The Freckled Indian

Today marks the day one month after my grandma died and three weeks after my grandpa died. My grandma died just one week after my grandpa from a heart attack. The doctors say that her body might have given up due to the stress from the death of my grandpa. She loved him so much that her body simple would not let her live without him. My brother Aloo and I decided to go through their attic today.

When we were going through their attic, I found a little black notebook with no label on it. I opened it to find the first and second entry of my grandma’s diary, as follows:

November 15th, 2018

I just got home from my Amazon warehouse job. The time is 2am November 15th. I was wrapping the pallets in plastic wrap. I was on the busiest lane and the night was coming to an end, so I had to hurry. I was closing out full pallets and putting down new pallets, while yelling out Golf 304 opened as fast as I could. This Indian man came down from the sort slide since they were done sorting all the packages for the day. He asks me how he can help. I ask him if he knows how to top pallets and he says no can you help me. I teach him a special trick to topping pallets that not many people know. He strikes up a conversation with me by asking me questions like if and what I am going to school for. Since we work in a part-time warehouse, there are many students.

He then tells me, “I’m 26 and single.” I somehow was still not sure that he was flirting. I had always assumed I was going to be a single woman who would adopt a sibling group out of foster care. I could not believe someone was attracted to me in my work outfit of basketball shorts, a T-shift, and a side clip hair do. I am still working as fast as possible running around pallets in circles like a race horse while trying to listen and talk with him. He asks for my phone number. I say no knowing that I am terrible at telling if people are safe or not. He asks for my Facebook ID instead and I say yes. The managers yelled end of sort and we went outside, and I gave him my Facebook ID. He asked me for coffee date right then and there.

I said, “No, it is 1AM.” I am still not sure if he is safe either. He keeps asking me to get in his car for coffee. It seems a little sketchy. I ask him not to pay attention to what car I drive as I have been stalked at work before. I go to my car and get in thinking he is doing the same thing. He looks up from his phone and sees my car. I am not sure if it is coincidental and he is safe or if he is unsafe. I get out of my car and go back inside my work building and ask four coworkers what they think. Then, I ask my favorite manager if he thinks it is weird. The manger simply asks if I want to report and says that you can date if you want to. I drove home without reporting still not knowing what the intentions were of this guy. I am fully aware of the fact that some immigrants will date an American for a green card so the fact that he is most likely an immigrant makes me question his intentions even more so.

November 16th, 2018

It is 11:30PM. We messaged all day yesterday on Facebook. My mom said to give him a chance. She said that I could meet him at a nearby restaurant and bring him home afterwards so she can tell me if she thinks he is safe. This is because I am terrible at reading people’s faces. Yesterday, I planned a date with him. It is at 5PM at Applebee’s tonight. It is the Applebee’s down the street from my house in case anything goes wrong. I go outside at 4:45PM and start my car to head to Applebee’s when I get a text from him that he is going to get there at 6PM instead of 5PM because of the traffic. I head back inside thinking about how lucky he is that he texted just in time. I head out and arrive at Applebee’s at 5:45PM and message him that I arrived. I sit facing the door so that I can see him walk in. I have always been terrible at recognizing faces. When I was a child, I used to occasionally go up to people and not realize they were not my mom until I got close to them. As a result, I pretty much date solely based on personality. I also barely remembered what he looked like. I only remembered that he looked Indian and I knew that he would be the only Indian man walking into an Applebee’s at 6PM. I watched him walk in and approach my table and sit down. Now that I knew to focus on his facial features as we were on a date, I noticed his beautiful, shiny, black pearl-colored eyes for the first time. I asked him if he came from work and he told no that he dressed up for me. He told me to choose his food as it would be hard for him to choose from this American restaurant.

I questioned him, “But you don’t eat beef right? Because you are an Indian?”

He said, “How do you know that?”

I thought to myself why did he not just tell me and I replied, “Because my mom had Indian friends before.”

A stranger brought his baby over to show him to Praveen as if he thought it was okay to treat Praveen as if he was a show to go and see. I thought it was weird. Praveen did not mind. I ordered us both chicken fingers and we ate them all. We both drove back to my house and he met my parents. My parents said that they thought that he was safe and we went to the waterfront to walk. He just brought me home at 11PM when we thought to come home by 10PM. It was a good date. We might be each other’s first everything and one and only and forever.

I stopped reading my grandma’s old diary. I continued to go through their belongings. I found a loose floorboard in the corner of the attic under a box. I removed the loose floorboard and saw piles and piles of 20-dollar bills and a coffee shop menu in there. I called over Aloo and we counted all $20,000 of it. I told Aloo that we could open up the coffee shop as a small drive-through with that $20,000. We could open the coffee shop that grandma planned for but was too scared to risk for. This was because she had two kids to provide for our mom, Kavya and our aunt, Mira.

Aloo and I took grandma’s money and recipes that were hiding in the floor and opened a small coffee shop as she always wanted. We named it Purr-fect coffee excepting to expand it into a cat cafe later. Grandma’s recipes did really well, and we made $9,000 profit a month after 2 years of advertising. As a result, after five years we expanded it and turned it into a cat cafe. One day a good looking short, red-haired man came in looking to adopt a cat. He said that he never owned a cat before and wanted help selecting one. I told him about the sweetest, cuddliest cat we had. I asked his name and told him mine was Tulsi. He told me that his name was Luke. I gave my phone number to him in case he wanted help with his new cat. After I got off at 5PM, Luke called and asked me to come over and help him with his new cat. I went over to his place and picked him up and took him to the pet store. We got everything a cat could ever dream of a cat tree, treats, food, bowls, a water fountain, and loads of toys. Luke said that it was such a sweet thing that I did. I told Luke that I did it because I thought that he was very cute with his freckles and green eyes. We played with his cat who ran in circles following the string toy we bought. Later that night, I went home and the next morning I was off. As it was Sunday morning, Luke was also off and I got a call from him. He invited me for a picnic date. He packed strawberries and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We spent all day in the park getting to know each other. I told Luke that he makes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches just like my grandma used to make. I told him that my grandma was British and Irish and my grandpa was Indian. I also told him that my grandparents always wanted to see an Indian with freckles but never did as my mom married an Indian and I am 75% Indian. Luke told that maybe someday him and I might have an Indian baby with freckles. Luke leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. Then, I leaned forward and kissed him on the lips ever so softly and he kissed me back more. I told him it was my first kiss and he said it was his as well. I brought him to meet my parents later that night and they decided he was the right man for me. I spent the night at his house next Saturday and we watched Netflix all night long.

I never expected to find my grandma’s business plan with $20,000 in her attic. I never expected her business plan to lead me to a sweet, handsome man that would be my one and only. It was just like my grandpa and grandma found each other. I hope that Luke and I will someday have that freckled Indian baby that my grandparents never got to see. She or he would be a beautiful sight that the world has never seen before.