One day in grade two, I was reading my class assigned reading book with my teacher, Mrs Peacock. I was still learning to speak English.
Although quite competent, I was still receiving what was known in the 1970s as special English classes. I remember reading out loud from a book describing a character, a little girl in a sari, as having olive skin and almond eyes. The little girl was Indian.
“What is olive skin?” I asked Mrs Peacock.
Mrs Peacock explained people have different colored skin. She rubbed the top of my wrist and said, “Your skin is olive too, see? My skin is white,” she said, pointing to herself.