Malad picked through her chips, devouring each morsel like it was the last bit of food left on earth. She could not waste it. After what seemed like an eternity to Amdo, though it had been only half an hour, they were ready to go.
They passed their way through the crowds. He looked around to find Malad with an ashen face. It was as pale as a sheet of blank paper. He was utterly mortified, enough to want to ask her what was wrong. She again replied with a story. But this time, she was more hesitant.
"It has just been so long since I went through security, and last time I did, it was, like, seven years ago, and it was not a nice experience, like, at all." She blabbered her way through the sentence.
"It's okay, honey, you're going to be fine, trust me." He placed his hand on her back as a way of consolation.
In no time, they were placing their bags on the black trolley and passing through cubicles of security boxes. As she walked slowly towards the boxy machine, her heart threatened to fall off her chest. But its loud cries were overtaken as her bracelet made the monstrous alarms blare across, what seemed, the whole airport.
She was taken by the hand to the side to get her checked manually while Amdo faced a similar fate, even without alarms.
At least the security guard was friendly and smiled kindly at her as she saw the terror in her eyes. Malad could not, however, forget what power remained behind that smile.
She had barely escaped the machines bleeping checks when another alarm blared over her bag. She ran across but was stopped by the wrist mid-way. It was Amdo, offering to take over the talking for her. Instantly, relief washed over her face as she thanked God for such an accomplice.
She could hear them talking about the sandals that she had foolishly packed in her hand-bag when her eyes drifted to Amdo's rucksack, which had just been scanned. She edged closer as she found the tip of a ticket hanging from the side of the bag. For a few seconds, the cloud of a frown gathered over her eyes as they whipped about left and right but the confusion was soon wiped out of her face as she grabbed the tickets from his bag and examined them to her heart's content. Amdo was debating the harm of mere sandals with the security when she placed the tickets back into his bag and walked over to him.
"It's okay." She said softly, "If I can't take them, we can throw them in the bin. I mean, those metal stilleto heels look pretty dangerous. You never know who annoys me, and I whack them right on their face."
Amdo laughed at her mock fierce look as the security guard debated his options mentally. "Okay," he said, finally, "just remember next time, no metallic sandals in the handbag, okay, young lady?"
"Yeah," she said, mentally adding "whatever" and rolling her eyes. She hated it when people called her "young lady."
As soon as she got her bag back, she whipped out her phone and typed away, first in notes, then on Google maps and scanned the maps while Amdo was away to get her drinks.