[IP] " I write badly, therefore I am a would-be terrorist":
Suddenly a light went on in my head. I remembered the passenger on my left leaning forward in his seat as I scribbled while we waited for takeoff. Seconds later, he’d clambered hastily over me without apology to make his way to the front of the plane. I’d assumed intestinal complications, but now that I thought about it, he hadn’t used the bathroom. He’d spoken briefly with the flight attendants and returned to his seat. As the security woman looked at me, I now realized the passenger had been about as interested in my puzzling prowess as she was.
So an otherwise respectable citizen works on the NYTimes crossword puzzle and jots down a note to himself — some dialog for a novel he’s working on — but the note contains the word “bomb.” Not as in “there’s a bomb on this plane” or “I have a bomb in my briefcase” but “I know this is kind of a bomb,” to be spoken by a 19 year old female character. I guess people of my generation would say “bombshell.”
And his seatmate on the flight reported him as a suspected terrorist to the cabin crew. I would be concerned by a passenger who climbs out of his seat and distracts the cabin staff with cockamamie stories about passengers with exploding crossword puzzles. I never heard of anyone taking over a plane without getting out of his seat. While I realize no one wants to take a chance that they aren’t sitting next to the next Richard Reid, over-reacting might be worse.