Page 36 of In Love with Lewis Prescott
Mina says an excited yes, and the three of us make our way out of the apartment and to the office. She sits at the desk with the leasing agent while I pop to the bathroom just outside the office near the entrance of the building. When I walk out, I stop to get a drink at the nearby fountain. As I straighten up, I notice Mina rushing out of the office in tears.
I hurry to catch up with her. When I rest my hand on her arm, she stops right in front of the glass doors at the entrance.
“What happened? Are you okay?”
She shakes her head, tears streaming from her brown eyes. “It’s just...one of the other leasing agents came in and said something pretty insensitive...about whether or not I’m able to speak English well enough...”
Every single muscle in my shoulders, back, and torso tenses.
“What did they say?”
Her lips quiver as she opens her mouth, but she shuts it quickly. After a few seconds she tries again. “Brittany and I were going over the application when he walked in. And then he interrupted us to ask if Brittany could come with him to his office. I overheard him telling her that he didn’t want her renting out to ‘people like me’ anymore.”
My jaw falls to the floor.
“Brittany started to argue with him, but then he went off about how it was impossible to understand me because of my accent and that I’ll probably be late with rent all the time because I probably don’t have a stable job. It was just awful. I didn’t stick around for the rest. I was too upset and ran out.”
A memory from decades ago dislodges from the back of my brain. I’m eight years old at the supermarket withApongBernie andApongVivian. While we were waiting in line to pay for our groceries, they were chattering to each other in Ilocano.ApongBernie said I could pick out one piece of candy, so I giddily perused the selection next to the register as they chatted. And that’s when I heard the words I’ll never forget.
“Fucking foreigners.”
My head whipped up to see an angry man glaring at my grandparents.
“Learn some English,” the guy muttered.
I’ll never forget the look onApongBernie’s face as he straightened his posture and looked him square in the eye. “We do speak English, actually.”
I didn’t catch the muttered retort as the guy walked away to wait in line at a different register. All I remember isApongVivian pulling me close to her the rest of the time that we waited in line. I remember how quiet the car ride home was. I remember the short conversation they had while I stared at my unopened candy bar in the back seat.
“They don’t even know us and they hate us,”ApongVivian said quietly.
“Forget them, ViVi,”ApongBernie said. “We have just as much right to live here as anyone else.”
That’s when his brown eyes appeared in the rearview mirror. The usual brightness I saw in them had dulled.
“Harper,anak.” His voice was gentle yet firm, like it always was when he was about to tell me something important. “You don’t ever let anyone tell you that you don’t belong. You hear me? You belong here. Always.”
The sound of Mina’s sniffles yanks me back to the present, and I catch myself nodding, just like I did that day in the car withApongBernie.
Gently, I rest my hands on her shoulders. “Mina. There is nothing wrong with the way you speak. That guy is an ignorant prick. And he’s not going to get away with saying that about you.”
Acid swirls in my belly as I march back into the office. I hear raised voices from the back office, so I head straight there.
“Ken, do you even realize what you’re saying? What is wrong—”
Both Brittany and Ken whip their heads at me when they notice me in the doorway.
Ken aims a glare at me. “Is there something we can help you with?”
“Yeah, actually. Ken, is it? I just wanted to pop in and say that you’re a racist asshole.”
His eyes bulge.
“What you said about my friend Mina is disgusting. She has a great job as a web developer and a solid rental history in the few years that she’s lived in the US. She works hard every day to be a productive member of society and a good person, which is more than I can say for you. I hope you realize what a classless jerk you are and do some serious soul-searching so you don’t die a bigoted jackass.”
I pivot my gaze to Brittany. “You were wonderful. I’m sorry you work with such a prick.” I shift to address Ken once more. “I’ll be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau about you and this company.”
My heart rams against my rib cage as I march back out to the entrance, where Mina’s waiting. I take her hand and lead her back to my car. Before I can climb into the driver’s seat, she stops us and pulls me into a hug.
