You’re grown when you pull back into the driveway at the house
These events have aged and matured the narrator. Whatever childlike innocence and ignorance the narrator had is crushed by the realization that his family isn't as great as he thought it was. The narrator now knows the true darkness of the world. The narrator returns to his home and family (the status quo) but it is tainted and no longer the same.
her face obscured by the steam of the mint pulao from the cooker
The mother hides herself from the truth through work. She cooks to try to ignore the situation.
She grazes your cheek with her cracked, dry lips
The mother attempts to bring comfort but she is worn. Her lips are barren and her kiss most likely does little to help her son.
throw yourself into her arms, ask her, How long have you known?
The narrator seeks solace in his mother. The narrator's mother is the only person he can share this experience with. Even now, the mother attempts to protect her son.
Mom’s standing there in the dark, the hem of her robe flowing at her feet
The mother stayed home because she always knew the truth. She stayed at the driveway because she still cares about the narrator and waited there to comfort the narrator after the truth. The darkness that surrounds the mother is the sadness and pity she feels for herself and her son.
get cold, shiver, hug yourself in your jacket, feel the tips of your fingers start to numb
The truth scares the narrator. As he gets closer to the truth, the narrator becomes increasingly nervous and stressed. The father and his affair almost exudes an aura of corruption.
the lone white door with its gold knob rusted and dulled, all gleam and shimmer aged and gone.
The store was once pristine but has become worn and ruined. The family's relationship with one another used to be normal and happy but is now tainted and ruined by the father. The source of the store's ruin and the family's ruin is the father who lies in the store.
recall your fourteenth birthday party when Srinivas Mama, his breath reeking of rum, grinned, said, So you’re ladies man like Dad now, no?
The truth looms over the narrator, but the narrator doesn't want to believe that his father is cheating until he sees his father. The narrator wants to preserve their childlike ignorance as much as his mother wanted to.
You park there, crooked in the unmarked, lineless gravel
The narrator is in a hurry to find out the truth. The narrator most likely already knows the truth but doesn't want to believe it. The narrator is anxious and nervous.
You drive around the side of the building to the back, where a lamplight flickers, tall and lonesome, the pale slivers of moths swarming
This area represents how the narrator is feeling. The narrator is alone and in a dark place. The narrator no longer has his mother to protect him from the darkness and evil of his father. The moths represent the disgusting nature of the father's sin.
next to a silver Nissan, dipped in shadow.
The Nissan is the car of the person the narrator's dad is cheating with. The Nissan is dark and in shadow representing the darkness and moral corruption of the father.
Dad’s cherry Mazda, his pride and joy
The father's Mazda is his pride and joy rather than his family. The father cares more about possessions, materialism, and things that give him immediate pleasure regardless of the long term implications. The mother cares more about her family rather than these things unlike the father.
This is what brings the new ones in, Shivam, he said. What keeps them coming back, too.
The father is creepy and this is probably not the first time he's cheated. The father most likely had an affair with multiple women. The father is too busy focusing on his outer appearance (neon sign) that he doesn't notice how he's a scumbag on the inside (worn, rusted door) by cheating.
deep, rich red
Red represents passion, lust, sin. The father is having an affair in the store.
her pale pink robe
The mother's personality was once bright and vibrant like the pink of her robes, but is now pale and lifeless like her current personality. The father has ruined the mother and her robe.
barefoot, hobbling, the bunions at the sides of her feet bulbous like moons of some long-forgotten planet
The mother bears the weight of the family and is suffering because of it. The father is too selfish to help and the narrator has been too ignorant to help.
the wall-mounted wooden “F” by the front door. It stands for family
The father leaves through a doorway that represents family. The father gives up his familial relations for his own pleasure through his affair. The mother, however, never strays too far from the house and doorway. The mother cares for her family unlike the father.
Shivu, wait, she pleads, her arms stretched out, fingers grasping for your shoulders.
The mother has one last desperate attempt to stop the narrator but fails. The truth is inevitable and the narrator was going to find out eventually.
really, truly see — the bags under her eyes, the first time you count, one, two, three creases, deep and black and worn.
The mother is stressed, tired, and hardworking. The father's misdeeds has taken a toll on her and she spends all her efforts trying to hold the family together. The father is arrogant for not seeing how he is ruining his wife and is selfish for choosing his affair over his family. The narrator has been ignorant and is only now just realizing what is happening to his family. The innocent ignorance of the narrator's youth is slowly being crushed.
bowls Madhavi Aunty put under the un-ornamented Christmas tree two years ago, in that plain-as-day, unwrapped box, the corners pressed and pushed and bent.
The family might not be very financially well off. Their Christmas tree has no ornaments and their presents are mere bowls in a dingy box. Possibly represents how poor the mother is feeling.
start to notice the aversion of her eyes
The mother is nervous and anxious that the narrator will find out the father's misdeeds. The narrator is increasingly aware of the situation.
You start to press her, and she says, Set the table, Shivam.
The mother deflects the narrator's comments. The mother is desperately trying to maintain the illusion of a normal, happy family for her child. The mother is protective.
You ask Mom if he meant the diet bottles, and she doesn’t look at you because her head’s down, her face obscured by the steam of the mint pulao from the cooker. She says in barely more than a whisper that she doesn’t know.
The narrator's mother similarly lies to the narrator like the Dad. The mother knows the truth of what the father is doing but stays willfully ignorant to try to protect the narrator. The mother lies because she cares about the narrator, but the father lies because he is selfish.
it’s an odd hour for Dad to head back to the store. That it’s almost dinnertime. That what he says about being almost out of the twenty-four ounce Cherry Coke bottles and him needing to be there when the truck comes in to deliver them doesn’t add up
The narrator's dad is lying to the narrator. The narrator's has ulterior motives. The dad is a bad person, but does not want the narrator to know.
You’re almost grown
Narrator is relatively young, but is starting to grow up.