On that journey to the airport the driver was talking to my father about how low crime is in Bermuda, and how rich Bermuda is, my dad had a grin on his face which I interpreted as saying ‘ this is a load of nonsense’. My dad often did that; he probably does that to be polite. We were half way there and the driver said he wants to stop over to fill up the petrol and that he wants to get freshened up. We all got out of the car and stretched our arms as high as we could, and we arched our backs until we felt that relieving sensation. As we were standing there a man pulled up to the left of us and out of his car, as soon as he got out he lit a cigarette, I was thinking to myself how incredibly dangerous that was. He was a well-built man, with short curly hair, he had light brown and beady eyes he looked like a washed up boxer. Anyway, he got out his car and filled up quite a bit of petrol is his pale green car, he filled up the car and looked around him, he lifted up his trousers from his belt and straightened his t-shirt from the hip area, then he slowly made his way bake to his car and tried to start the engine, the car made the starting noise but it never continued running so immediately after he did it again, this time turning the key longer than before, this he got running, then unexpectedly he drove of into the street into very fast traffic, the man in charge who was reading the paper got up and ran towards the car, which was getting further and further away at a quick speed, and shouted in Bermudan accent ‘ stupid man, you never gave the money’. It was ironic how the driver had just said that crime levels were low a crime takes place right in front of our own eyes.
Soon after we set of on our journey to the airport, it was about another 20minutes away, in the early stages of this last 20 minutes there was an awkward silence, as I think most of us were thinking about the crime, after a few minutes of everyone being in silence, the driver asked me whether or not I enjoyed my trip, as expected I said yes, and explained what I really liked best. Then he asked my sister whether she had bought anything good and she replied by saying ‘a few things, yeah’ I think everyone was feeling really tired as the sun was making everyone feel a bit weary and lazy, but the driver had a load of energy, that he wanted to release.
We were now getting closer and closer to the airport as we could start to see road signs, every time I saw one I thought it would be the last one before we actually reached the airport, but the after about 5 different road signs saying ‘airport’ I was starting to think it was quite a distance away, I was wrong again the one after I gave up turned out to be the airport. Finally we had reached the airport. I got out of the car and went to get a trolley to carry all of our suitcases, by the time I got back the driver had gone and the suitcases were ready to load onto the trolley. After we had loaded the trolley we made our way down to the checking in area were the queue was pretty long, but was moving swiftly. There were a British couple in front of us who had a strong Scottish accent, coincidently there were another group of people from Britain behind us, they were a group of men. At the time when we joined the queue there were 2 isles open but after the queue was gradually dying down one of them shut down, the couple in front of us, were relatively quick as they gave there luggage and moved to one side. Then it was our turn, my dad gave all the appropriate paperwork to the lady, and she carefully examined all of the documents and told to us to hold on for one minute. After about 5 minutes a man came up to us and said we were to early to check in. he recommended to us to wait in a little room until our turn.
After about 45minutes we had already checked in and were waiting in the queue ready to board the aeroplane. I was excited for no apparent reason even though I had been on an aeroplane quiet a few times that year. As we got on the plane, unusually my sister and I didn’t fight over the window seat, I think it was because we were so worn-out. This flight was only a short one as we had to stop over in America, so there was no point trying to get to sleep. After 1 hour 15 minutes we were about to land for a 1-hour stopover in America. When we were getting off the security guards were checking to see if anyone had anything metal on them. In front of us were a British- Muslim family, who looked very religious as they had all they religious clothing on. After being checked they all were told to wait, then after my family were checked we were told to wait.
We had been waiting about 15 minutes when the father of the Muslim family went up to one of the security guards and asked how long they would have to wait for and what the problem was. The guard turned around slowly and said someone will be with you soon, the Muslim father explained to him that he had another plane to catch and that they were running late already. I being 12 at the time assumed it was something that they detected in our belongings. After about 30minutes of waiting 2 security guards approached us, both white, tall, well built and both carrying guns around their necks. One of them apologised and said that we wouldn’t have to wait for much longer, and then the other one said that it actually was something they detected in our suitcase. Then they said someone would have a look at it with you in a while, they apologised again and walked away. My dad looked disgusted, he looked really upset as the guards walked away.
After the guards returned and asked for one person from each family to accompany them while they see what the product that was being detected was. My dad was in the bathroom so my older brother went instead. After about 10 minutes he returned and said that the computer read it wrong, without delay we swiftly made our way to the boarding area to get on to the plane back to England. Just before we were boarding my dad received a phone call on his mobile phone, I overheard a bit of the conversation, he was talking to his friend about how the guards and how they only kept us behind because of the colour of our skin, he said that it is terrible ever since 9/11.
When we all ready to leave on the plane the Muslim family walked down the isle late, and as they past our isle the Muslim man said to my dad ‘ Ridiculous innit’ my dad sighed.
During that journey home I really thought about how difficult it must be some people who must have it so much more worse then us. I know that racism is a factor in the world nowadays, although it is only a small minority of people that are racist. Ever since that journey home I have seen the world in a different light.
By,
Dhaval Rajani
Original Writing
10 Harborough R7
