She blinked. “A car?”
“Yes. Yours.”
Silence.
“Really?” Then she laughed so hard, she nearly choked on her own morning breath. “Oh ho ho! What happened, you planning to elope with a milkman?”
Maya stepped forward. “Mommy said we’re going on an adventure.”
“I did,” I nodded solemnly.
Aliya added, “She also said something about ‘revenge’ and ‘Swiss accounts’ but I dunno what that means.”
Jhing-Jhing paused. “Ahhh… sleep deprivation. I remember those days. Okay, fine. You can borrow Tito Eddie’s van. But return it, ha? We use that for Sunday karaoke.”
The van smelled like dried shark and old wet clothes. I sat in the driver’s seat, straining against the wheel, while Aliya used a jump rope to tie her stuffed duck to the headrest.
Maya acted like my GPS.
“We turn left, right? Then past
