Firdaws

“She’d learned early that it was quicker to bond with another person over what you didn’t like than what you did, and that the easiest way to feel close to someone was to do something transgressive together. That’s why smokers always made friends.”
― Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein

“As a kid I’d made the mistake of offering up overly complicated explanations, thinking that the more detailed I was, the more her doubt would ebb. Those explanations usually ended up revealing some kind of secret I wasn’t even aware I was keeping from her. Now I knew to say as little as possible.”
― Zalika Reid-Benta, Frying Plantain

“The Black child must learn early to allow laughter to fill his mouth or the million small cruelties he encounters will congeal and clog his throat.”
― Maya Angelou, All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes

“It had taken three different sleepovers at three different houses for me to realize that not all families worked this way.”
― Zalika Reid-Benta, Frying Plantain