone else had the pleasure of TSA's version of freeze-tag?