The Mistress of Spices

Tilo reflects on the qualities of fenugreek, a spice known for its healing properties. She recalls instances where she used fenugreek to help her customers with various issues, ranging from physical ailments to emotional distress.

The narrative then introduces a group of young, confident Indian American women, whom Tilo refers to as the “bougainvillea girls.” Initially, Tilo regards these young women—with their modern lifestyles and disregard for the traditional—as naïve and foolish. She imagines that nothing bad has ever happened to them. She briefly imagines using harmful spices to punish them for their arrogance, and she fantasizes about casting off her disguise—the body of an aged woman—and revealing her true self, in comparison to whom the Bougainvillea Girls would be “like mud scraped from the feet before one crosses the threshold” (51). Remembering the words of the Old One, she chastises herself for her vanity and envy and blesses the women.

Tilo also reflects on her past, particularly her time on the island where she was trained as a Mistress. She remembers the ceremony where she and her fellow trainees were given their assignments and the places they would go to serve.