Excerpt
"I am waiting in my bedroom. I am dressed in my best suit. My mother is in the next room telling the maid what to do if anyone stops by looking for me. I hear her slap the maid. I hear her walking to my room. She begins to turn the doorknob. The gun is in the bathroom under the sink. My shoes are scuffed but my fingernails are clean."
A Bakery
Sponge cake. It is my mother’s favorite. Almond cookies. Jelly rolls. These are the kinds of sweets I like but I cannot decide between the two. I look up. The lady behind the counter is watching me. She has soft wrinkles around her eyes. The flower patterned smock is snug around her tiny waist. Her hair floats, bobbing just above her neck. She is like my mother except that she has more reasons to smile at me. I look down again. I decide on the almond cookies that taste best washed down with a glass of milk. The electronic door bell sensor chimes. A couple walks in. They say hello to the lady behind the counter. Her eyes dart to the front door. She nods to them without a word. I put the cookies next to the sponge cake for my mother. Underneath the cake are mung bean pastries for my grandmother. A few feet away, a teenage girl stocks plastic filled sweets suspended in colorful syrups on a glass shelf. Her hair is longer. Her flat keds are dingy. Her smock isn’t as tight. I walk past the couple. I place my basket on the counter next to the register. Then the lady behind the counter snaps at the girl. The girl puts down the plastic cup in her hand. She marches past me, past the couple and through the rear door-less arch way. Metal crashes to the floor somewhere in the back. The man whispers something to the woman beside him. She covers the warm laughter under her breath with a hand. But the lady behind the counter isn’t smiling anymore. Feeling my pockets, I realize I have forgotten my wallet at home.