“My plane got delayed a few hours in Bujumbura so I couldn’t come sooner. I actually just drove
directly here from the airport.” Dad’s voice continued.
My dean said nothing but I saw her left hand clutching her door knob quite tightly. Stressed out? I
thought gleefully.
“Really, I wasn’t here earlier. I can show you my plane ticket and boarding pass stubs, if that would
help.” Dad’s voice continued very calmly when my dean just stood there saying nothing.
As much as I enjoyed my dean’s discomfort, I flew off my chair and onto my dad’s startled arms. I
forgot about my teenage superpowers and quickly dissolved into tears, incoherently babbling about
how I wasn’t lying and how hungry I was! Tearfully, I blurted that he caught us in the middle of me
being interrogated for calling Uncle Jun Nebres “Uncle” and that I was not going to say I lied because I
wasn’t!
A slow grin developed in my dad’s face as my story tumbled out. The dean, realizing her mistake,
started to stutter an apology. She explained that she thought dad was Mr. Nebres.
“That’s ok,” Dad assured her kindly. “That is a common mistake that people make all the time. As a
matter of fact, it happened 2 days ago at the Mi