Remembering my home in FloridaIt was late at night.
I volunteered to close the doors to the white car with Lamborghini doors, that were left open a while ago. The windows seemed like they were palettes that had to be pressed into their spots.
The smell of flowers were intoxicating. Orange, red and bright flowers were bunched together in bushes. Recently bathed in the water sprinklers, the flowers smelled of wet earth and leaves.
"Silsila yeh chaahath" from the Bollywood movie Devdas played in the background.
A 19-year-old neighbor, or family member came behind the car and took a van to the masjid. It was pitch black. He was wearing a sleevless jersey.
My husband walked passed me, jumped into the van and said he'd come back and take care of the car.
Another neighbor toyed with his car, in the shared parking lot. The van took off to the masjid. The neighbor left.
I thought I could take care of the car.
Suddenly it became really dark. I shuddered from the darkness and the cold. No more headlights from the van, no more sprinklers.
I ran.
I ran all the way home, to my small two-bedroom apartment. It resembled my home in Florida. I screamed the whole way and heard monkeys echoing my scream. (God knows where they came from).
I shuddered.
(And woke up)
--- --- ---
The robber and "us"A lady danced and hopped around a courtyard in a South Asian neighborhood. She would pause with words she sang, emphasizing facial expressions as she moved her hands with her song. It reminded me of a frog leaping around.
She stopped and headed to her under-furnished clay and concrete home. My sister-in-law and I were invited to her empty living room. Barred windows overlooked the middle of the courtyard which was shared by neighbors.
She pulled out a huge shiny gold necklace from her closet. It was beautiful.
I asked my sister-in-law if it was really gold, as I couldn't put together the elements together without confusion and astonishment: large gold necklace in poor woman's home.
"It looks like a piece from a wedding set," I said.
"Probably," my sister-in-law replied.
I couldn't believe she was selling it.
The woman, desperately needing money, didn't seem to mind and insisted my sister-in-law could pay her back later.
As we walked home on the dirt path, we saw a man carrying a large cart with big round wheels walking in the opposite direction. It looked like a cart that needed a cow to help pull it, without a cow.
Suddenly a man waving his hands wildly was running up the path behind the cart-puller.
He seemed in a hurry and without a destination.
In fact, he was coming towards us.
"What a shame, the guy doesn't even move out of his way when he sees a thief running past him," my sister-in-law said.
"A thief?," I asked.
"We must stop him or else he will loot the whole neighborhood," my sister-in-law said.
"Okay," we encouraged each other and prepped ourselves for the encounter on the path.
Running past us into a backyard, the thief hid. We followed him.
"You know what you're doing isn't right," I said to him.
Protesting he said, "Yeah you're right I'm not going to do anything," and throws a $5bill at me.
"Omygosh you see this guy has a five-dollar bill! Not taka (lesser currency). Look at his nerves," I said to my sister-in-law.
We walked back to the front of the house, saw more dollar bills scattered on the floor. I picked them up thinking we can donate the money to the mosque since we didn't know who they belonged to and it would be wrong to keep stolen money.
Suddenly I remembered.
We were walking around with gold on us.
I tried to stuff the bills under my coat.
"That looks obvious you're hiding something," my sister-in-law said.
"Your tall figure and overly stuffed jacket looks fishy."
"You're right, we better get out of here before he robs us!," I said.
We ran all the way, straight home!
