the smoke from the wood fire beckons to me. its thick, smelling of burnt wood and kerosine, but its also the smell that tells me that there is warm tea and bread waitig for me. its the smell that tells me that i wont have to go to bed trying to mask the noises that my stomach makes.
ama sits in the doorstep, waiting for me, and also waiting for baba, so that we can have our tea together. the baby, just a couple of months old sleeps in her pram, lulled by the setting sun and the clucking chicken, oblivious to fact that the the thatch roof has become so worn it barely manages to stand.
ama smiles when she sees my, showing her white glistening teeth, the sides of her eyes creased and winked. yet her eyes dont shine like her teeth do. neither do babas.
"so how was school today?" she asks, beckoning me to come sit with her. i do as she says, ignoring my stomach's demand that begs me to tell her that im so hungry i could eat a horse. but we havent had tea in days, and i want to enjoy it with baba. who knows when such a occasion will come again. maybe tomorrow. mayebe after a month. maybe never.
the sky turns pink as i tell ama about my day in school. i tell her about how i beat all the girls in the running race, and about how my moon faced teacher praised me infront of the entire class. i tell her how i know all my alphabets and how im the fastest at solving my math problems. but i dont tell her that my teacher had to give me her pencil today when she saw my parent couldnt afford one. or that i had to sit in the corner and pretend that i wasnt reallly hungry when all my classmates ate out of their lunch boxes.
hey this is the first bit of the first chapter. this is all i have on my cell phoone atm. ill upload the entire chapter as soon as i get to my lappy. which will prolly be in a couple of hours. max. let me know what you think kay? <3
YOU ARE READING
why not me
De Todoi grew up in the laps of the himalayas; protected, untouched, unharmed. the redness of the dirt was the softest matress i could ask for, the smell of the cooking cooking fire was my blanket. i had so little, but so much at the same time. then i lost...
