‘Stay here, Rahul, next to the bags. Do not move. I’ll rush to the restroom and back.’
‘Okay, Mom,’ he said inside his head, not feeling like speaking aloud.
‘Are you listening to me?’
‘Yes, Mom,’ he said inside his head.
Mom looked at him. She shook her head from side to side. She turned and began walking very fast away from him.
He stood there. A lot of people were in the airport. White people, pink-yellow people, yellow-pink people, black people, black-brown people, brown people, light brown people, beige people, little people, big people, fat people, thin people, tall people, short people, men people, women people. They were carrying big backpacks, small backpacks, rectangular bags, bags shaped like hot dogs, ladies’ handbags, kids’ bags, red bags, pink bags, yellow bags, dark blue bags, dark green bags, light green bags, orange bags, purple bags, black bags, white bags, brown bags, light blue bags. He liked to list things. It kept him calm. Then a cart carrying people came straight towards him. He looked at its red spinning light and sound cutting through the air and didn’t move.
It came nearer and nearer. He didn’t move, watching the red light spin out in strips all around him. ‘Move, young man!’ people around him shouted. Their voices crashed against his ears like waves on the beach last summer. He didn’t move. ‘Watch out!’ yelled the man driving the cart. He looked like how Mom looked at him sometimes, when she had to press her hands together. Rahul couldn’t move. Somebody grabbed him and pushed him. He fell face down on the floor, and skidded for a distance, holding his body very stiff. The cart went past, just missing him, its siren going off loudly. His head and body were pounding in a beat beat beat beat beat beat. He tried to get up. He clutched his head to stop the beat. Mom? Mom! He felt searing pain in different parts of his body. Somebody was trying to lift him up. He hit out at them with his fists, kicked with his legs, wrapped his hands around his head, curled himself into a little ball. Beat, beat, beat, beat. No one came near him. Beat, beat, beat, beat. His head felt like a glass with water sloshing in it. He kept his eyes shut, hoping the beat would stop, the sloshing would stop. He lay still. The beat, the sloshing, they kept on.
He suddenly jumped to his feet, and started running. Running made the beat stop, the sloshing stop. Sometimes hitting his head against the wall did. But he felt like running. He ran and ran and ran. He could see people leaping out of the way, voices shouting. ‘Stop!’ ‘Police, stop!’ He ran past some people in bright blue shirts and black pants. They had black ties on. They looked like some of the teachers in his school. Some of them carried black sticks with handles. He could hear them yelling. He ran and ran and ran.
He heard a loud voice saying: ‘Someone has reported two unaccompanied bags near the security area. Please come forward to claim them if they are yours immediately. Otherwise…’
Somebody jumped at him sideways, and landed with him on the floor. He lay still, out of breath, his body feeling as though it was being poked by a hundred nails. The other person got up. ‘Get up!’ the man yelled. He lay still. He heard the noise in his ears swelling louder and louder. It sounded like the crowd at the Bats game Dad had taken him to. It was scary. It made him tense. He put his hands around his head and stayed curled on the floor. The water in his head was back to sloshing again.
Somebody pulled him to his feet. His body ached terribly. They grabbed his hands, shoved them behind him, and put silver bangles on them. The bangles felt cold and hurt him. Lavi wore bangles sometimes. They started pushing him along. He could hear them asking him questions. He could feel his head beginning to go beat beat beat beat.
‘What kind of stunt do you think you’re pulling?’ one voice said, talking very loudly to him like Miss Hennessy. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Rahul,’ he said inside his head.
‘Don’t you understand English? Tell me your name immediately!’
‘Rahul,’ he said inside his head.
‘That’s the game you’re playing, is it? We’ll teach you what’s funny!’ The man marched him on, holding one arm very roughly. The woman held his other arm. His arms hurt terribly. They made his head feel funny. They walked him back the way he had come. He felt a humming sound in his ears, like a bee had got in. He shook his head to make it stop.
Mom rushed towards them with the bags in her hand. Water was running down her face. ‘Rahul, Rahul!’ she shouted. She dropped the bags and ran towards him.
The man pushed her away. ‘Stay away, ma’am!’ he said to Mom.
She pushed him back, and grabbed Rahul. ‘Mom, stop that,’ he said in his head. ‘You know it hurts.’
The man said, ‘Stop it, lady! You want to be arrested, too? Step away immediately!’
‘That’s my son you have there, what are you doing to him? Let him go this instant! He’s autistic!’ Mom shouted. She put her hand in her handbag and shook it inside and took out something. ‘See! He’s autistic!’ she said so softly that he could hardly hear her.
The man and the woman stared at the paper. They looked at each other. Then the man said, ‘Well, it’s your fault, ma’am. You shouldn’t have left him unattended!’
‘I had to go to the restroom!’ Mom sounded like Slugger when he knew everyone was leaving. He wished she would stop making that sound. ‘How could I take him with me into the ladies’? I had to leave him outside. I told him to wait!’ Mom made that sound some more.
The woman said something to the man in his ear. He shook his head, pulled out some keys from his pocket. He reached behind Rahul and unlocked the bangles.
Rahul looked at his wrists. They had red marks on them.
Mom grabbed him again, hugged him. He tried to shake her off. He could hear her crying very loudly. He wished she would stop. He covered his ears. He fell on the floor and curled up into a ball. Mom saw him do that and stopped crying. The man and woman in blue-and-black stared at both of them.
Mom wiped her face with a tissue from her bag. She picked up one bag off the floor. ‘Take the other bag, Rahul,’ she said.
He picked up the bag. They walked to a door at the end of a long corridor. Mom showed some papers to a woman wearing a green suit standing there. Then they walked through the door and through another long tunnel. They came to a silver door and stepped in. Inside, grey seats were arranged. There were two on each side, and in the middle was a path. There were people in most of the seats. Another woman in a green suit told them where to sit. Mom put the bags in the box above the seats. Mom’s hands were shaking.
Then they sat down. He sat near the window. Mom sat in the middle seat. No one sat next to Mom. He looked out of the window. He could see many people in uniforms walking below the window. He heard a noise like the ocean. It was coming closer and closer and closer. He felt as though he were in a box underwater and needed to get out. He pushed against the window, he pushed against Mom. The words on the seat in front of him shouted out at him: LIFE VEST UNDER SEAT, LIFE VEST UNDER SEAT. He started hitting his head against the seat in front of him to help him feel better.
The man in front in the blue shirt turned round and said, ‘Stop that!’
Mom grabbed Rahul, held him back in the seat. ‘Sorry!’ she said to the man. ‘Please, Rahul,’ she said. ‘It’s just the plane’s engine. Please calm down.’ But that was what he was trying to do. He tried to beat his head against the front seat again but Mom wouldn’t let him. He yelped. Sometimes that helped. Several people turned to look at them.
He yelped again. The woman in the green suit came rushing up. She took a look at him, at Mom. She reached into her pockets and took out some things. ‘Here,’ she said to Mom. ‘Give him these headphones, turn to Channel Three, baroque music, that generally helps.’
Mom stared at her. The woman in the green suit smiled at Mom like Lavi sometimes smiled at him when she thought he was tense. ‘I have one at home,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get you through this.’
Mom showed him how to put the headphones on. Pieces of water came out of Mom’s eyes, went down her face, and fell off the bottom. He put the headphones on. He could hear the music. Ta-taa ta-ra-ra tat-taa-taa, ta-taa ta-ra-ra tat-taa-taa! Now the ocean started going away. He clasped his hands, started shaking his head in tune. ‘Thank you,’ he said to the woman in the green suit without looking at her. She waved, smiled. She said something back but he couldn’t hear what it was.
Mom said something to the woman in the green suit. The woman in the green suit patted her. The woman in the green suit waved at him again and went away. He nodded at her.