Waiting

The scene: A carryout pizza store in North Baltimore. Six customers are waiting while an obviously short-staffed crew scrambles to ready pizza orders. They are running behind, and one muscular male customer, about 25 or 30, is angry. He is bleary-eyed, maybe drunk, or worse. He is waiting there with a little girl, maybe his daughter, maybe 8 years old. He begins to bad-mouth the harried clerk and the pizza shop in general, casting four- and eight-lettered obscenities into the air, resentful at having to wait 20 minutes for his order.

Los Angeles -- Picture it -- thousands of people standing in front of the Capitol, millions glued to their television sets, all waiting patiently for Bill Clinton to arrive and be sworn in as president . . . and waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting . . .Mr. Clinton seems prone to habitual tardiness, a trait he shares with thousands of Americans and one that can mean a deep-rooted problem. Or it can mean he just can't tell time. Or that he's a narcissist or overly authoritative. Or any number of other motives.

Good morning--LeBron James -- For NBA fans who've been waiting for a Jordanesque performance, we say thank you.

During the past four months, former Ravens running back Bam Morris has gotten up each day to work out as many as three times a day. And then he waits for a phone call from one of 30 National Football League teams inviting him to training camp.Thus far, the Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots have shown lukewarm interest, but there are no imminent deals. Instead, Morris keeps training, running and lifting weights. And waiting, and waiting and waiting"In my heart, in my mind, there has never been a question about me still being able to play in this league," said Morris, 26, appearing with his new agent, Terry Lavenstein, a prominent Baltimore attorney, in Lavenstein's downtown office.

I WATCHED the drama of Columbine High School unfold on live television, and instinctively I felt the waiting, the not-knowing, the unrelieved dread of those parents.I felt it as if I were inside the skin of those frightened grown-ups. I felt the panic that would shoot out like sparks from a brain that had suddenly stopped working. I felt the stomach-flipping terror that would make my guts feel like they were sugar cubes dissolving in hot water. I felt the apple-sized ache in my throat as I tried to suppress a scream or a sob, I don't know which.

The Day Eddie Met the Author By Louise Borden Editor's note: A third-grader gets writing tips from a professional. Tuesday was going to be a great day for Eddie and his class. It was the day a real author was coming to Riverside Elementary School. Eddie had been waiting, waiting, waiting ... The whole school had been waiting. Especially Eddie's teacher, Mrs. Morrow. She loved real authors. She loved how real authors made the words flow, and how the words sounded just right, and went with pictures in their own way. Mrs. Morrow said she couldn't live without books and the wonderful stories in them.

When it comes to photographing presidents, the Secret Service makes showing up very early a necessity. When President Bush recently visited the Naval Academy in Annapolis to deliver a speech on the war in Iraq, the media were instructed to arrive before dawn. The Sun used a photo of midshipmen listening attentively to Bush, but an image I captured of the Mids waiting for him to arrive offered an amusing, offbeat view. While I was waiting, I also saw Jennifer Ziehl, who runs the production company hired to erect the "Plan for Victory" stage set, vacuuming the stage where the president would speak.

Some of the Baltimore County school administrators who were demoted or involuntarily transferred last spring are complaining that they are still waiting for the opportunity to appeal, more than six months after Superintendent Stuart Berger's shake-up. School officials say they will get their chance soon.As of Friday, no hearing dates had been set for as many as 10 employees due second hearings on their transfers, said Ray Suarez, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County."The common man is still waiting on the board for his due process," Mr. Suarez told the school board Tuesday.

WAITING IN LINE at the post office can seem like forever -- unless you're watching the troubles young Jimmy Stewart is experiencing as George Bailey in "It's A Wonderful Life." And then you realize that cooling your heels for several minutes for some stamps isn't really the worst torture you could ever endure.Workers at the post office in Harford County's Abingdon came up with the idea of setting up a TV set in the lobby and playing tapes continuously, such as the Christmas classic, "It's a Wonderful Life," or for children waiting with their parents, "Beauty and the Beast" and "101 Dalmatians."

CLEVELAND -- Nothing, it seems, will go right for Mike Flanagan these days.Hampered by control problems, the left-hander suffered through perhaps the most difficult inning of his career Saturday, when he gave up eight runs and three walks and hit two batters. "I'm just not making quality pitches," he said.Last night, called on to stop a rally by the Cleveland Indians before it got out of hand, he threw strikes and appeared to have the uprising under control. After giving up an infield hit to Kenny Lofton, Flanagan scooped Thomas Howard's squeeze bunt and appeared to have an easy play at the plate on Mark Lewis, who was streaking from third on the pitch.