I Am From
By Elle Kuang
I am from Legos in neat boxes,
From airplane tickets and woks.
I am from textbooks stacked on the kitchen table
(Shoulder-high, borrowed, colourful notes sticking out).
I am from my mom’s potted orchid
That is too pure to touch.
I am from mooncakes and grit,
From Dongyang and Wenxin.
I am from camping and star-gazing,
From study more and make eye-contact.
I am from church on Christmas Eve
And incense near shrines.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
From the PhD my dad never finished,
The book my mom penned
By hand, at night.
On the lowest bookshelf are photo albums,
Full of stars and faces
Both here and gone.
I am from the dreams
Of a wizened family tree.
Elle stops writing and studies the page with concentration. She’s walking a fine line between lying and being too honest.
The thirteen-year-old cherry-picked details from her life, leaving a pretty picture that feels hollow. It fits the criteria though and hopefully will fly under the teacher’s radar. It will have to be enough.
She leaves it on her desk in the middle of the road and shrugs on her backpack. It’ll be a long journey home.
Jay and Mira usually walk with her, but they had things to do today. At least now she’ll have time to save up her allowance to get bubble tea with them.
The cracks in the road grow increasingly large as she continues walking. They extend deep into the earth, revealing a dark abyss beneath her. Elle wonders what will happen if she falls down one.
She takes a running leap over the next one and arrives at a railroad crossing. Red lights flash at the post, so Elle resigns herself to waiting.
Across the railroad, a dark-skinned man in a business suit waits with a briefcase. He looks to be around college-age, his demeanour slightly nervous like he’s going for an interview rather than a full-time job.
They make eye-contact. Elle sees warm-brown eyes widening with confusion and then hears Equinox whisper, “Oliver Idowu.”
A force shoves her out of the dream, and she wakes up with her heart pounding in her chest.