Vignettes

Yesterday Anju was trying to tell Ketan and me a story, but we kept interrupting, and eventually she threw herself on the couch and cried.  I went over and asked what was wrong.

"You wouldn't let me talk!  You know how adults always say 'Oh, if I knew it upset you, I wouldn't have done it' but you did!" 

"Anju, I'm sorry.  I didn't know it was upsetting you."

"No one likes to be interrupted!"

Well, she had a point.  "I'm sorry.  You're right.  I was focused on being funny and I wasn't thinking about how that might make you feel.  If it ever happens again, and it probably will, just tell me to stop interrupting."

She was looking up at me now.  "That won't work."

"You're probably right."  I put her face in my hands.  "Then just grab my face like this and look in my eyes and say, 'Stop interrupting.'  That should do it."

She reached for me and I flinched away.  She giggled.  "I'm not going to hit you!"

"I thought you were going to smack my cheeks."

She giggled again.  "I was."

And all was well.

___

Ketan has been taking a buttload of time to read House of Hades and he keeps trying to tell me things ("I promise it's not important!"  "Ketan, I want my reading experience to be a blank page--I don't want to know anything!") and it's awful.  He has to do a fantasy book report next month, and I tried to convince him to read something new rather than sticking with HoH. 

"You could read The Hobbit!  I have it; you could borrow it."

"Oh, I want to!" he said.  "We could do a book swap!  I'll give you House of Hades, and you'll give me The Hobbit."

"That would make me so happy."

___

Today I gave Ketan The Hobbit, and he reacted with just the exact right amount of excitement.  I turned up the radio and sang, and eventually the backseat devolved into an argument.

"Anju, are you crying?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Will you tell me why?"

"I was trying to talk with an English accent, and Ketan gave me a really mean look, and everyone likes Ketan better than me!  He's funny and outgoing and everyone likes him!  But I'm shy, and I can't be funny around people I don't know, and even my friends always talk about Ketan!"

"Oh, Anju.  That's a lot."  I reached behind my seat to squeeze her leg.  "First, I like you and Ketan the same."

Ketan chimed in.  "Yeah, it's just that Miss Trish talks to me more because we have more in common."

"That's not helping, Ketan," I said.  "I don't want Anju to think we're ganging up on her, so please let us have this conversation.  I don't think I talk to Ketan more than you, Anju."

"You do!"

"Well.  I'm sorry.  We can talk more.  I love talking with you!  We can talk whenever you want."

"...I don't know what to talk about."

"I don't mean right now!  Whenever.  And hey, I totally get your frustration with being shy.  I am so the same way.  I feel like I'm awesome, but I'm scared to show people, and so they don't see it.  But I see you, and you are awesome.  But I know it's hard.  I've been there."

We pulled into their driveway, and I called them over to me.  They grumbled, "Whaaaat"s because sometimes I pull them in for Deep Meaningful Moments and they pretend to dislike them. 

"We're going to have a group hug," I announced, and pulled them both in.  They grinned and squirmed away after a minute.

"You hugged Anju more than you hugged me," Ketan said with a grin.

I swatted at him as he ran away.