Middle of Everywhere - Mary Bray Pipher [77]
He'd seen too many things for a boy his age. He knew both too much and too little about the world. His mother could not control him and he stayed out late with his friends, drove the car without a license, and took his mother's rent money for pizza and video games.
Anton, more than any other boy, challenged the Vietnamese gang boys. He was in some sort of weird contest with them to be the most manly. Once Alberto whispered to him, "Are you crazy man, those guys will kill you if you don't chill out." But Anton seemed incapable of controlling his impulses, or of acting on the basis of reason.
Anton didn't want to be seen as a refugee. He wanted out of ELL and he wanted some American friends. He desperately wanted to be seen as normal and as masculine. But his very desperation belied how abnormal and vulnerable he felt.
The last two students in the class were Middle Eastern girls. Nadia was small with long dark hair and tiny hands that moved in graceful, birdlike ways. She was fifteen and spoke four languages—Arabic, Kurdish, English, and Hindi. Nadia said, "I am here because of the Gulf War. I have said too many good-byes. Sadness has built a nest in my heart."
Her father had been a doctor at a hospital in Iraq. Like Faisal's family, her family was evacuated to Guam, then sent to Nebraska. The first year, her father did factory work, but now he worked in a hospital emergency room. His coworkers said he was a better doctor than many American doctors.
Nadia wanted to be a doctor. She told me that her father didn't let her talk to boys and would choose her an Iraqi husband when the time came. She lived to please him and after she'd failed a geometry test, she sobbed. She said, "I was crying for my father."
Beside her sat Homera, almost completely covered with a veil and long black gown. Homera had a round face and dark heavy eyebrows. She barely whispered her name and kept her eyes down as she spoke. She was eighteen and she had come to this country three weeks ago for an arranged marriage to a man she'd never met. Her husband brought her to school every day and picked her up when it was over. She seemed overwhelmed by America, the loss of her family, and the marriage.
With introductions complete, Mrs. Kaye showed the class the day's newspaper and made points from front-page stories. One story was about a drunken driver who killed a teen. She said, "Promise me you will never drink and drive." Anton asked if the drunk driver would be executed. Mrs. Kaye said, "No, but he may go to jail." Velida said, "I will pray for her family."
Mrs. Kaye read the students a story about consumer fraud. She told the students never to sign anything without discussing it with a trusted American friend. She said some students had accidentally bought things they couldn't afford. One student from Bosnia, in Nebraska for only two weeks, signed an agreement to buy a swimming pool. Another student was arrested after he signed papers confessing to crimes he didn't commit. A Vietnamese student ended up in drug treatment because he filled out an evaluation form incorrectly. He'd checked yes to everything to be agreeable.
She warned students to walk away from trouble at the school. She said, "If someone gives you a hard time, talk it over with a teacher. Don't get in fights or you will be in trouble, too."
Faisal said, "I saw a guy in a T-shirt that said, 'Iraq sucks.'"
Mrs. Kaye asked, "What did you do?"
Faisal answered, "I asked him, Hey man, why do you think my country sucks?" He made a gesture like a boxer with his gloves on. Everyone laughed.
Khoi said, "Yeah, Faisal is Bruce Lee. A mean mother."
Mrs. Kaye said, "Khoi, watch your language please."
Anton said, "Faisal thinks he is a tough guy. He thinks he is Ahhnold." Everyone laughed at Anton's imitation of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Mrs. Kaye said, "Let's laugh with Faisal not at him."