With my bags on the conveyor, I am in line to step through the airport metal detector. The woman in front of me is waiting on a guy to come back through and remove his belt. It’s the woman’s second or maybe her third attempt to get through and she’s a bit flustered. During the few seconds I’m behind her the words “Compliment her hair” come into my head – but I wait. I am cautious of such ‘request’ and take the path that if the opportunity presents itself again, I will do as requested. She heads through the detector, successfully navigating the mini-gauntlet, and disappears around the corner.
I step through and grab my bags, step over to a table to reassemble my accoutrements, and turn to head to the escalators. Once again I see the woman but she is a few steps ahead and again I hear “Compliment her hair”, but she is not close enough.
She chooses to take the laborious stairs while I take the escalator. I am moving faster than she is and we are now side-by-side, separated by the escalator wall, and I tell her “You have amazing hair”. She smiles, says thanks, and explains the technical aspects about how it’s easy to keep. I nod and tell her that it’s just beautiful with its wave and how it flows.
The entire exchange of words takes the remaining trip to the top of the stairs. She pauses there, looks at me and says “Thank you for that. This morning I really needed to hear it.”
With a nod and a “You’re welcome”, we head off in separate directions.
Copyright © 2025 G. Steven Nolte – Rights for non-commercial reproduction granted: May be copied in its entirety, but neither retyped nor edited.