Free When Michael Met Mina by Randa Abdel-Fattah Page B

next minute you’re oh but I still feel sorry for them . Then you’re defending a guy who refers to Indigenous Australians as Abos and in quote marks . Terrence may be a smug idiot, but at least he knows it and owns it.’
    I’m slightly annoyed now. ‘Look, can we not do the personality analysis thing?’
    She raises her eyebrows at me but doesn’t respond.
    I take it as a cue to change the subject. ‘So how about we do the vox pop in the Village? That’s the main hub.’
    â€˜Fine, fine. So what day are you free to meet?’
    â€˜How about Sunday morning?’
    â€˜Yeah, I can do that.’
    â€˜Do you know the area well? You’re new here, aren’t you? You’ve moved here from Auburn, right?’
    â€˜Yep.’ I pick up a hint of defiance in her tone. It’s as though she’s challenging me to say something. ‘Been there before? Or are you a strictly North Shore kind of guy?’
    â€˜I’ve been to Parramatta.’
    â€˜You brave boy, you. Did you wear a bulletproof vest?’
    I can’t help but laugh. ‘You know, you have a deceptively laidback vibe about you until you open your mouth.’
    â€˜So I’m completely out of line in making that assumption?’
    â€˜Totally,’ I lie.
    God help me if she knows what my parents and their mates say about south Western Sydney. Ethnic ghettos. No-go lands. People stick to their own kind.
    The bell rings.
    â€˜So vox pop the public on Aussie culture.’ She rolls her eyes. ‘Morello, with his sense of humour, paired us together because we clearly have so much in common.’
    â€˜Clearly,’ I say, grinning.
    The beginnings of a smile stir on the edges of her mouth as she busies herself with her bag.
    We are worlds apart in every sense and I want to know everything there is to know about her.
    So that smile she gives me? It’s a first step – in my mind anyway.
    *
    On Saturday we say goodbye to Dad. He makes me promise to look after the family, and then Joe ushers him away, reassuring us he’s in good hands. I feel queasy just thinking about him in war zones. It sounded exciting at first. Now it seems like a stupid thing for him to have agreed to do.
    Seeing my mum cry is tough. She’s a strong woman and it takes a lot for her to break. I give her a big bear hug. She’s short and plump and her head comes to my chest. She looks up at me, wiping the tears from her eyes.
    â€˜When did you get so tall?’ she says sentimentally, taking a step back and blowing her nose.
    Nathan is taking it all in his stride. ‘Why are you sad, Mum?’ he asks.
    â€˜Because I’ll miss your dad.’
    Nathan proceeds to recite statistics on road accidents in Australia, and how we should be more worried about people falling off ladders and dying than being killed in a terrorist act.
    â€˜Hmm,’ is Mum’s simple response.
    Nathan is not satisfied he’s convinced her. ‘Mum, we have a bigger chance of dying in an accident on our way home than Dad has of being shot in Iraq,’ he says matter-of-factly. ‘Be more worried about us getting in our car now than Dad going to Baghdad.’
    â€˜Oh, Nathan,’ Mum says and blows her nose.
    I spend Saturday night at Terrence’s place. Fred is there too. We interrupt a game of COD to surf the net to trace Dad’s route and find out as much as we can about Iraq and Indonesia.
    â€˜It’s bloody information overload,’ Terrence mutters.
    â€˜Your dad could get killed, you know,’ Fred says.
    â€˜Gee, thanks man. That’s just what I needed to hear. Although, Nathan would challenge you on that.’
    Fred pulls a face. ‘Yeah, sorry. Just telling it as I see it.’
    â€˜Don’t worry. I’m stressed. Happy? This won’t be MasterChef . Undercook a roast and you’re kicked out. The program’s going to try to get the