they sat at the table, the rice cakes between them. he turned to a fresh page in his sketch pad. "you draw."
she selected a blue crayon. "what should i draw?"
he thought for a moment. "i know," he said. he asked her to draw things in the living room: the sofa, the barcelona chair, the television, the telephone. "this way i can memorize it."
"memorize what?"
"our day together." he reached for another rice cake.
"why do you want to memorize it?"
"because we're never going to see each other, ever again"
the precision of the phrase startled her.
he tapped the page. "go on."

(lahiri.)

he goes on to want a drawing of himself, done by her in her apartment. he's 7.