Chapter 16: Interlude: Things I Wish I Told My Grandma

Things I wish I told my Grandma instead of “Aight” when she asked me, “how was school today?”

NO, I did not have a good day today, Grandma. Today we learned about slavery. I am not sure why, but I felt embarrassed by it. I felt like when the book said slave, it was talking about me. Not me specifically, but I knew Black people got here from slavery and that somebody in my family at some time was a slave.

Also, Grandma, remember that birthday cake I made for my fifth-grade teacher, Mr. Oresky. Well, yeah, his fiancé Miss Wesson—she’s the librarian—she asked me if I washed my hands before I made the cake. And I do not know if she thought I was usually dirty, but somehow I felt like it was because I was Black.