Elmwood

2| Can I Get A Samosa

Walking into the house was always either exhilarating or depressing.

I waved goodbye to Ellie after she dropped me off and I opened the garage. I took a deep breath of the lingering scent of gasoline before unlocking the door and stepping into my lively house.

I could smell the food Mommy was cooking and my younger sister was running around as if there was a tornado about to run over our house. Her dark brown skin, which resembled mine, was glowing under the incandescent light. I smiled as she ran up to me.

"What did you buy?" she asked clapping her hands.

"Nothing," I responded.

She tilted her head as if something didn't compute right. "You didn't buy anything?"

"Nope. I only got Starbucks for Ellie and me."

"Starbucks costs forty dollars?"

"No, I just didn't spend the rest."

"But you had forty dollars!" she argued. "You could've at least bought me Legos."

"So that I can accidentally step on them? No thank you."

She whined and stomped her foot. "Mommy, she didn't buy anything!"

"Yeah, because she doesn't waste all our money like you," she shot as she leaned over a pot sitting on the stove. "Wash your hands, Jasmine. We don't need another pandemic."

I shrugged off my jacket and shoes. My sister still wasn't done with the conversation.

"But she still bought Starbucks!" my sister shouted.

"Shut up, Devika!" I shouted back. "Everyone in the goddamned world can hear you."

"You said a bad word!"

My mom turned around. "You drank Starbucks?"

"And she said a bad word," Devika insisted even though no one was listening to her.

"Well... yeah."

"They add so much sugar!"

"It was just once!"

"She wants to get even more fat!" Devika laughed.

That eight-year-old demon.

"See," my mother said, turning back to the stove, "even your sister has that common sense. I don't know why you don't."

"Oh please. Devika's fatter than me."

"Don't call me fat!"

"Don't call me fat!" I shot back.

"But you are fat!"

"But you are fat!"

"Stop copying me!"

"No."

Devika whined and held her hands up, ready to punch me, when my mother shouted. "Hey! Jasmine wash your hands! You can throw each other down the stairs after that, I don't care. Just wash your hands."

I glared down at my sister who was still fuming and washed my hands in the sink. Devika glared back at me until neither of us could hold it long as we stared into each other's eyes and started laughing. My mom looked over her shoulder and shook her head.

"They don't even know how to pick a fight right, idiots," she mumbled to herself.

"What are you cooking?" I asked.

"Samosas!" my sister answered for her, jumping.

"Nice."

"But you don't get any."