Angers . . . I’m Ba-ack!

This flight was the first time I’d ever laughed freely in a security line.  One of the TSA guys was telling jokes while giving us safety instructions.  He would pace back and forth in front of the new image scanners, and he said to no one in particular, “How many of you smoke?”  Silence.  “Well some of you are lying, because studies say at least one in five of you do, and after this checkpoint, you can’t just step outside to light up.  So if you’re jonesing, too bad for you.”  After surviving the scanners (I really wanted to opt for the pat-down instead, but I thought I’d better not make a scene), we sat in O’Hare for a couple hours before boarding the flight.  This waiting period was the most extensive amount of time we spent together without having a preplanned topic of conversation in place.  Let’s just say we definitely earned our merit badges in Small Talk that day.  We also tested our oral comprehension, as we happened to choose seats next to a French couple.