Behind the scenes at the airport

"So this is what it's like to be escorted out of the airport," Simone thought inanely as the firefighters led her, B and their luggage toward one of the gates. Her writer's mind dreamed up half a dozen scenarios but she released them without regret: she had more important things on her mind. For one, B's head still appeared to be oozing blood and, for another, Simone had to juggle her hand luggage, B's hand luggage and a bag of reading material and goodies she'd bought in preparation for the long flight from Paris to Toronto. Unfortunately, they weren't going to make it on that flight, because B's wound needed stitches and, at the moment, they were climbing down some steps to reach the ambulance parked at the edge of the terminal. Simone and B each got a seat and they buckled up instants before the vehicle wheeled away. They were ushered into an operating style room. B was given a mask and told to breathe into it - he thought that was a funny request (and indeed it was). Then they stitched B's head up under Simone's supervision. "You may want to go and reschedule your flight," the doctor suggested. "We'll keep an eye on B while he's recuperating." Some recuperation: B ate cookies and drank juice. Thirty minutes later, Simone had secured a return flight for the following day... So much for 15 minutes until the flight boards. Now they had a 24 hour wait time...