The Eyes Are the Best Part

by Monika Kim

Her tears dripped onto my hands, onto the carpet; I watched them fall and had the sudden realization that our roles had reversed. Somehow, I had become the mother and she the daughter.

I feel like I am responsible for every unhappiness and injustice she has ever experienced. Why couldn’t I have been born a boy? Someone strong and confident who would be capable of taking care of her? If I had a million dollars, I’d buy her a house and take her to get her nails done every week.

And when you take everything from him, you can say what these men say about us: He was asking for it. He was begging for it. He must have wanted it, since he didn’t fight back.

If she wasn’t crying so much, I would have told her that I already have a father. And that he, like George, is just a man.