Save Me a Seat

Ravi watches Joe and his mom come into school, recognizing Joe’s mom as one of the lunch monitors and remembering the cruel cartoon. He understands now that Dillon has been making fun of both himself and Joe. Amma reminds Ravi that she made him lunch, but hands him money so that he can buy pizza today at lunch as well. Ravi is very grateful and remembers a part of Bud, Not Buddy, where the main character discusses how much he loves his mother. Ravi gives Amma a hug and watches as his mother and grandparents drive away: “Yesterday I was feeling like a complete failure, but today as I walk into Albert Einstein Elementary School, I feel like the luckiest boy in the world” (170).

Joe watches Dillon get out of his mom’s Mercedes, which has a vanity license plate, while Dillon’s mom does her makeup. Dillon yells at her to pop the trunk so he can get his project out of the back, but she pays little attention to him. When she does finally pop the trunk, Dillon grabs his personal reflection project and leaves without closing the trunk. Joe runs over to close it, and Mrs. Samreen leaves without thanking him. Joe’s mom talks about what a terrific kid Joe is. Dillon waits by the door, sarcastically welcoming Joe and Ravi back to school by calling them ladies. They ignore him and go to their desks, putting down their projects. Joe worries that no one will understand his project. Mrs. Beam collets all the notecards with the justifications on them in a basket and Joe puts his peanut M&M in the glass dish. When Mrs. Beam says she looks forward to seeing what Joe’s project is, Joe has hope that maybe she’ll grow to like him and think that he is an asset to the class, just like Mr. Barnes. But when he gets back to his seat, Joe finds his glass dish empty. 

Ravi ignores Dillon when he enters class. Ravi wipes off his glasses with a special cloth before giving Mrs. Beam his notecard. In the process, he sees Dillon steal and eat Joe’s peanut M&M.

Joe thinks it’s his fault that Dillon stole his peanut M&M and is disappointed that Mrs. Beam won’t be impressed with his project. Ravi’s package is still left unopened, and Dillon is busy focusing on his own project: “It’s a big plastic yellow star with a picture of—what else?—Dillon’s face glued to the center” (178) that plays “Ghetto Superstar,” which Dillon and the girls dance and sing off-key to. Joe sees Dillon’s boxers have yellow stars on them and he thinks Dillon has glitter on his chest. Joe worries about his project.

When Mrs. Beam talks to Ravi, he worries he has done something wrong, but Mrs. Beam just wants to know what was in the cookies Ravi brought for her. Ravi apologizes for the unknown spice—cumin—but Mrs. Beam said she liked them very much. She asks for the recipe and what they are called, pronouncing the cookies perfectly. Ravi explains the pronunciation of his name and that it means the sun. Mrs. Beam finally pronounces his name correctly, and Ravi’s “heart feels lighter” (181). But then Ravi sees how sad Joe looks staring at his empty dish, and Ravi wants to redeem himself for mistreating Ramaswami, so he plans to put the peanut M&M Miss Frost gave him into Joe’s dish when no one is looking. 

Mrs. Beam announces the game: to try and match up the anonymous written reflections with everyone’s object. Joe is disappointed because now his project doesn’t make any sense. Joe curiously watches Ravi carefully unwrap his project. The kids make their way around the room, looking at everyone’s items. One girl brought an old stuffed bear, and a boy brought his front tooth that got knocked out when he scored the winning goal at a hockey game that led to his picture on the front page of a newspaper: “Some of the other girls brought stuffed animals too, or girlie junk like charm bracelets and flavored Chapstick. A lot of the boys picked video games or sports stuff” (183). One of the girls screams when she sees what Ravi has brought.

Ravi explains that he brought leeches, thinking back to how his grandfather took a walk with him the day before. Perippa had been quiet since they moved to Hamilton but on the walk he asked Ravi about his plans to quit school. Ravi explains how he feels like a loser, and his grandfather makes it clear that that is no excuse, which Ravi will one day tell his children, just as Perippa told Appa. Ravi’s grandfather talks about plucking tea by hand in India, and how he used to have to protect the workers from dangerous wild animals on the tea plantation. Perippa goes to the pond and dips in a tea strainer, fishing out three leeches. Perippa explains that these are for Ravi’s assignment, and Ravi mistakes his grandfather’s gesture, thinking Perippa is calling him a leech. Ravi fills a jar with water and Perippa puts the leeches in: “‘These leeches are a reminder of who we are, and where we’ve come from, Ravi, and all of the hardships we’ve endured to get here’” (188). Ravi confesses his identity crisis, and Perippa tells him their family never gives up. Ravi confesses he misses Bangalore, and Perippa admits he does too, but that eventually Hamilton will begin to feel like home. In Room 506, everyone is busy looking at Ravi’s leeches, so Ravi slips the double peanut M&M into Joe’s dish.

Joe can’t believe his eyes when he looks back at his dish to see the double peanut M&M and immediately knows that Ravi has put it there.

Mrs. Beam pulls out a card and reads it aloud; the card references Girl Scouts, and Dillon rudely guesses who it is out loud. Mrs. Beam tells him that the person who reads the card must guess. Mrs. Beam guesses the same girl that Dillon had guessed, Celena, who chooses and reads a card about being blonde. Dillon makes rude sarcastic jokes the whole time, claiming that this game is too easy. Celena correctly guesses that the blonde card is for Lucy, who then gets a card that simply says “I rule.” To give Lucy a hint, Dillon jumps on his desk and starts dancing and sticking his tongue out. Mrs. Beam reprimands him: “As Dillon starts to climb down, he happens to glance over at Big Foot’s desk. When he sees the blue candy in the bowl, his eyes grow very wide and a look of pure shock comes over his face” (193). Ravi feels triumphant. 

Lucy doesn’t want to walk past Ravi’s leeches to give Dillon his notecard, but Ravi reassures her that the lid is on tight. Lucy is pleased he knows her name, which disgusts Joe. Joe notices that Dillon has become fixated on the leeches.

Dillon complains that this game is too easy, and Mrs. Beam says there are more important things than winning. Ravi thinks about how his old teacher would have punished Dillon for his rudeness. Dillon makes a huge show of picking a card, but no one is paying him any attention. He gets a card that talks about not quitting, and Dillon mistakenly attributes it to another boy. The boy says it’s not him, and Dillon argues with him. Mrs. Beam argues the game isn’t as easy as Dillon thought. Dillon asks who wrote it, and Ravi admits to it, winking at Dillon.

Dillon yells about Ravi cheating, and Mrs. Beam asks Ravi if he would be willing to explain the connection between leeches and quitting. Ravi says that not quitting is a familial lesson, but he hasn’t prepared anything else. Dillon yells more about him cheating, and Ravi offers to tell a story instead. 

Ravi talks about how his patrilineal family worked with tea for generations and his grandfather had to protect the workers from animals. Ravi sees the class’s interest, so he exaggerates and dramatizes his grandfather’s story. Ravi talks about the leeches and how they might even crawl up your nostrils, causing one of the other students to vomit. Dillon mocks her for throwing up. 

Joe states: “Apparently all that stuff about giant bloodsucking leeches climbing up your nose got to Emily and she barfed up her breakfast. Kids are running around screaming, Dillon is laughing, Emily is bawling, and Mrs. Beam is calling the office to tell them to send the custodian down” (204). Joe feels bad for Ravi, who seemed like he was finally having a good time. Joe looks down at the M&M and gets an idea. 

Ravi watches the chaos ensue while Mrs. Beam tries to get everyone to calm down. She decides that they will go to the library and read Bud, Not Buddy while the custodian cleans. Dillon mocks Ravi, who ignores him. When Ravi returns to his seat, he finds a note from Joe warning Ravi not to touch the jar of leeches. 

As the kids line up to go to the library, Joe wonders if his plan will work, but then Dillon claims to have left his book behind and goes back to the room. Joe waits, thinking about all the terrible things Dillon has done. Joe counts in his head, and Dillon runs out of the classroom screaming with a wet mark spreading all over his pants, jumping up and down and swatting at his crotch while the glass jar drops out of his pant leg. 

Ravi thinks that Joe’s plan was genius and he cannot believe what a fool Dillon was for putting leeches in his pants. Later, after Dillon’s mom picks him up, Mrs. Beam asks if Ravi wants to finish telling his story, but he refuses: “I don’t need to show off anymore. I’m not like Dillon Samreen and I never will be” (211). Ravi chooses and reads Joe’s card about there being more to him than meets the eye. Mrs. Beam, thinking that the card is difficult, offers for Ravi to choose another one, but Ravi confidently puts the card on Joe’s desk. They smile at each other, and Mrs. Beam asks how Ravi guessed, so Ravi explains how most people are mistaken about peanut M&Ms.

Joe thinks about how smart both of his parents are but how they don’t know everything. He thinks about how his life has changed so drastically in the past week. Joe thinks about how depressed he was when Mr. Barnes talked about all the Dillons who Joe would have to deal with in life, but now he knows “it’s possible for a couple of zebras to outsmart a crocodile […] Not only that, but it’s Friday—pizza day” (214). 

Ravi thinks about how empathy is more important than winning. Ravi thinks about how his mom’s black tongue has finally worked and reflects on whether he wants pizza or his mom’s food. He thinks about how it doesn’t matter which he decides to eat because Joe will have saved him a seat.