A Wind of Change(11)

“You should put Lalia’s inhaler in your bag,” my mother called from the hallway.

Lalia’s asthma was better than it had been a few years ago, but there were still occasions when she needed her inhaler.

My little sister was lounging on her bed, humming an off-tune song to herself as she busied herself with a coloring book.

“Laly, where’s your inhaler?” I asked.

“I dunno,” she mumbled, making no motion to get up and look for it.

I guessed my mother had put it in the bathroom cupboard. I was right. Pulling it out, I placed it in my backpack.

We went to bed early that night because we were due to leave at 4am the following morning. The three of us woke up to my shrill alarm going off. Stumbling out of bed, we crowded into the bathroom. Lalia was falling asleep standing up, her toothbrush hanging lopsided in her mouth. I grabbed a washcloth and wet it with cold water, brushing it over her face to wake her up.

We took turns taking a shower and getting dressed. My mother was already in the kitchen, making sandwiches for us to take to the airport.

Once the taxi driver called up to say that he had arrived, I bundled out of the apartment with my two sisters and our luggage, while my mother made her way down after us with Jamil strapped into his wheelchair. I took the stairs while the rest of them took their chances with the elevator.

Arriving on the ground floor, we stepped outside and piled into the car. As it drove away, I couldn’t help but feel excitement for the journey. Although I wished that my mother and Jamil could come with us, I couldn’t deny that I would enjoy getting out of the neighborhood for a while.

Once we had arrived at the airport, my mother and Jamil stayed with us as long as they could until we got in line for the security checks. Then we kissed and said goodbye before my sisters and I passed through the barrier into departures.

We kept waving until my mother was out of sight. I looked down at my two sisters. Lalia was wide-eyed and looking around at the shops surrounding us in the departure lounge, clutching my forefinger in her pudgy hand. Dafne was looking up at me expectantly.

“What now?” she asked.

I took her hand too, holding both of my sisters close to me, and checked the departures board.

“We don’t have that long to wait. Half an hour before we have to go to our gate. We can hang around the shops.”

We couldn’t afford to purchase anything, but my sisters enjoyed looking around the perfume shop. After that, we moved to the book shop and spent the rest of our time there before heading to the gate for boarding.

Lalia requested her sandwich and finished it during the fifteen minutes we had to hang around before we could finally board the plane. We took seats next to each other near the front of the aircraft. Dafne got air sickness so she got the window seat, while I positioned Lalia in the middle and I sat in the aisle seat.

A mischievous smile slowly spread across Lalia’s face. She looked up at me. “Did Mommy pack any lollipops… or baklava?”

“No baklava,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “But she gave us lollipops to help keep our ears unblocked. I’ll give you one once the flight takes off.”

I handed her and Dafne a strawberry lollipop as the plane took off from the runway and unwrapped one for myself too. I leaned back in my chair, looking up at the screen above our seats. We had a long flight ahead of us.

After Dafne and I ate our sandwiches, all three of us fell asleep. It was lunchtime by the time I woke up again. An air stewardess was standing by our row of seats, offering us trays of food.

I woke my sisters and placed our tables down in front of us. We watched a movie as we ate, and after lunch, Dafne and I played a game of hangman while Lalia continued watching the screen. Once the movie had finished, Lalia insisted on playing a game of snap—my mother had thoughtfully packed the cards in her bag. It was one of her favorite games, and she won almost all the time.

We dozed off again at some point and, on waking up the next time, it was to the news that we were approaching Cairo International Airport. I felt the plane beginning to descend. I looked over at Dafne. She was staring out the window, her knuckles pale as she gripped her seat. Surprisingly, she had coped well on this journey. Normally she vomited at least once.

Once the plane had touched down and taxied to a stop, we all stood up and stretched our legs. Then I bundled our carry on luggage out of the locker overhead. I felt excited as we moved toward the front of the plane. It wouldn’t be long now until we would be reunited with our grandfather.

As we stepped out of the plane, the hot Egyptian air engulfed us. I was already sweating. We hurried through the rest of the airport and, after reclaiming our baggage, we finally reached the arrivals area. We looked around for our grandfather. Lalia was the one who spotted him first.