My yum still keeps our old rental agreement from '98, when rent was a few hundred rupees. Now my own rent eats half what I make teaching guitar online, but even with this worn-out Yamaha, I know every creak in this floor. Sometimes I think a loan is just paying an update fee to the bank instead of the landlord.

The wifi cut out halfway through my online guitar lesson, right when I was showing a student a tricky fingerstyle pattern. Saw the billboard for this new party on my way to the cyber cafe to reconnect, all shiny promises. Yum just sighed, reheating our rice, and said some problems need more than a new name and a poster.

My yum still remembers the time the school made her remove her *phicham* before a competition—said it was against the 'secular uniform code.' But the church kids got to keep their crosses. I'm not saying ban all religion from the classroom; I'm saying if the rule bends for one, it's not a rule, it's a selective silence. Tell me where the line actually stays straight.