Nimisha Ladva

My job is to put things where they belong, including you two monkeys.

To be honest, my brother and I do not care that we have just been insulted.

Because in that moment, we are figuring out that our father, skinny shoulders, thick glasses, Indian accent, that guy, that guy might be badass.

So in the neighborhood where we live, we are the only people of color.

We are such an anomaly that there's this one day I'm outside in the front garden, visible to everyone, when a neighbor walks by with a friend and announces, passing my house, here is where the colored family lives.

The kids at school could sometimes be cruel, and when the incidents added up, my father would come to school, talk to the headmistress, and leave with assurances from the grownups that they would seek to make my condition better.

Now, that said, I will say that I did have friends at school.

For example, there was Deborah.

And I not only liked Deborah, I really liked her little brother Michael as well.

And Deborah's mom was a baker.

And she would tell me things like things about sponge cake and fruit tarts and shortbread in three flavors and chocolate biscuits.

And I'm just amazed.

Because in my house, when my mom finds an eggplant at the market, she makes eggplant curry.

And that is supposed to be a treat for us.

And it's not working for us.

So...

When I get invited to Deborah's house for tea, I'm really excited.

So I ask my parents for permission.

They say yes.

I go to school the next day.