Tao by John Newman Read Free Book Online

his legs so I could get past him.
    Inside the airport, my blue suitcase was the first one on the conveyor belt. I had been hoping that it would take ages or maybe not come at all, but it was the first. Dad only had hand-luggage, so that meant there was no more reason to wait around.
    “Come on, son,” said Dad, lifting my bag off the belt, “time to face the music.”
    “Do we have to?” I asked, but Dad just smiled and, putting his hand on my back, pushed me gently towards the Arrivals door.
    There were a lot of people in the Arrivals area. Some of them held up signs with names on them. The first name I saw on a sign was TAO. Mimi’s father, Paul, was holding it. Dad saw the sign at the same time.
    “Over there,” he said, pointing.
    Mimi was holding her father’s hand. They hadn’t spotted us yet. She was looking all around and she was biting her lip. Her other hand was a tight fist by her side. Her knuckles were white. I had not thought about Mimi being nervous to see me.
    “Come on, Tao,” said Dad, because I had stopped walking when I saw her. My arms were tingling and I could feel my hair. Then Mimi saw me.
    “Tao!” she called out and tugged her father’s sleeve. Then he saw us and his face broke into a big smile.
    My dad and Paul shook hands.
    “Hello, Mimi,” I said, and held out my hand.
    Mimi looked at my hand for a moment. She did not seem sure what to do.
    “Hello, Tao,” she whispered at last and suddenly she threw her arms around me in a big hug, which I wasn’t expecting. She nearly knocked me over. Both our fathers laughed and when Mimi let me go she was smiling too.
    “Hello, Tao,” said Paul and hugged me as well, my face pressed against his stomach. Dad was shaking Mimi’s hand and telling her that she was a beauty.
    Then everyone seemed stuck for words for a moment, until Paul said, “Right let’s go, because there are a lot of people waiting to meet you, Tao.”
    The adults led the way to the car and Paul explained to Dad that, although the whole family had wanted to come to the airport to meet us, they had decided that it might be a bit much at one go for poor Tao.
    “You would probably have turned on your heel and headed straight back home!” he said to me as he put his parking ticket in the machine.
    Mimi and I walked along behind. She glanced at me a few times and smiled shyly, but we didn’t say anything to each other. My mouth was dry and I couldn’t think of what to say. Mimi must have felt the same. My hands felt sticky.
    It was the same in the car. Mimi and I sat on each side of the back seat, the empty middle seat between us. Our dads were in the front talking away, the way adults do. Paul was explaining the itinerary – whatever that was.
    “First you get to meet the rest of the family, Conor and Sally, and that’s going to be pretty scary, Tao.” And he laughed.
    “He’s not worried about that,” put in my dad. But he was wrong.
    “Oh yes I am,” I said, and Paul smiled and told me that I would be fine. One part of me wished that I had stayed at home.
    “That’s the Dublin Mountains ahead,” pointed out Paul. “We live behind those mountains, Tao. Isn’t that so, Mimi?”
    Mimi looked at me and made a funny face, as if to say that she hadn’t got a clue and I couldn’t help giggling a bit. I do that sometimes when I’m nervous.
    “If the traffic stays light, we’ll be home in about forty minutes, I’d say,” continued Paul. “What do you reckon, Mimi?”
    Mimi made the same funny face again and shrugged her shoulders. I put my hand over my mouth to stop the giggle.
    “That’s roughly about what it takes for us to get to the airport as well,” added Dad. “Am I about right, Tao?”
    This time it was my turn to make a funny face and shrug my shoulders to show Mimi that I hadn’t got a clue … and her turn to put her hand over her mouth and giggle.
    “What’s the big joke, you two?” asked Paul, moving out a lane to pass a lorry.
    We