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It was sitting there when I walked down the hall at 8 a.m. Truth be told, I didn't think anything of it at the time. After class, I walked back to my office and it was still there.
When my next class started, just after lunch, I noticed that it was still there. Now, I was curious--and just a little uneasy. It was an old green suitcase, just sitting there on a table in the hall of the Arts building where I teach. Perhaps, in another time, I would have shrugged, and just ignored it again. But this time, I felt the weight of the craziness in which we live.We live in an age when people, intent on destroying something, put bombs in suitcases. We live in an age when, because some people plotted to blow up a plane using ordinary liquid chemicals they planned to put into shampoo or other cosmetic bottles , we can no longer take bottles larger than 3 oz. on planes. We live in an age when someone tried to turn his shoe into a bomb, and so now we all dutifully shed our shoes as we approach airport security.
What an age we live in.
So, I put down my class books, turned around and walked back to my office and said to the secretary--here's a strange assignment. There's a green suitcase just sitting in the hallway. It was there at 8 a.m. and now 4 and a half hours later, it's still there. She did not laugh at me; instead her eyes got big, and she said--I'll call security right away. What an age we live in.
When my class was over, the suitcase was gone. I am trying to find out what happened to it--so far, no luck. On seeing the secretary today, I asked her if she had heard anything, but she had not.
7 comments:
I hope security can give you an answer. I haven't seen a suitcase like that in years.
I think all of us are much more observant than we used to be. We notice things we would have overlooked in the past.
My home care office used to be in a municipal building downtown and one day a briefcase was left in the lobby. The entire place was evacuated. I unknowingly entered through the parking garage and went to the 4th floor which was completely empty, computers still on, books open on desks. It was very eerie. One of the case managers teased me about experiencing "the rapture". The suitcase was not a threat after all.
How sad is that when what would in past times be considered a fun mystery to explore suddenly becomes something in our minds which might just cause our demise? Yep, what an age we live in. Oh, for the days when you wouldn't have thought twice about running right up to it to peer inside and share the mystery with us.
The day the world changed - - -
Times have certainly changed, Donna. Never hesitate to call security, no matter how ridiculous it might seem. I called campus security two weeks ago when I noticed a man sitting in a car for two hours on the campus parking lot. Turns out, he was waiting for his daughter to come from class and napped while he waited.
When you find out about the suitcase, let us know?
Maybe I'm just dumb or naive, but I would've gone over and opened it. My curiosity over such a cool old suitcase (and the fact I had one just like it as a kid) would've crowded out any caution flags that might've gone up.
Now I definitely need to know what happened!
It's the things that are left unknown that drive me crazy. Is there any way that you can find out who put it there and what was inside?
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