Exhale by Sharifa Tartoussi
Exhale
April 2022, Naarm (Melbourne, Victoria)
I arrive ninety minutes before my scheduled flight and move through bag-drop seamlessly, check my carry-on baggage one last time before standing in line behind a young family, the little boy asks whether it hurts when the plane takes off for the third time and I inspect the bottom of water bottle for any droplets, move up in the line, try not to look nervous, take my laptop out, put it in a tray, apologize, put it back in my bag, put it in new tray, whisper a faint bismillah, take out my wallet and my keys, my belt, wonder about the underwire in my bra, walk through the metal detector, shoulders back, head high, not too high, appear confident, not suspiciously confident, breath shallow as I pass the security officer before I hear a familiar excuse me ma’am, you have been selected for a random explosives check
directed at the woman behind me.
It’s been one thousand and ninety-six days since I stopped wearing a headscarf.
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