{"id":2356,"date":"2025-03-24T21:11:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T21:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2356"},"modified":"2025-04-25T09:23:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T09:23:05","slug":"no-fly-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/no-fly-list\/2356\/","title":{"rendered":"No-Fly List"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NY December 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an awkward moment on my arrival when an ICE agent insists on me unpacking my case. He tells me there is similar name to mine on their no-fly list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realise I can\u2019t remember my PIN, so I put my hand in my suit pocket to get my phone, and he reaches for his sidearm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPhone,\u201d I say, a weak grin on my face, withdrawing it slowly with two fingers. I can smell the heat of my sweat rising and try to suppress a tremble in my hand, but only succeed in dropping the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan I pick it up, sir?\u201d I choke out the words in guilty syllables. He nods, but doesn\u2019t let go of his gun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t you remember the lock code?\u201d he snaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new case, and I used a different code.\u201d it sounds weak. He looks at me through his mirrored lenses as I fumble with the thumbprint on my phone and retrieve the code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet me look at the phone,\u201d he demands, releasing his weapon and stretching out a gloved hand. I hand it to him shakily. He seizes it and determines it is a new, untainted phone with no incriminating documents or messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy have you brought a new phone?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy contract ended, so I got a new one,\u201d I reply. I can hear the defensive tones in my voice unwittingly condemning me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs it a burner?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s a two-thousand-dollar iPhone,\u201d I reply, my defensiveness turning abruptly to irritation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He throws my half a month\u2019s salary on the desk with contempt. \u201cOpen the case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fidget with the stubbornly intractable numbered wheels, eventually flicking the tabs and lifting the lid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He points. \u201cEmpty it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I take everything out and pile it neatly to one side in small carefully categorised units: socks and underwear, shirts, trousers, a bomber jacket, my spectacles, and a small jar of Marmite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d He says, pointing at the jar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMarmite. It\u2019s a fermented yeast product I spread on toast. I\u2019m aware it isn\u2019t readily available in New York, and I really can\u2019t face the day without it.\u201d My voice is stronger now I\u2019m on familiar ground: Americans always question me about Marmite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOpen it,\u201d he commands, so I twist the lid off and the pungent odour of the delicious, brown goo escapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou eat this?\u201d He queries, sniffing the jar. \u201cYou Brits are weird.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He let me go with, \u201cEnjoy your stay in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hold in a sigh of relief until I\u2019m outside the doors to the arrival hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my hotel, I sit down on the bed with the Marmite gripped in my hands, conscious of the weight of the jar, the pull of history, gravity, fate. Then\u2014fishing out the small plastic sack of neurotoxin\u2014I clean it with a wet wipe, load it into the syringe hidden in my spectacles case, and eye the bedside clock for my appointed hour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NY December 2026. There is an awkward moment on my arrival when an ICE agent insists on me unpacking my case. He tells me there is similar name to mine on their no-fly list. I realise I can\u2019t remember my PIN, so I put my hand in my suit pocket to get my phone, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1490,1572],"tags":[1574,1575,393,829,8,20,1573,13,12,126,148,128,1396,1576,191],"class_list":["post-2356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1490","category-the-list","tag-case","tag-code","tag-fly","tag-hand","tag-he","tag-his","tag-list","tag-me","tag-my","tag-new","tag-no","tag-out","tag-phone","tag-remember","tag-there"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-C0","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2357,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356\/revisions\/2357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}