Apart from Laxmi and Dev, the only Indians whom Miranda had known were a family in the
neighborhood where she'd grown up, named the Dixits. Much to the amusement of the neighborhood
children, including Miranda, but not including the Dixit children, Mr. Dixit would jog each evening along
the flat winding streets of their development in his everyday shirt and trousers, his only concession to
athletic apparel a pair of cheap Keds. Every weekend, the family—mother, father, two boys, and a girl—piled
into their car and went away, to where nobody knew. The fathers complained that Mr. Dixit did not
fertilize his lawn properly, did not rake his leaves on time, and agreed that the Dixits' house, the only one
with vinyl siding, detracted from the neighborhood's charm. The mothers never invited Mrs. Dixit to join
them around the Armstrongs' swimming pool. Waiting for the school bus with the Dixit children standing
to one side, the other children would say "The Dixits dig shit," under their breath, and then burst into
laughter.