This interview was conducted by Striving_Muslimah with the permission of Redumbrella95, and on behalf of Muslims_Ink. The interviewee consents to the use of his/her words and answers in this interview. Furthermore, the interviewee understands that the purpose of this interview is to "introduce" the author (i.e. his/herself) to our community of readers here. Therefore some questions will be personal, and some will be about their works. It was with this understanding that the interview was conducted.
@Redumbrella95's interview By striving_muslimah
The plane dipped low in the sky and passengers jolted awake as the carrier landed. It rolled down the runway and came to a final stop. The pilot announced the arrival and landing of the flight in Ohio, United States through the speakers, and the doors open to allow the passengers to leave.
Sitting by the window, I turned to Yousef-who was completely knocked out, snoring-and nudged him hard in the side. "Wake up. We're here."
He opened his eyes and looked at me, his eyes sleepy and unfocused. Then he turned away, closing his eyes to go back into peaceful slumber.
Grumbling in aggravation, I nudged him harder and pulled his hair to get his full attention. "Yousef!" I hissed. "Wake up! We're here!"
His eyes flew open and he moaned in pain. "Oww." He glares. "That was mean."
"It got you up, didn't it?" I returned.
From behind us, Mom rose from her chair and made her way down the aisle. "Come on, guys. We need to get to our hotel."
Yousef followed; I sighed as I grabbed both my and Yousef's bags from the overhead luggage compartments and hurried after my mother and absentminded, irresponsible brother. I lifted my abaya slightly, so it would be easier to walk and so I wouldn't trip over the too-long hem-it had been made several inches too long by my not-so-trustworthy tailor-and ignored some of the stares we received from the other passengers as we left the airplane, entered the terminal, and then went through customs.
It had been years since I had stepped foot on American soil, and now I was here-in a state that wasn't my own, all for the sake of an interview on the behalf of Muslims_Ink. I had gotten all the details from my interviewee, and now my mother, brother, and I had flown all the way from the Middle East-I couldn't go without a mahram, and my mother certainly wasn't allowing us two to leave the country on her own being the overprotective mother she was-so I could do the interview.
Once we had gone through customs and left the terminal, we flagged down a taxi cab to the hotel we had booked our two-day stay at. As soon as we arrived, we made up any prayers we had missed during our long flight, and then Mom decided she was tired out and lay down to rest. Yousef found his video game device in his duffel bag-which I had kindly remembered-and sat himself in a corner to play.
I would have taken the time to rest, but I was anxious to get the interview done and over with, just in case I wouldn't have the time later on since Mom had the tendency to enjoy exploring new places when she wasn't tired. So I straightened my abaya, made certain my niqab was secured, and prepared to leave the hotel room.
I knew Mom wouldn't appreciate me leaving on my own-especially since we were in an unfamiliar place, and I had absolutely no sense of direction and could get lost easily. It was also Islamically more appropriate for me to take Yousef, even though he was only fourteen and seemed more interested in games than the real world.
"We're going out-let's go."
He looked up, scrunching his eyebrows in confusion. "Where?"
"You'll see," I replied. "Come on."
