{"id":10678,"date":"2023-10-24T08:21:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T12:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10678"},"modified":"2024-02-15T08:00:37","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T13:00:37","slug":"a-question-of-identity-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10678","title":{"rendered":"“A Question of Identity”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"tiger,<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At Manhattan\u2019s KGB Bar last week, members of the New York chapter of Mystery Writers of America read from their works suitable (grim, gory, ghostly) for the spooky season. I read the last section of my short story, \u201cA Question of Identity,\u201d published at Halloween a few years ago by <\/em>King\u2019s River Life. There\u2019s a summary paragraph to get you into it, then the conclusion.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA Question of Identity\u201d is about two nine-year-old girls\u2014neighbors and best friends\u2014who receive mysterious packages containing Halloween costumes. Tamika Greene, is Black. Hers is a fox costume. Blonde, blue-eyed Jen Nielsen receives a tiger costume. Done trick-or-treating, they have the bright idea to exchange costumes, go to each other\u2019s houses, and see how long it takes their families to notice they\u2019re the wrong girl. Trouble is, they never do. We start at Tamika\u2019s family\u2019s dinner table.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Greene was famous for quizzing his children over dinner, and he started right in. \u201cWhat do you know for sure?\u201d he asked his older son, who responded with the details of a recent football player-trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked the same question, the younger brother said, \u201cThe Forty-Niners are going to the Super Bowl this year for sure!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, see,\u201d Mr. Greene explained, \u201cyou\u2019ve drifted away from the solid land of facts into the swamp of opinion and wishful thinking. You don\u2019t know for sure about the Forty-Niners. Can you help your brother out with a for-sure fact, Tamika?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUh, a football field is a hundred yards long,\u201d Jen said, \u201cnot counting the end zones?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young man rolled his eyes, but Mr. Greene said, \u201cIt may not be a new fact, but it is definitely a fact. Good job. Now, Tamika, what do you know for sure?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking back to Tamika\u2019s nature book and the pictures of the Big Cats, Jen said, \u201cTigers can\u2019t purr. They chuff, like this\u201d She demonstrated. \u201cThe only Big Cats that can purr are cheetahs and mountain lions. Pumas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow interesting. Why is that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And she explained, sort of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two houses away, Tamika was presented with a plate of so many aromatically spiced vegetables that she barely realized there was no meat. After the dishes were done, Jen\u2019s sister Gail invited her to her room to draw fashions. Tamika, having only a pair of rowdy brothers, had never spent an evening this way and was delighted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour drawing has really improved,\u201d Gail told her. \u201cHave you been practicing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamika smiled slyly.
#
Over the weekend, Tamika\u2019s brothers took Jen to a football game, and when some of the boys asked who she was, she heard them say \u201cmy sister,\u201d and nobody blinked. Maybe the increasing number of blended families made this plausible, even to kids. Or, especially to kids. When Mrs. Nielsen saw Tamika in Jen\u2019s best new dress, she nodded and said, \u201cVery pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was fun having a whole new wardrobe. The girls read each other\u2019s books and, like budding anthropologists, observed how the other family lived. And yet . . . and yet . . . it wasn\u2019t home. The Greene and Nielsen families had different rhythms, their houses didn\u2019t smell the same (maybe because the Nielsens were vegetarian, Tamika thought), the night noises were unfamiliar. Even the touch of the other mother\u2019s hugs wasn\u2019t quite right.
#
Monday morning, the girls met at the bus stop and exchanged lunches. \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking,\u201d Tamika said. \u201cWe have to visit Mrs. Lachlan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen she was our teacher, you always said she was a witch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah. I hope I was right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After school, the girls slipped down the block and around the corner to Mrs. Lachlan\u2019s house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They told their former teacher the whole story. At the end, Jen started to cry. \u201cMake it stop. I don\u2019t know who I am anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre those your costumes in the bag?\u201d Mrs. Lachlan pointed at the folded-over shopping bag between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes. We thought maybe there\u2019s something . . . wrong with them,\u201d Tamika said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs. Lachlan gave Tamika a look. \u201cEnchantment? Not likely.\u201d She laid the costumes over a chair. \u201cIt\u2019s true they\u2019re special.\u201d She examined the masks and pinched her lower lip. \u201cNow this is what we\u2019ll do.\u201d
#
Tamika trotted home in full fox display, and Jen stealthily walked to her front door dressed in her tiger bodysuit, wearing her tiger mask, and swishing her tiger tail. Her key worked\u2014finally\u2014and she walked inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust in time.\u201d Mrs. Nielsen peered around the kitchen doorway to look at her. \u201cDinner\u2019s in the oven. Set the table?\u201d Jen bounded up the stairs to her room, took off the costume, and returned in jeans and t-shirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Greenes\u2019 house, Tamika was glad to be back in her own room. One of her brothers, standing in the doorway, blocked the light from the hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey, little sis. How you doin?\u201d He looked her up and down. \u201cHalloween\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe for you.\u201d Her tail twitched. When he walked away, she took off the costume and mask. She twirled and twirled and laughed and laughed. Her bed, her closet, her desk, the view of the sky from her window. All these familiar things whizzed by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the dinner table, passing a platter of roast beef, one of the brothers asked, \u201cWhat the heck was that noise before we came down? Sounded like dog with a cough being strangled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t sound like a dog to me,\u201d his brother said. \u201cMore like a, I dunno, a fox or something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamika tore into a slice of roast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKnife and fork, please, Tamika. What\u2019s gotten into you?\u201d her mother asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Greene frowned, as if overtaken by the uneasy feeling some facts were slipping out of his sturdy grasp.
#
Down the block, Jen leaned on the kitchen counter, watching her mother peel about a hundred carrots. Remembering the Greenes\u2019 meaty dinners, she chuffed with pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gail breezed through, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge. Mrs. Nielsen stopped her, saying, \u201cBefore you go up, would you please put more corn in the squirrel feeder?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMom,\u201d Gail complained, \u201cnobody feeds squirrels. In colonial times, people got a bounty for squirrel scalps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s disgusting,\u201d her mother said. \u201cIt\u2019s uncivilized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight here in Pennsylvania,\u201d Gail said. Pushing her luck, she added, \u201cAnd they ate the squirrels too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grrr<\/u><\/em>, Jen breathed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their mother said, \u201cWell, Gail, if you don\u2019t want to do the corn . . . You know they love it. They come right to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll <\/em>do it,\u201d Jen said. Her fingers stretched wide and the tips curled in. And her nails . . . how they\u2019d grown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Manhattan\u2019s KGB Bar last week, members of the New York chapter of Mystery Writers of America read from their works suitable (grim, gory, ghostly) for the spooky season. I read the last section of my short story, \u201cA Question … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Here's the last bits of a spooky short story that will make you think twice about selecting a Halloween costume.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[40,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-the-morgue"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-2Me","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10678"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10840,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10678\/revisions\/10840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}