I loved how their eyelashes were long and dark and distinct, just like mine. And how their noses curved around a little bump in the middle, just like mine. And how their hair cow-licked in three separate places, just like mine.
“Darius? You okay?” Dad said. He’d gotten squeezed into the very back, with me, since we were taller than everyone else.
“Um. Yeah,” I clucked.
Dad put his hand on my back and gave me a little wiggle.
“You’re so lucky to have this big family.”
I was lucky.
That well inside me was ready to burst.
Mamou turned around—she and Babou were seated in the very front, the binary suns of the Bahrami family solar system—and she smiled at me.
For the first time in Bahrami family history, she had all her grandchildren in one place.
I loved my grandmother’s smile more than anything.
Dayi Jamsheed handed his camera—a big SLR—off to Sohrab, while Sohrab’s mom pointed someone’s iPhone at us.She had another two tucked under her arms, and one held between her chin and her chest.
It was deeply redundant.
“Yek. Doh. Seh,” Sohrab said. He studied the picture for a second. “Good!”
Babou stood and said something to Mamou. Whatever it was must have been bad: The room went silent, like the house had experienced an explosive decompression.
Maybe we had.
And then Babou started shouting.
It was incoherent and garbled and venomous.
Sohrab’s mom’s eyebrows formed perfect arches above her eyes, threatening to disappear into her hair, as my grandfather screamed at my grandmother for no reason I could understand.
Sohrab studied the floor and fiddled with the camera in his hands.
Mom’s face had turned chalky.
But Mamou was the worst.
She was still smiling, but it didn’t reach her eyes anymore.
At last, Babou stormed off toward his room.
No one said anything. We were all waiting for the atmospheric pressure to return to normal. As Mamou stood, I leaned in and tried to hug her, but it ended up as an awkward half hug. Mamou shifted and wrapped her arms around me. Her face was wet against my shoulder.
I hated that she was crying.
I hated that Babou had treated her like that.
“Thank you, maman. I will be fine.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. It’s okay.”
Mamou kissed me on the cheek and then pulled away, disappearing into the bathroom with Mom right behind her.
