Blues

Chapter Ten

"Da te me she'jaan rujk dzu fālaat-me." I gestured to the expanse of industrial waste and frozen dirt that spanned the space between the horizon and the bridge we stood on. I was fourteen.

"You live here?"

"Tet zam, ma'me fālaau so."

"We should try to speak English more, Savannah."

"Su'qa?"

"You do speak English, right? Palaami'ta l'inglā?"

"Of course I speak English. We attend the same school. How could I not speak English?"

"It's just that I've only ever heard you speak Hereli. I thought maybe it was because your English isn't as good."

"Why should I speak English when it's not my native tongue or yours?"

"Well, because it's good practice. If you want to get jobs in America, they expect it. Hereli is pretty useless."

"That's untrue. Americans prize bilingualism."

"Americans prize bilingualism in Americans. It's bilingualism when they learn our language in their schools, not when we speak it in our homes."

"I don't plan to go to America anyhow."

"You should. Your English is actually very good."

"I learned it because I had to in school. Not because I believe it has implicit value."

"America does have value."

"I don't think it does, to someone like me."

"Do you actually like it here?"

"Do you like it here? Of course I don't like it here. Of course I don't like war, losing everyone I know, performing when I could have done anything else if I'd been born somewhere different. But this is my culture, it's my neighborhood, it's my---it's me. I would rather speak the language my grandparents spoke than the language of people I never met who don't care how we suffer here."

"I would rather not suffer here than ruin my chances of escaping it by looking down on the place where I could be saved."

"America won't save you."

"You don't know about America."

"Well, anyway. We should speed up, it's getting dark."

"Seriously?"

"Is there a problem?"

"I thought you were kidding when you said we'd have to go through the valley."

"Why would I kid about that?"

"You don't really do humor, do you?"

"Sure I do. I was in A Comedy of Errors three times."

"I mean actual humor? Not Shakespearean comedies?"

"We can go around the valley if you don't want to--"

"Actually, you're right. It's getting late, so I should probably get back."

"Okay. Bye then."

"It's just that, my parents are expecting me."

"Okay. Get home safe."

"I'm not lying."

"I didn't say you were lying."

"Are you mad?"

"Why would I be mad? You said you had to go."

"I had a nice time."