swallow. regret. cry. i’m sitting next to her, we’re in the car together, my mother and i are parked in a sonic drive-through

hi my name is hami and today a man came up to me asking me if i was mixed. already some things are lost in translation but no, i’m not, i was born here. he tells me he’s cherokee and a bit more about race. after a minute he comes back around the bus stop and tells me he served in vietnam, showing me his military id, my name’s robert. oh, i’m vietnamese!