10 Things I Hate About Pinky - Sandhya Menon Page 0,18
get a bowl for her cereal. Then, tossing her mom a withering glance: “Mother.”
Her mom sighed. “Pinky, there’s something we need to talk to you about.” Pinky turned around and leaned against the counter, watching the glances her aunt and mom were exchanging. How could two people who looked so alike—same long black hair, same big brown eyes, nearly the exact same skin tone—be so different?
Her mom nodded slightly, and then Meera Mausi said, “Pinky beta, I’m so sorry, but Dolly was the one who accidentally set the barn on fire. She feels terrible that you were the one who was accused”—here Pinky darted a sharp glance at her mother, but her mom was looking at Meera Mausi—“and she’ll tell you all about it when she wakes up. We were up very late talking about everything, but Dolly was insistent that she got to apologize to you.”
“Really?” Pinky said, folding her arms slowly and looking at her mother. “I would be happy to hear Dolly out. But I don’t think she’s the only one who owes me an apology.”
After a pause, Meera Mausi stood. “I’m going to go see what the men are up to.” She smiled at Pinky, patted her mom on the shoulder, and walked off.
Pinky’s mom folded her hands neatly on the table and looked Pinky right in the eye. “I’m sorry,” she said.
Pinky raised an eyebrow and waited.
“For accusing you of something you hadn’t done in this instance.”
Pinky frowned. “That’s not a real apology!”
Her mom continued to study her with an infuriating calmness she probably used in her multimillion-dollar negotiations. “What would you consider a real apology?”
Pinky threw her hands up in the air. “How about ‘I’m sorry for defaming your character with absolutely no evidence’? How about ‘I should never have even uttered the words I did last night without being completely sure of what I was saying’? How about ‘I judged you and condemned you for absolutely no reason’?” Pinky’s voice had risen with every question until she was aware she was almost shouting. She took a deep breath.
Her mom remained aggravatingly unruffled, like always. Was she capable of any feeling besides intense disappointment? “I understand that you’re upset,” she said, a phrase that sounded suspiciously borrowed from Meera Mausi. “But, Pinky, can you blame me?”
“What?”
“Can you blame me?” her mom asked again, lifting her hands. “You know what they say. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Would you say you’ve given us a reason to believe it wasn’t you? Can you honestly say that?”
Pinky opened her mouth to bite out a response, then closed it again. “I…”
Her mom pushed her chair back and stood. “I didn’t think so. I told you. If you continue to make weak decisions—”
Arrgh! How could she be so casually condescending? So coolly judgmental? She was just so sure Pinky was a giant walking catastrophe, wasn’t she? “But I’ve made a great decision! I have a boyfriend! One even you’d approve of,” she couldn’t help but add.
Her mom looked up and folded her arms neatly across her chest. “You said that yesterday.”
The ‘but’ was hanging in the air, waving in the breeze. “But?”
Her mom took a deep breath. “But… I’m not sure I believe that. You’ve not said a word about this boyfriend, and if he is as good as you say he is, why haven’t you? The only boyfriends you ever hide are the ones who have a history of shoplifting hubcaps.”
Pinky felt her cheeks flame. “That was one time! And it was, like, two hubcaps!”
Her mom raised her eyebrows.
“A-and anyway,” Pinky continued, not willing to be deterred. “He is real. In fact, he’s coming to stay with us for a bit. So you can all meet him.”
Her mom’s arms dropped. Ha ha ha. That’s right. Now she was listening. “What?”
“Hmm?” Pinky examined her glitter-painted nails. “Oh, yeah. I invited him here, so you could all meet him. I mean, since you clearly didn’t believe me about setting fire to the place and everything and you were obviously wrong. I decided it was time for you guys to meet him. So you can finally believe something I say.”
“I see,” her mom said, looking completely stunned. “So… when’s he coming?”
“Later today. He had a really prestigious internship at a DC law firm lined up, but it fell through.”
Her mom’s eyes widened, as Pinky had known they would do. So that’s what her mom looked like when she was impressed. “A law firm in DC?”