Chapter 31

                                    

                                          
Entering the sliding glass doors, I observed the ever so familiar hustle and bustle of the airport. It was strange, I was just here over a week ago, and while it felt very familiar, it was completely different. The last time I was here, I was just a man travelling to Florida with my wife. Now I was a teenage girl travelling home with her mother. This was beginning to happen very often, where I felt familiar with a place, despite being there for the first time in my new body. When I got home, I was going to have to get used to that feeling. I began to think about what it would be like once I got home. I was no longer going to be sharing a bed with Meredith, instead I would have to have my own room. One that I could decorate myself. I thought about how I would decorate it. I was thinking of adding some feminine touches. Maybe some pink sheets, some cute stuffed animals, a nice rug, a vanity for me to brush my hair and put on my makeup. I wasn’t fully sure that this was the type of person I was, however, I was a teenage girl now and I felt I needed to fit the role. In a way, I felt I was starting to fit that role. While it was a bit of a sudden and awkward transition, I was enjoying being more feminine. I wasn’t planning a room based on a new personality, but rather a completely new person. Maybe I could add some posters and some LED light strips along the edge of the room. You know, the kind I could change the colors to whatever kind of mood I was in. “We’re at gate 207, Daytona Beach to Chicago,” Meredith said to me as I snapped out of my daydream. Meredith pointed down the busy corridor as we quickly proceeded to the gate. Meredith looked at her watch. “Great, we made it with several minutes to spare,” Meredith said as we approached the gate. “Are you boarding?” Meredith asked the woman who was standing in front of the gate. “Yes, we are boarding right now. Can I see your ticket and a photo ID?” the woman replied. Meredith showed her our tickets and her driver’s license. The woman looked at both. She replied, “Just a moment ma’am,” as she turned to a man in a red sport coat. The woman conversed with the man, quiet and distant enough where I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. I turned to Meredith and asked, “What do you think they are talking about?” Meredith replied, “I don’t know, but it can’t be good.” The man in the red sport coat walked toward us and said, “Meredith Parker, we just have some questions for you. When you were here last, you were traveling with Chris Parker, your husband, correct?” “Why, yes,” Meredith replied. “We were traveling here for a getaway and for my friend’s daughter’s dance competition. Unfortunately, my husband passed away in a drowning accident at the beach a few nights ago,” Meredith continued. “I see, I’m sorry to hear that ma’am,” the man replied. “My next question, who is this girl you are traveling with?” the man continued. “This is Olivia, my adopted daughter. My husband and I both came down here to adopt her before he passed,” Meredith said to the man. “Pleased to meet you, Olivia,” the man said as he offered me a handshake. “One more thing, do you have any photo identification for Olivia? Like a school ID or a passport?” the man asked. “I have neither,” Meredith said warily. “Okay, ma’am, I’m going to need to see her adoption papers,” the man replied sternly. Meredith looked suddenly alarmed. “What? Why do you need to see them? I don’t think I would need them for a domestic flight, let alone any flight at all,” she said. “I just need to see them, ma’am. Just to let us know that she is who you say she is,” he said to Meredith. “No, I don’t have them. The papers…. are being mailed to our house,” Meredith said, frazzled. The man stepped aside and spoke into a walkie talkie.  Four security guards approached us. One of them started talking to Meredith. “Ma’am, we are going to have to talk with you and this girl separately,” the security guard said firmly. Now I was getting scared. Was our story starting to unravel? I didn’t know why they wouldn’t let us board that plane. I was afraid that we would never get home. “What? Separately? Why?” Meredith said, her voice and tone rising, starting to appear angry. “Ma’am, please comply with our orders,” the man replied strictly. “Orders?! Sir, my daughter and I are just trying to get home. If you would please leave us alone, we will—” the man interrupted as he spoke into his walkie talkie. “We’re going to need some backup at gate 207, a woman who is non-compliant with a request for identification. She is starting to get belligerent.” The security guards stood between me and Meredith. “Please come with us,” one of the security guards said to me as he grabbed my arm. “No! I’m staying with my mother,” I said, pulling myself away. The man grabbed my arm more firmly as he pulled me further away from Meredith. “Get your hands off of my daughter!” Meredith yelled. As she yelled, the security guards forcefully pulled us in opposite directions. “Mom!!!” I screamed. “Olivia!!!” she screamed urgently. “I…. I’ll come back for you, Olivia!!!” Meredith shouted as they forcefully whisked her away. The security guards pulled me down into a side room not too far from the gate. The guards quickly left the room, and I could hear the door lock as they left the room.