The day of the trip finally arrived. Roger had ordered a taxi to arrive at 10 and they would stop and pick up Liz en route. Maureen was still repacking her bags even as the the taxi turned up. It seemed every 10 minutes she thought of something else she needed to include. Roger had never seen her so excited about an impending trip.
The trip to the airport was uneventful. Liz was ready when the taxi turned up and the traffic was light. They arrived a good 3 hours before their flight. At checked in their luggage. The only problem was the seat allocation. Liz was not able to sit with her friends who were in 18a and 18b. Instead she was allocated seat 35e. evidently in the middle of the plane. She tried to have this changed but was told that was not possible.
Then there was some problem with Maureen's passport. She was taken into a room and questioned. Roger and Liz had got through with no trouble and just had to wait patiently. 20 minutes later Maureen emerged 'They didn't believe my age. They thought I was impersonating myself'
They then ran in more problems getting through airport security. They queued up and waited. It seemed that there must have been some sort of scare as things were moving so slowly.
It took over 20 minutes to get to the front of the queue. Maureen went through first. She had to go through the walk through scanner 3 times then got taken aside and re-scanned with a hand scanner. Then there was a problem with her carry-on bag as well. It turned out her tube of toothpaste was too large and it was confiscated.
Roger got through the scanner on the second try. This was without shoes. The eyelets on his shoes were evidently setting the scanner off. At least his carry on bags went through without incident. A very frustrated man began to put shoes back on and waited for Liz.
Liz was having problems with her carry on bag. Evidently something in it was setting off alarms for the scanner technician. She was asked to empty the contents into trays and re submit for scanning.
One tray was rejected for a second time while Roger was putting his shoes back on he heard the guard ask Liz. 'What's in that plastic bag? It looks very strange on the scanner. Please open it and show me the contents'
Roger heard Liz say 'It's just an old necklace. A family heirloom'
'I need to see it. Please empty the contents into another tray' The guard sounded rather peeved.
Roger was putting his belt on by now. Liz meanwhile had been called aside for explosives testing.
Liz was finally allowed to walk through the scanner. Miraculously she wasn't pulled up. She began to gather the contents of her bags. Roger now with his belt back on. Reached across to help her. He was worried they were running late and wanted a coffee before they had to board. He had a longer reach than Liz and reached across to pick up the family heirloom she was taking with her. To tell the truth he was a bit curious to see what had set the scanner off.
It just seemed to be an old bronze necklace. Roger thought nothing of it. 'Don't forget this' he said as he passed the necklace to Liz who was repacking her bag.
He must have picked up static electricity as when he touched Liz he felt an electric shock. Liz must of as well as she developed a very alarmed look on her pretty face.