I am sitting on the floor
around the mat we always sit around
to eat. It is 5 in the morning
before the LA heat:
Baba is silently chewing
and my brother is half-asleep.
The only one fully awake
is Ma, as always.
God, I do not know how
but she is.
She places a paratha in front of me.
\'Eat up\'.
It has skirmish borders
but is generally round
with a typography of brown:
dark spots and charred edges.
And I nibble at it with my hands,
slowly.
It is 5:10. Everyone is a bit
more awake and talking.
Except Ma,
as always.
She says her head hurts
and her saying that reminds
me of my own headache.
I finish my paratha
and give her a glass of water
and her pills.
\'Do you want another one?\'
And I can already feel my stomach
rejecting.
I can tell she wants me to say no.
And it\'s her lucky day.
God forbid she gets another paratha to make,
and I get another
to eat.