Embrace the Chicken by Mahtab Narsimhan

Author:Mahtab Narsimhan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459819740
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2018-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“Ma, I’m home!” said Shivani as she shut the door behind them. She turned to Mel with a tentative smile. “She must be in the kitchen, preparing dinner. We need to take our shoes off.”

Mel slipped her boots off as she sniffed the air. “It smells so good in here. What is she cooking?”

“Yellow-lentil dal, jeera pulao and masala okra,” said Shivani.

Mel stared. “Wow! You know all that just from sniffing the air?”

Shivani laughed. “That and I helped her shop for groceries on Sunday.”

Mel punched her shoulder. “Cheater!”

“Hello, beta, you snack before you do work-home?” said Ma, wiping her hands on a towel as she came out of the kitchen. She froze when she saw Mel.

Mel came forward, hand outstretched. “Hello, Mrs. Das, I’m Mel. I’ve heard so much about you from Mom. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

Ma shook her hand with a big smile. “Welcome to our house. Please to call me Aunty. You will stay for dinner, no?”

“I will stay for dinner, yes!” said Mel, grinning. “Thanks, Aunty.”

“Nice. Nice,” said Ma. “You go work. I bring chai and biscuits.”

“Ma, you don’t have to.”

“I’m starving,” said Mel, smiling at Ma. “Yes, please.”

An hour later they’d finished their homework. There wasn’t a crumb left on the plate of biscuits, and their mugs of chai were empty. “Delish,” said Mel.

Downstairs, Shivani heard the clink of plates and a murmur of low voices. Anita was home. Papa would arrive shortly. Then they would all be sitting at the table. Eating Indian food. And talking. Despite how well the afternoon had gone, Shivani was nervous.

Mel checked her phone. Shivani daydreamed about her possible movie date with Ryan. It seemed like just seconds later that Ma called, “Shivani, dinner is ready.”

Well, here goes nothing. If Mel didn’t like the food or her family, at least she’d tried. Shivani remembered what Katya had said. Real friends accept you just the way you are.

Shivani introduced Mel to Papa and Anita. So far, so good. Then she helped bring the rest of the dishes to the table. Mel offered to help too. Once they sat down, Ma insisted on serving Mel first. Shivani watched nervously as Ma piled rice on Mel’s plate. She smothered it with a big scoop of dal and heaped some okra beside it. She topped it with a dollop of ghee and a crisp pappadam. A meat-loving girl had just been served a completely vegetarian meal. This was not going to go well.

“Eat, please, before it catching cold.”

Mel scooped up a large forkful and put it in her mouth. Her eyes popped open.

Shivani wanted to duck under the table. “So, um, do you like it?” she asked.

Mel shook her head and chewed furiously.

Shivani met Ma’s eyes. She looked the way Shivani felt. Maybe now Ma would believe her when she kept saying her friends would not like Indian food!

Mel finally swallowed that first bite and sat back. “Wow! It’s so good, Aunty! A million flavors exploding on my tongue. So mad at you, Shivi-girl, for keeping this from me for so long!”

Ma laughed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.