Suspicious Activity

For the last two days I've been in training in Alexandria, Virginia at the US Patent and Trademark Office complex. The USPTO center in Alexandria is a modern complex of five "green buildings" (environmentally energy-efficient) interconnected underground. I was struck by the number of foreign languages I heard while walking around the restricted hallways of the complex; Vietnamese, Korean, Urdu and several I could not identify.

On the ride home on the Metro the conductor repeatedly asked passengers to report any suspicious activity. I considered this carefully. Should I report the man in the suit without socks? How about the woman that couldn't decide whether to get on or off the subway car at the Pentagon station and got caught in the door? Then, I thought of reporting the "lady of girth" that backed up to a subwaycar's pole and gripped it tightly with her buttcheeks. On second thought, none of these matters are what one could consider unusual or suspicious behavior in the city.