He Became The Bad Boy

Jambo

I just love the rush when you're on a plan and it's taking off. You can literally feel gravity wanting to hold on to the plane and failing. It's a powerful feeling. Especially when you count how many times I've ended up on my ass because of gravity, I definitely like it when it loses. Like take that, you mean bully.

But then again, gravity is the glue that's also keeping everything on our beautiful planet together so.. I guess gravity is just doing its job when it comes to clumsy people like me.

"Are we there yet?" Someone-rudely- interrupts my peaceful pre-nap thinking. It's my little brother Harry who's traveling with me.

It was a bad idea from the beginning but my parents couldn't be reasoned with.

I take a deep breath in.

"No, Harry, we are not even out of the airport yet," I tell him in my calm voice.

His face immediately drops and just like that my irritation goes away.

"How about we find you a movie to watch? I'm sure they have that new Marvel movie," I scroll through the movies and successfully locate the movie I was searching for.

"Awesome! Thanks, Hana," he smiles sweetly at me.

I ruffle his hair, knowing how much he hates when I do it. But he's too distracted and just swats my hand away to put the headphones on.

I lift one ear off and tell him to wake me up when the movie ends.

**

The rest of the flight passes by and I spend it watching a few Bollywood movies and sleeping.

For safety reasons and because of Harry, I hang back until all of the passengers leave before grabbing our carry-ons.

"Come on Harry. We're finally here," I grab his arm and lead him gently out past the first class area and out of the plane.

We weave through the airport towards baggage claim and I grab our bags.

"Would you like some help with those?" Someone asks and I turn.

There's an elderly man waiting with a smile and I nod gratefully at him. Managing all our four bags plus the carry-on and Harry would have been extremely tricky.

"Thank you, I really appreciate your help," I say to him in Swahili.

He seems genuinely pleased with my comment.

"It's not every day I see American citizens speak our language fluently," He replies.

"Well, my mother tongue is a big part of me. Also, I was raised here so it would be very embarrassing if I couldn't speak it. I'm Hana," I introduce myself with a smile.

"Mr. Dhahabu. Nice to meet you," he replies and kindly shows me the way out of the airport terminal. "I'm afraid this is where we part, Miss Hana, I really hope you have people waiting for you because I would hate to leave you kids out here alone."

My face breaks into an even bigger smile as I spot my aunt Rahima and uncle Nur by the security doors.

"I think well be fine, Mr. Dhahabu," I assure him.

He pushes our bags out of the building and the sweet, fresh air hits me.

I inhale and enjoy the brief peace and calm right before I'm enveloped in a bear hug.

I get a little emotional as my uncle starts to cry like a baby.

"I missed you so much," he bawls, holding on to me like I am his lifeline.