Um… Howdy. My name is Dagmara. Its some shitty exotic name my parents gave me to make me more cultured, but growing up in the projects of the Bronx, I'm not sure how much culture my Mom could make me absorb. I moved to Paris when I was nine. Well, my Mom dragged me along. Sure I hated the projects as much as anyone, but I had friends there. Friends I had made through tough times. We starved together, we laughed together, and we made good memories. While I was looking forward to getting enough to eat (my mom saved up enough money at her factory job and married a rich guy who lived in France). And living in a big house (We lived in an old run-down apartment before and I slept on the floor with my mom.) I still longed for my old friends. I was nervous about moving to a whole new country. I didn't even know what language they spoke! I was hoping they spoke Spanish, because I had been able to pick up a word or two here and there back in the projects. On the plane ride there, I snuggled up to my Mom.

"Mommy, how much longer until we get there?" I asked

"Oh honey, we still have another ten hours" she replied sweetly.

"Fucking shit" I muttered, slumping down in my seat.

Mom's eyes darted around nervously, as if everyone on the plane was judging her for how her daughter talked. "Honey… didn't I tell you once we got to France, that we would leave behind that… street talk. Okay?" She nervously smiled.

I rolled my eyes.

Her expression turned stern, and said "Alright miss thing. How about we learn some French. Say hello."

"Hello" I spat.

I swear her eye twitched. I sighed and realized I was being a brat, but i didn't want her to know that.

"Bun-jar" I said

"Honey…" I could tell she was holding back some giggles.

"Bun-jar Bun-jar Bun-jar" I chanted

"Ahaha okay sweetie that's enough." She chuckled

"BUN-JAR! BUN-JAR! BUN-JAR FRANCE! BUN-JAR PARIS! BUN-JAR!" I shrieked until a flight attendant came around.

"Ma'am, the captain asked you to please keep your little ennui under control. His words not mine." The flight attendant spat in a thick accent. I stuck my tongue out at her and my Mom apologized. After all those shennanigans, I passed out for the rest of the flight.

At the airport, I saw mom's boyfriend, he seemed nice. By nice I mean rich. He was decked out with gold chains, wristwatches and even teeth! He seemed older, like he could be my Mom's Dad. At the time I didn't think much of it. I was just hungry. He grabbed her roughly and planted an open-mouthed kiss on her lips.

"Let us get to the house immediately" He murmured into her neck. My mom nodded feverently and we rushed to his car. It was a large black car and looked very expensive. I wondered if he was a mobster. I was about to ask him when he whipped around to face me with his huge gut at the level of my eyes.

"Listen here. You learn French this summer and you learn it good. Don't bother me or your mother. Got it?" He spat glowering at me.

I nodded quickly. We got in the car and he rolled up a window between the back seat and front seat. Again, I didn't think much of it, so I looked around for something to do. There were some dirty magazines in French so I picked those up.

'Time to learn French' I thought to myself.