The Lines We Cross

Mina and her mother immigrated from Afghanistan ten years before, fleeing the destruction of the Taliban, leaving behind Mina’s deceased father, and spending months in Villawood Detention Center upon their arrival in Australia. Mina, her mother, and her stepfather are preparing to leave their beloved neighborhood in Auburn and move to the lower North Shore of Sydney so Mina can attend the prestigious Victoria College where she’s earned a scholarship. Her stepfather, a chef with a successful restaurant in Auburn, plans to open a new one in Sydney. Mina’s mother learns that she protested the Aussie Values demonstration and encourages her to focus on her studies, saying, “We’ve made a new life for ourselves here. Let’s be grateful for that rather than drawing attention to ourselves” (13). Her mother’s high expectations add to the pressure and fear Mina feels as she begins this new chapter in her life.

Michael plays basketball with his friend, Terrence, and mentions that he saw a beautiful girl at a protest. He returns home and has dinner with his parents and his 10-year-old brother, Nathan. Alan announces that he’ll appear on SBS TV as part of a series called Don’t Jump the Queue: “Four weeks trailing the route of a boat person. Iraq to Indonesia to Australia” (19). Michael’s mother, a university lecturer, says that students who wear the hijab are only looking for attention. Her parents immigrated to Australia from Britain and made sure their children assimilated. Michael’s parents dream of him studying architecture and joining his father’s practice, but he secretly wants to become a graphic designer.

On Mina’s first day at her new school, Principal Robinson asks to put her photograph in the school’s magazine “to showcase Victoria College’s commitment to diversity and multiculturalism” (26). Mina misses her friends at Auburn Grove Girls High and feels nervous about attending school with boys. A girl named Jane asks Mina where she is originally from and if she’s a refugee. Mina’s 11th-grade classmates also include an arrogant and disruptive boy named Terrence, a boy named Michael who stares at her, and a bright girl named Paula Watson who loves to quote Oscar Wilde and gets bullied by her peers. In Society and Culture class, Michael and Terrence equate Islam with terrorism while Paula points out examples of violence perpetrated by Western nations. Mina initially tries to stay out of the debate, but she ends up arguing against Michael’s ignorant, anti-immigration comments.

Michael is astonished that the beautiful girl he saw at the protest is in his class. He feels bad about offending her and wishes that he could explain things the way his parents do. After class, he tries to apologize, but he only makes matters worse by spouting misinformation about refugees. He is “baffled by her hostility” when she rebuffs his apology, telling him that he needs to educate himself, and storms away (38).

Mina’s mother picks her up from school and takes her to the restaurant that her stepfather and his colleague, Irfan, are renovating. When Mina and her mother order a pizza from a neighboring business, a woman rudely stares at her mother’s hijab. Mina’s mother tells an employee named Tim that her family is opening Kabul Kitchen next door. He tells her: “Joe’s was popular. Guess it’ll be nice to get some diversity into the place” (41).

One morning, Paula introduces herself to Mina, and they bond over their mutual love of literature. Paula informs her new friend that she is Jane’s cousin, that Michael is generally easygoing, and that Terrence is “part dumb jock, part class clown, part vicious bully” (43). The girls’ budding friendship helps ease the pain Mina feels missing her life in Auburn.

On Saturday night, Michael goes to Terrence’s house and drinks with him and Terrence’s older brother, Mason. Mason and his friends go to a nightclub while Michael walks around town with Terrence, who shouts sexist remarks at women. After the group meets up again, a fight suddenly breaks out when a man accuses Mason of looking at his girlfriend and taunts him: “Can’t handle an Aboriginal guy with a white chick, huh?” (52). Michael joins in the fight, and the police take everyone to the station. Michael’s father ardently defends him when the police question him. No one is charged with a crime for the fight. Unbeknownst to Michael, Mason’s friends film the fight and post it online, where it gains the interest of groups like Aussie Values.

Mina, a perfectionist who was at the top of her class at Auburn, has never faced the kind of competition and pressure that she encounters at Victoria College. She is aware that she must “work twice as hard” as her white and affluent classmates (57).

Paula shows Mina a video of the fight between Michael, his friends, and the Aboriginal man. A current affairs program picks up the story and interviews a member of Aussie Values, who claims that the fight demonstrates “reverse racism” and that many people lie about being Aboriginal Australians to claim benefits (61). Mina sees Michael in the hallway and can’t resist mocking his bravado over the fight. Even as she criticizes him, she’s surprised to find herself admiring Michael’s appearance. She informs him that skin color has nothing to do with being an Indigenous Australian.

A TV presenter named Joe interviews Michael’s family for the program his father will be participating in. When Joe asks Michael a question, he recites the script he rehearsed with his parents: “Just because we want to protect our borders doesn’t mean we’re heartless. There are wars all over the world. More and more refugees. There has to be a limit, or we’ll be flooded” (71). Alan plans to spend a month abroad for the TV program, and he won’t be able to communicate with his family during this time.

On the opening night of Kabul Kitchen, Mina is struck by the difference between her stepfather’s old restaurant in Auburn and the new one, which looks “like a postcard from an Orientalist fantasy: part ethnic fetishism, part kitsch” (73). Mina finds her mother vomiting in the bathroom, and she tells her daughter that she is three months pregnant. Mina is ecstatic because she knows that her parents have wanted to have a child together for years. While she and her mother were in a refugee camp in Pakistan, Mina’s infant brother, Hasan, died of illness and malnutrition. Mina can no longer remember his face.

Michael attends a meeting of Aussie Values with his parents. About 60 people are present, including people who immigrated to Australia themselves, people who spread conspiracy theories that politicians and pop stars are secretly trying to convert people to Islam, and a man with a birthmark on his face named Andrew. The crowd applauds Alan when he gives a speech calling for immigrants to assimilate into Australian culture so that the country can return to a time when “Judeo-Christian values were the norm. When there was no threat of a clash of civilizations” (81). After his speech, Alan introduces Michael to the director of a lucrative architecture firm. The director offers to let Michael work for him once he starts university. Michael feigns enthusiasm, trying to conceal his dread.

As Terrence flirts with Jane at school, Mina and Paula are both baffled by her interest in the bully. Mr. Morello, the Society and Culture teacher, pairs Mina and Michael together for a project. She tries to set up a time to work on the assignment with Michael, but a crude comment from Terrence embarrasses her, and she hurries away.