Stranger on the Home Front: A Story of Indian Immigrants and World War I
Temple Ranjit A man came out to meet them He clearly recognized her family but Margaret couldn’t remember who he was Late but still in time for langar as usual Come in and have something to eat Ah and you’ve brought your family Alice lovely to see you again And Margaret you’ve grown taller How old are you now She still couldn’t remember what his name was though he knew her whole family Fortunately most of Father’s friends were happy to be called uncle I’ll be twelve next year uncle she said smiling to cover up her confusion Just then her stomach made a loud and embarrassing demand for food Come in and eat something the man repeated and they didn’t hesitate There was no meat in the meal so that vegetarians could eat too Father said but it was tasty They sat on the floor to eat
it They mostly ate with their hands but after last year when she’d made a mess of her new dress Margaret couldn’t help but wish for a knife and fork This time she ate slowly and cautiously scooping up little bits of vegetable curry with the phulka Margaret quickly grew bored by the grown up talk which was mostly in Punjabi anyway There weren’t any other children there except for one two-year-old who kept trying to run off He was too young to be much fun and besides if she showed any interest in amusing him she’d probably find herself watching him for the rest of the day the way her friend Bettina was often stuck making sure her three-year-old brother didn’t get into trouble That definitely wasn’t her idea of a fun festival day Looking up she noticed that Father had left and Mother was looking around for him Margaret started scanning the room as well She spotted a few men with short hair
but none of them was Father Maybe he’d gone outside She slipped out onto the second-floor landing and heard voices Peering over the railing she saw a small group of men talking below her They stood to the side of the first-floor entrance almost concealed by one of the outside staircases She could see the tops of their heads from above and the large turbans most wore Father was among them A gust of cold autumn air made her shiver and she wondered why they didn’t come in The British have been on the lookout for the last few years and the Annie Larsen getting caught with arms aboard didn’t help one of the men was saying
