A sneak peek
Cheese Pan Birthday Cake
Prologue
It was raining so hard. My school shoes were soaked through, the white socks gone grey and the straps of my bag had left red lines across both shoulders from the weight of wet books.
Imran stood beside me with his arms folded tightly across his chest. He was rocking, back and forth on his heels, small, steady rocks, and barely moving. I wanted to tell him to stop, but I didn't.
I could see movement inside, even a small yellow glow squeezing through the curtains.
I knocked. The rain swallowed the sound so I knocked again, harder, with the flat of my fist. Imran made a low sound in his throat and his shoulder found mine.
The curtain moved, then the door opened but only part of the way. Her eyes dropped to our feet first then up to our faces. Her mouth pulled in at the corners, her nostrils opened and her chin lifted just slightly.
She didn't speak, didn't move from the doorway, just looked at us like we were mongoose eating good mango. A dog started barking somewhere down the road and Imran started rocking faster. I put my hand on his arm.
"Good afternoon, Inez," I said in my most pleasant voice. "School done and we supposed to come here to wait for Mommy."
"You fader no here," she said gruffly, then slammed the door.
It wasn't always like this.
More coming soon