Who We Are.

Walmart

A few minutes later, I see my mom pushing the cart up through the milk aisle. She looked sweaty and out of breath. Probably ran here from the other side of the store. The store clerk handed me the pepper and the bag of M&Ms and I dropped them into the cart. My mom didn't look mad, but I knew inside she was screaming. Being punished for nothing at this store wasn't uncommon and I knew she knew that I hadn't done anything wrong. She gave the man an unreadable look and proceeded to buy the stuff. I waited patiently for my mom to finish paying so we could get the hell out of here, but he starts to talk, "Your daughter here was caught stealing those M&M's." He started, putting the word "stealing" in air quotes. Does that mean he doesn't really think I was stealing? I smile at him, mouthing the words "thank you". He nodded and whispered, trying to avoid the man who accused me of taking the candy, "You guys should watch out around here. So many people here looking for trouble - trying to drive all the blacks and colored out of this shop." He smiled and I say, "Thanks." I grab the bag of items and take a look at the receipt. My mom always makes me do this because she hates when people overcharge her for items. I look at the short paper list and I see that the candy I was trying to buy isn't on the list. I turn back to the counter and pull up the candy and he smiles, "Um, you can just keep it. I'm sorry about the man - he was my old boss, so I kind of had to comply." I think for a second about the situation and nod. I turn back around and wave. He salutes me, something which I think is very strange. A salute? The person who was waiting at the door to open it for us recognized us from earlier and moved out of the way. I don't understand why people are so scared and disgusted by us. We are just normal people, trying to live normal lives, and trying to fit in. People go out of the way just to make it harder for others. I open the door with my sleeve and continued. I ignored it and follow my mom like a dog inot the chilly night and we trekked to the car. She let the car beep and I open the shotgun door. I sit down onto the car chair and slammed the door behind me just a little it lighter than I meant to. I opened the car door again, to close it tighter than before. I drown out to the sound of siren that sound so far away as my mom ran back inot the store to put the cart away.  I usually helped my mom to unload stuff and put away the cart but today was different. We got some black pepper, yogurt, two cartons of milk, and some M&Ms. I think she can handle it. After what seemed like five minutes, I was being shaken awake by my mom - parked outside of our apartment building. She shut off the car and parked. 

"So, you really were sleepy, huh?" she said in her thick Nigerian accent.

"Yeah, I just went to see what they had," I replied. She smiled warily and said, "Go inside. You did your homework, abi?" she added - her smile turned into a normal thin-lipped glare. "Right, I repeated back to her in English and start to run into the lobby. The lobby was mostly quiet except for the fornt desk worker and a couple of customers that were doing some late night work in the over expensive coffee shop. I pressed the call button on the elevator and hop into a shaft with a few other people. I pat my back pocket, looking for the keycard to the room. I forgot to grab it from my mom. Instead of taking another elevator back down, I pray that Miracle is still awake and will let me in. My mom and dad had always wanted me and my little sister, Miracle, to get a good education, and get out of this neighbor. Go somewhere successful. The door is unlocked, which is a bit unusual but I ignore it. When I get back into the room I can immediate tell that my dad isn't home because I don't see any  I wondered where my dad might have gone this late at night. He was here when we left. I shrugged just to answer my own question and took a towelette from the stack I have on my counter. He left the TV on again! He must've have left at least and hour ago and forgot about it. I rushed to shut it off before it wasted anymore power. I turned around and went straight to the bathroom. I waited near the sink for the water to turn warm or at least lukewarm. I waited a long time, nothing warm showed up. I sighed and settled for cool water, soaking the towelette and wringing it out before slapping it onto my face. I shivered and winced. I set the wet rag on the bucket we use to hold the wet ones, brushed my teeth, and retreated back to my room. I kept the lights off, not only to save energy but because I didn't need them. Every time I turned on the lights in my room or the kitchen, a loud whirring sound went off on my whole entire floor for a few minutes and then suddenly stopped. Ultimately, I can never lie to my mom, whether it's about what I'm doing up so late or if I have finished my homework. If I'm doing something late at night, she knows something's up. And so will my other 30 neighbors. Tonight, I just dived right into bed and fell asleep fast.