My Stinky Lunch Story That I Never Had

For years I told the story. Then I talked to my mom and realized I’d made it up.

Dig if you will the picture of a seven-year-old me. A recent immigrant to the United States. Not being able to speak English. On the school bus in the morning. I can’t understand what the students are saying. But their scrunched-up faces combined with the universal hand waving gesture in front of their noses signals to me that they find something to be stinky.