Untitled by: Amara Jaime, Acrylic on Canvas, 2017
Something That Happens
Today at a La Hacienda, a woman came up to me. Before my friend and I went inside to order our margaritas I had seen her briefly outside on the playground where I left my kids to play. We had exchanged the usual smiles. She seemed annoyed now. I let out an internal sigh, wondering what my children may have done. She informed me that some “hood-rat” was outside yelling at my children. My blood boiled. She explained my children were behaving and merely being harassed. I got up determined to find out what was going on and marched outside. She followed close behind to point out the “hood-rat” that was harassing my children.
Outside I went directly up to Alyssa, my oldest whom I had left to watch her siblings, as I sometimes do. I asked her who was yelling at them. She was baffled. I insisted she must have seen something, and demanded she tell me. I asked the woman if she saw this “hood-rat” and if she would point her out. She said “never mind.” I inquired further and the woman began to gather her children. I explained to my oldest what she had said, as the woman made a hasty retreat to leave. That is when my oldest looking annoyed herself, with a hint of hurt, told me to stop. I was baffled by the way things were unfolding, and still asking questions. “Enough, Mom,” was the only response.
See, I wanted to know who was harassing my children. I wanted to know what could have provoked this. Alyssa knew. She immediately knew something that had not dawned on me. She knew that she was the “hood-rat.” My oldest had gotten on to her brother for climbing where he should not have been. I was stunned. I said nothing. I just watched as the woman paid her check and left.
I wish I had said something. I wish I had gained my composure faster. I wish I had said that is not a “hood-rat.” That is my daughter. That is their sister. I had left my oldest brown child to watch her younger blonde siblings. I wish I had said, how dare you call her a “hood-rat?” What did you mean by that? I wish I had said she is an honor student, and top of her class. I wish I had said this “hood-rat” is going to go to Rice University. This “hood-rat” wants to be a doctor. This “hood-rat” is the absolute light of my life. Even more, I wish that it didn’t seem to be a surprise to Alyssa. Like something that was routine. I wish, but instead I just stood there, silently stunned. I asked Alyssa about it, and she said, “It’s no big deal. It happens.” All I could say is that it shouldn’t. The woman didn’t see the siblings that I see, that they are. God, I am so pissed off at her for her assumptions. At me for not defending my child. At the world for this being something that happens.