A Suspicious Package

Yesterday I was chatting with two participants, taking pictures of

them with their digital camera, waiting to go into the recording room,

when a grey-haired man with a laminated I.D. came to the door,

beckoned me with his finger. I went out and he whispered quietly,

"You are going to have to the leave the booth."

"Why?" I asked.

"There's a situation."

I had to go in and interrupt an interview and tell the participants

that the booth had to be evacuated. We all hung around across the

street, D.C.tourists milling around. Police were stationed at the

corners to keep pedestrians from walking past the Madison Building,

where our booths are parked. When they finally let us back, I asked

the plain clothes policeman what had happened.

"There was a suspicious bag sitting on a bench right behind your

booth. But it turned out just to be an empty camera bag."

I went back into the booth, to find one of the participants missing.

When I asked where he'd gone, his wife told me that he had left his

camera bag on a bench outside.

Done