The Orange Houses Chapter 12

TAMIKA

• At Mik's place, twenty days before the hanging, Mik's got an ear infection; she rinses her ears out and puts peroxide in them.
• On her way to school, Mik sees Fatima with papers and asks when she'll see her again. How about dinner tomorrow?
• Mik agrees and says she'll see Fatima at her place this time.
• She's supposed to tell someone when the speech therapist doesn't show for class, but Mik doesn't bother—she'd rather practice making paper angels from the newspaper.
• After class, she heads to the bathroom to fiddle with her ears. They stick out so much, which she hates. She wishes God would give her some normal ears.
• Still, she hates when people feel sorry for her, even though she doesn't mind feeling sorry for other people.
• In art class, Jaekwon sits across from her. They have to sketch each other, and she gets him pretty close.
• He draws footballs for her breasts, and then tells her she has a nice body; he also says he almost can't tell she's deaf since she talks normally. Mik wonders whether he's telling the truth.
• At lunch, everyone crowds around Mik: Jaekwon and his crew, along with Shanelle and her peeps. There's lots of whispering that Mik can't quite make out with her hearing aids, but she gets that Shanelle wants all of Jaekwon's attention.
• Too bad he's more interested in Mik's drawings and chatting her up. This doesn't go over well with Shanelle, who can't understand why her man would even talk to Mik.
• As everyone leaves, Shanelle warns Mik to watch her back.
• After school, Mik walks home with her mom, and they run into Jimmi releasing hundred of paper doll angels into the breeze.
• It looks like they are flying all around, and it's a beautiful sight.
• She turns to her mom and asks why she hates Jimmi so much. Her mom doesn't really answer her, but we can see everyone thinks this is a kind gesture of Jimmi's.
• Joe sets up a bank account for Mik for her operation. He also tells her, though, that he knows she's not sure about the surgery.
• That night, Mik pulls her mom's old guitar out of the closet. She asks her mom to play, but her mom claims she doesn't remember how.
• Mik asks her why she strings it up then, if she won't play, but her mom claims she has to get back to work.