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“That’s...interesting.”
“You were going to say that’s cool. Or neat. Or exciting, weren’t you?”
“I was until you narrowed your eyes at me. Then I realized I better stop and think before I speak. I suppose from your standpoint it wasn’t so great.”
She laughed at him. “Good job. And no, it wasn’t. I’ve never been in a traditional classroom like you. Not until college. I’ve got all these cultures blended together and, mind you, what is acceptable or the norm in one isn’t in another. It’s hard to keep track as a kid. Harder yet to communicate.”
“Do you speak a bunch of languages?”
“No,” she said. “My mother taught English to the locals wherever we lived. She home-schooled us too. We were too busy trying to learn our own English language and grammar and everything else. I knew words from each country. You pick things up to get around, but for the most part we lived in the small rural areas my father was in.”
“Poor areas,” he said.
“Exactly. We were wealthy to them because we had multiple changes of clothing or shoes, but still nothing like most American kids. We had what fit into a few bags each. Easier to pack up and move.”
Now he felt sympathy for the woman in front of him. “That had to be hard.”
“It had its moments. I guess it’s a good thing that I got along with my siblings as well as I did. Though there were times we didn’t. Seeing the poverty around us so much did help us not take things for granted, but it still wasn’t easy.”
“I’m sure,” he said. “Where is everyone now?”
He couldn’t remember the last time he talked with a woman like this and was thrilled the conversation was flowing as much as it was.
“Mark is the oldest and he’s in Japan for work. He moves every few years and is fine with it. But he gets to pick and choose where and when now.”
Which said a lot about Jasmine with that statement. “You didn’t feel you had a voice?”
“As a kid, nope. No choice for us. The minute we were all of college age we came back to the US for that.”
“Tell me the rest, if you want.”
He picked up his burger to continue eating and she snagged another fry. “Dahlia is in Chicago. She’s an accountant. She is the boring one of us looking for stability. I’d say she’d found it.”
“There is nothing wrong with wanting that in life,” he said.
“Trust me, I know. I went to college in Georgia and when it was time to look for a job, I looked all over the US. I didn’t care where. This is where I landed and have stayed for six years. I graduated from college early in case you are trying to figure out my age.”
“Depending on how early, I’m going to guess that you are late twenties. Maybe twenty-seven?”
“Bingo,” she said. “Then there is Ivy. She is two years younger than me and living in Dallas with my grandparents. She didn’t finish college and tends to job hop.”
“The flighty one?” he asked.
“That’s her. Sweet as can be with it and way too trusting and gets her heart broken a lot. She is the one who wanted our father’s attention the most and didn’t get it. She was the baby for five years too so not really happy when Chase came around.”
“I can’t understand that, being an only child.”
“I want to say you are lucky, but if I were an only child living the life I did it would have sucked even more.”
There didn’t seem to be too many good memories that she had, but he’d bet there were some rather than a summary of the whole. “It has its pros and cons being an only child.”
“The last of the Greene brood is Chase. He’s at Columbia in college.”
“Not that far from here. Do you visit?”
“I’ve seen him a few times, but he is focusing on college and getting out of there early too. He’s looking to go to med school and will continue there.”
“Not an easy college to get into. Especially being home-schooled.”
