PROMPTuesday

Today's PROMPTuesday is up at Sandiegomomma's. First, a refresher of the rules:

• Try to write your entry in 10 minutes. This encourages top-of-mind, primal thinking before the ego and judgmental brain kick in. Just set a timer, make your kid count to 600 slowly, whatever. It’s an honor system. And I trust you.
• Aim for 250 words or less.
• Please have fun. Don’t put pressure on yourself. Together, let’s rediscover the simple joy in the writing process.

This week, write on this:

Just look at the word. And write.

"How long will I be held here?" she asked. The uniformed officer didn't answer. He didn't meet her gaze, but stared somewhere over her head.

Sandra shifted uneasily in the hard wooden chair. She had been on the plane 15 hours and her hair felt greasy and limp. Her handbag, without her wallet, lay open on the table. She reached for it to get a comb, and the officer took a step to block her hand.

"Have you called my husband?" she asked, for the hundredth time. "Please, does he know I'm here?" David had planned to meet her after she'd cleared customs, but she'd been taken from the line at the counter and escorted into the back office. Something was wrong with her visa.

But how could that be? She and David had been traveling back to England since he'd taken the university appointment, every holiday until now.

They had questioned her for what seemed an hour, and then placed her here, in this room. They'd kept her wallet, her California drivers' license, her British passport, her cash and credit cards.

The door opened, and a woman came in. "There are no other flights to London tonight, so we can't send you back until tomorrow. You'll be held overnight while we process your case. You'll be transferring downtown to the Women's Detention Unit. You'll get a claim slip for your belongings." The woman took Sandra's purse and walked out.

"But - "

The officer's eyes were fixed on the wall. He didn't move a muscle. Sandra's vision blurred with tears, and a sob burst from her throat as she let go of hope.