Free Half and Half by Lensey Namioka

appearance before they went to the festival. But Amanda and I decided to go with Ron so we could take in some other shows first.
    At first we just walked around, staring at the rows of stands that sold everything from scary African masks tosilver bracelets from Mexico. On the lawn, a crowd gathered around a man wearing only a loincloth, lying on a bed of nails. It made me wince just to see him, but when he got up, there wasn't a mark on his back! Another crowd gathered around a little boy playing a violin. He was only about five years old, and he produced a scared, squeaky sound. Maybe that got him sympathy, because a lot of people threw money into his violin case.
    On an open-air stage was a bunch of musicians from Peru. They wore pointed caps with earflaps and woolen ponchos woven in bright colors. They played all sorts of weird instruments. I was especially fascinated by something that looked like a bundle of small pipes tied together. It sounded strange but I liked it.
    Of course we had to go listen to the Celtic storytelling. Amanda was disappointed when she found out the storyteller with the harp wasn't coming. Instead, a young girl sang sad songs in a high, sweet voice.
    “What do you want to go see next?” I asked Amanda after we left the auditorium.
    “Let's go to the taiko drum exhibit,” she said. “My folks expect me to take in at least one Japanese show.”
    “Gotta do what our folks expect,” I said, and we headed for the open-air amphitheater, where the drummers were scheduled to perform.
    “It's true, about doing what people expect you to do,” said Amanda after we got ourselves settled on the lawn. “For instance, your mom is saving every penny because her people are Scotch and they're supposed to be thrifty. When nobody's looking, she's probably throwing money away.”
    The idea of Mom throwing money away made me laugh so hard that I fell back on the grass. People around us stared. “No, that's just Mom being a thrifty mathematician!”
    “Okay,” said Amanda, “so she's still doing what people expect. Since mathematicians are supposed to be thrifty, she has to save every penny.”
    “Just because some Scots and some mathematicians are thrifty,” I said, “you can't expect all of them to be the same.”
    “Yeah,” Amanda said, “like Japanese housewives are supposed to be meek and follow three steps behind their husbands when they go out.”
    I stared. “Does your mom really do that?”
    Amanda laughed. “Of course not! But once, when Dad started barking out orders at her, Mom bowed deeply, sucked in her breath, and said, ‘Hai, hai!' Dad burst out laughing and stopped being so bossy.”
    I thought about Nainai expecting me to be a dainty little Chinese maiden, and Grandpa expecting Ron to be a typical redheaded Highland laddie. “What about people who are half and half?” I asked Amanda. “Do half of our folks expect us to behave one way, while the other half expect us to behave the other way?”
    Amanda grinned. “I bet they expect you to behave one way half the time, and another way the other half of the time!”
    The drummers appeared and we stopped talking. Even without knowing much about taiko, I could tell that these drummers were good. Rhythm is always what I find most exciting. Maybe that's why I like dancing so much.
    There was a murmur from the crowd when the biggest drum was wheeled onstage. It was more than three feet across, and it rested on its side. According to our program, the big drum was the climax of the show, and itwas scheduled to be the last piece in the program. “You mean we're already at the end of the show?” I asked, disappointed.
    A man sitting in front of me turned around. “No, they're changing the order of the program and playing the big drum now. I heard that the drummer is from out of town and has to leave early to catch a plane.”
    The solo drummer walked onstage, stripped to the waist. He stood in front of the drum and began to whack at it