Free Great Call of China (S.A.S.S.) by Cynthea Liu Page A

write, and write, and write... but sometimes you can look at the word and think of something that reminds you of it.”
    He pointed at one of Cece’s vocabulary words. “You see this one? Zhong? It means ‘center.’ So when you think of center, think of a field.” He drew a rectangle on his paper. “Then draw a line down the center of the field. And you have center. See?”
    Cece cocked her head as she stared at the word Peter had written. “Hmm. I’ve never thought of it that way.”
    “A lot of Chinese words are like something you can see or imagine. They are not just pulled out of a cap, you know.”
    “You mean hat. Pulled out of a hat. ”
    Peter smiled. “Right, hat.”
    Cece looked at the next word on her list and tried to use Peter’s technique. The word was da , which meant big. It looked like a star, so she pictured a big burst of light in the sky. Then she wrote it down. Da. The final product almost looked like an asterisk. She compared her character to the real character on the list and noticed she had drawn too many lines. She bit her lip, frustrated just as she had been with the Google map earlier in the day. She glanced at Peter, thinking that maybe she should bring up the orphanage. It seemed like as good as time as any.
    “Peter?” Cece said. “I was wondering if you could help me with something.”
    He looked up. “Which character is it?”
    “No, it’s not that,” Cece said. “It’s not even related to S.A.S.S. actually.”
    Peter paused, his face turning serious. “What is it, Xiao Mei?”
    Hearing Peter call her that made her smile. Since he was a few years older than Cece, he’d taken to calling her his little sister. That would also make Peter her Da Ge, or big brother.
    “Well. . . I can trust you, right?”
    Peter looked surprised. “Of course, you can. I’m Da Ge.”
    “Then maybe I should start from the top.” Cece took a breath. “First, you should know I’m adopted.”
    “Adopted?” Peter said. “From here?”
    Cece nodded.
    “And what is troubling you about that?”
    She considered Peter’s question. How would she even begin? There was so much that bothered her. For starters, it would be nice to know who her birth parents were. What they looked like. What they were like. But mainly, it was the same old question she had posed to her parents years ago. “I think what’s bothering me the most is that I want to know why my birth parents gave me up. I feel like I need to know the truth.”
    “And what do your American parents say?” Peter said. “Do they have an opinion?”
    “They seem to think I was abandoned because I’m a girl. They told me about China’s one-child policy and how a lot of parents here want boys.”
    “And you don’t believe that.”
    “Well, I don’t know. It sounds so. . . cold,” Cece said. “I mean, you’re from here. Do you think that’s the reason why?”
    “I am not an expert on this subject,” Peter said, “but it is a possibility. However, you can never know the truth unless you hear it from the donkey’s mouth.”
    Cece smiled. “You mean horse, straight from the horse’s mouth.”
    “Right, horse.” Peter wrinkled his forehead. “English sayings are so confusing.”
    “Anyway, that’s what I was thinking,” Cece said. “I need to hear it for myself. And I thought I’d start with the orphanage. Maybe they can tell me something.”
    “Do you know where it is?” Peter said.
    “Well, that’s where you come in. I have the address, but I can’t figure out where it is, and I think I’m going to need a translator when I get there, too.”
    “I see.” Peter leaned back in his chair. “Let me think for a moment . . . . ”
    Cece watched him intently.
    “Okay,” Peter said. “I’m in.”
    Cece perked up. “Really?”
    He nodded. “You think I would let you wander in foreign country with your Chinese ? I may be crazy, but I am not stupid.” He laughed.
    “Gee, thanks.”
    “No problem. What is Da Ge