Piecing Me Together

E.J. has a gig deejaying for a new restaurant on Thursdays and Fridays, so Jade has the house to herself when Maxine calls and asks what Jade is doing. Jade says that she is just waiting for her mother to come home from work to help take out her braids so that they can redo them. Maxine offers to come over to help do her hair, and Jade calls her mother at work and asks if that is okay. Jade’s mother says it is fine.

Maxine arrives and they start the process of taking down Maxine’s hair. When Maxine’s mother arrives home, she starts making dinner for the three of them. Since Maxine is admittedly “only good at salads,” Jade’s mother offers to help teach her some of the basics of cooking as she prepares dinner. Meanwhile, Jade sits at the kitchen table practicing her Spanish. She purposely recites words that relate to cooking: “To Peel—Pelar. To Cut—Cortar. To Chop—Picar” (225). Jade, Jade’s mother, and Maxine all participate in an exchange of knowledge: “I get Mom to try a few words. And while I am teaching Mom, she is teaching Maxine what a pinch of that and a dab of this means” (225).