I Was Breastfeeding My 5-Month-Old Baby When the Woman Sitting Next to Me on the Plane Said, 'Lock Yourself in the Toilet' – Then My Older Daughter Put Her in Her Place

Ouadie Rhabbouron

The woman beside me looked irritated before the doors had even closed.

“I can see you,” she said. “And I know how to press the call button.”

“Only for emergencies.”

“What about bad snacks?”

“Especially not.”

She wore a gray suit, pearl earrings, and the expression of someone already composing a complaint.

The woman beside me looked irritated before the doors had even closed. She wore a gray suit, pearl earrings, and the expression of someone already composing a complaint.

Then she looked at Noah.

“If your baby starts screaming, I’m not going to sit here and listen to it. I’m warning you.”

“We haven’t taken off yet.”

Behind us, Louise leaned forward to speak up for her sibling.

“I know babies,” she said. “They always scream when people are trapped.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“People say that. Then everyone else suffers.”

Behind us, Louise leaned forward to speak up for her sibling.

“My brother is usually quiet.”

Louise sat back, but I saw her frown reflected in the window.

The woman ignored her.

Louise sat back, but I saw her frown reflected in the window. She had Mark’s sense of fairness, which usually appeared just before she said something dangerous.

I gave her a warning look.

She opened her tablet without another word.

Louise waved through the gap between the seats.

The plane pushed back from the gate, and Noah startled at the sudden vibration. I braced for the cry Evelyn clearly expected, but he only blinked, curled one fist around my finger, and settled again.

Louise waved through the gap between the seats. I waved back, grateful for the small reassurance. Evelyn opened a magazine with a sharp snap and angled it between us like a wall.

Every few minutes, she checked Noah over the top edge. I could not tell whether she feared he might wake or resented that he had not yet proved her right. Either way, I waited.

I rocked him, offered his pacifier, checked his diaper, and whispered the song Mark used to sing off-key.

For most of the first two hours, Noah slept. I watched the clouds and tried not to picture Mark’s empty hospital bed.

Then Noah woke crying.

I rocked him, offered his pacifier, checked his diaper, and whispered the song Mark used to sing off-key.

Nothing worked.

He was hungry.

“I paid for this seat to hear someone else’s baby scream, and now I have to watch you feed him?”

I pulled a nursing cover from my bag and arranged it carefully. The woman noticed immediately.

“Oh, great,” she said. “I paid for this seat to hear someone else’s baby scream, and now I have to watch you feed him?”

My cheeks burned.

“He needs to eat.”

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