One of the things that makes me feel most like a grown up is being offered fancy coffees at car dealerships.The man who sold me my car wore green alligator shoes the size of rowboats.

When we first moved to America we had no furniture because it was all being shipped in a container across the ocean and it took months and months and months and we lived in a furnished condo in Framingham, MA with wicker kitchen chairs and then rented a yellow ranch house in Deerfield, IL. Container was one of the first English words I learned. We didn’t buy any furniture because we wouldn’t use it once ours arrived so we used cardboard boxes as tables and sat on lawn chairs inside. We wore discount store clothes from places like Bradlees because in America things were so cheap and everything was on sale and can you believe these prices?? People thought we were really poor and felt very sorry for us. Then one day our things finally arrived from Sweden and when they lowered my dad’s old Bentley to the ground our neighbours were very surprised to say the least. Like we transformed or tricked them. The delivery truck hovered it above the ground and then just dropped it the last two feet and I think it was the closet my dad has ever come to a heart attack. But they are built like dressed up tanks, round English lady tanks, so it was okay. I love that car, the way it smells. It’s like a substitute for a childhood home. Now it’s his commuting car and he drives it while wearing his black GoldToe socks and sandals, his fishing hat.