Free Mambo in Chinatown by Jean Kwok

consumed enough strange animals boiled in bitter herbs. “I’ve just started a new job. That’s the only reason I am more tired than usual. It will get easier soon.”
    Pa said with pride, “She is working in an office.”
    “Really?” Uncle made an impressed face. “Going up in the world, eh? What are you doing?”
    I took a deep breath. “Data entry. Some telephone work. In Midtown.”
    “Oh, good, good.” Uncle dug out the eyeball of the fish and put it in Pa’s bowl. “What a delicacy, eh? Take more, brother. But especially if you are starting something new, you need more energy. In fact, both of your girls look a bit pale.”
    Lisa was resting her chin on her hands, as if she was exhausted.
    Uncle said, “I have a fresh shipment of Tibetan caterpillars.”
    “No!” I said.
    Aunt Monica glowered at me. “Silly girl, those caterpillars sell by weight for twice the price of gold. They can cure infection, inflammation, fatigue, phlegm. Even cancer!”
    “Really?” Pa’s eyes widened.
    I nudged Lisa underneath the table for help, knowing that we would be force-fed the valuable caterpillars if we didn’t stop this now. I didn’t care whether they worked or not, I still didn’t want to eat any worms.
    Lisa raised her head and said, “I feel just fine.”
    “Harvested by nomads,” Uncle Henry said. “The caterpillars only live in the grasslands above ten thousand feet and are infected by a parasite, a type of fungus. The fungus kills the caterpillar, then feeds on its body. That is why they are so powerful.” Uncle waved his chopsticks at Pa for emphasis. “I will give you a few. Boil them with ginseng until the soup condenses to the size of one rice bowl. It’ll be nice and concentrated.”
    Lisa and I exchanged a look. We were sunk.
    “Amazing,” Dennis said.
    “Why don’t you take them?” I said.
    Pa gave me a quelling look. “We cannot possibly accept them for free, brother. No, you must eat too. We will pay full price.”
    “Ridiculous, you are my own family. A token amount is enough, one dollar per caterpillar.”
    “That is insane. We must give you at least ninety percent, how else will you survive? You will go out of business like this.”
    This reverse haggling went on for a while, with Pa fighting to chip in more and Uncle arguing for him to pay less, until they arrived at what they both secretly felt was the right price for a family member, about sixty percent of the retail price. Lisa and I were used to this. At the end of the meal, there would be a similar fight over the check, with everyone struggling to pay until the person who was actually supposed to get the check won. In this case, it would be Uncle who paid since he had invited us. It all seemed senseless to me but it had to do with honor. Even though Uncle’s medicines were so expensive, half of Chinatown credited him with saving their lives.
    “How do you really feel?” I asked Lisa in a low voice.
    “My head hurts. We’re not going to leave early.”
    “I know. He always forgets. But let him have a good time. I guess he doesn’t have much else.”
    Lisa sighed and we both looked at Pa as I put my hand over hers and she gripped it. She spoke in a low voice. “I’m glad I have you, Charlie. Sometimes I’m scared.”
    This didn’t sound like Lisa. I tried to get her to perk up. “You should be afraid of that caterpillar soup.”
    She smiled for the first time that evening. “Believe me, I am.”

Five
    I fidgeted in Mr. Song’s shoebox of an office at the middle school, waiting for him to appear and wondering why he’d asked me there. He was Lisa’s guidance counselor. Lisa was never in trouble. When she was younger, she used to have anxiety attacks when she didn’t get a perfect score on a test or when she couldn’t understand how to do something, but that hadn’t happened for a while now. His desk was cluttered with stacks of folders. A few books on the shelf partially covered a ribbon with printing on