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By the time the security agents got all the zip barriers reconnected, we ended up at the BACK of the line. And the family with the kid who caused all the trouble was at the RONT. Now Mom and Dad were REALLY stressed, because our flight was supposed to leave at any minute. Dad begged one of the security agents to let us go to the front, but he didn't seem too sympathetic. I thought we were going to miss our flight, so I didn't really see the point of going through security. But Dad said sometimes they leave the gate open until the last second, and we might still make it.

We finally got to the front of the line, and we put our bags on a conveyor belt. Then we took off our coats and shoes and put them into some plastic bins. Manny saw what the rest of us were doing, and he started taking off-HIS clothes, too. Luckily, Mom noticed in time and stopped him before he could go any further.

Manny wasn't finished causing problems, though. Apparently, he thought the conveyor belt was some kind of RIDE, and he was really upset when he found out that it WASN'T. The people behind us were getting frustrated we weren't moving, but WE were being held up by the guy in front of us. He had to remove everything he had on that was metal, and it was taking him FOREVER.

Rodrick told me these machines can see through your CLOTHES, and then someone checks a screen to make sure you're not trying to sneak by with anything dangerous, All I can say is I wouldn't wanna be the person with THAT job. It turns out the X-ray machine that sees through your clothes is only for grown-ups, and kids go through a metal detector instead. Still, I wasn't gonna take any chances.

Once we got through security, we grabbed our stuff from the conveyor belt and took off. Our gate was down on the lower level, so we had to take the escalator. We couldn't even do THAT without causing a major problem. Manny's stuffed animal got stuck in the bottom of the escalator, and he had to press the Emergency Stop button so Mom could pull it free.

Dad checked his watch and said we might still make it, so we ran for our gate. But the gate was all the way at the other end of the terminal, and we knew we couldn't make it in time on foot. Just then, a cart for handicapped passengers came along, and Dad stopped it and asked the driver if we could hitch a ride. The rest of us got on board before she could say no.