Free China Dog by Judy Fong Bates Page A

daughter who took her in, slotting her into a busy schedule without missing a beat. Su did everything. She washed the clothes, cooked the meals, did the dishes, kept a spotless house, managed everyone’s comings and goings. Her energy and efficiency were truly formidable; she was like a general coolly leading her army. Even when May-Yen tried to help, Su told her to sit down. In her daughter’s houseshe was like a perpetual guest. At Kenny’s, even though she was resented, she had a role. As long as she was able, she was an extra pair of hands, providing free labour.
    May-Yen looked around again at the gleaming counters and the vase of red tulips. She thought about Wong
Mo
, about sharing a home with her friend. Tonight she would tell Su that she was moving out, that finally she was taking flight. And she chuckled to herself, as she imagined the look on her daughter’s face.
    Three months later, Su visited her mother in the new apartment that she shared with Wong
Mo
. Two months earlier she and her half-brother had moved May-Yen and her boxes into her apartment. Su and Kenny gave her a selection of old furniture. At first Su had suggested buying some new items, but May-Yen would have none of it – an unnecessary waste of money. Kenny gave her an old brown plaid chesterfield. Wong
Mo
already had a used red arborite kitchen table. Su gave them her second television and bought them a large electric wall clock for the kitchen. The walls in the bedroom, the kitchen, and the living room were decorated with Chinese movie star calendars.
    Su sat at the kitchen table sipping tea as her mother brought her a plate of steamed dumplings. Wong
Mo
followed behind, carrying a bowl filled with a hot, brown, pungent brew.
    “Su, your mother made this, just for you,” said Wong Mo.
    “After you told me you were coming, I decided to make this soup. I got up early. It’s been simmering all day. Very good forwomen – made from deer antlers – keeps your womb and your organs warm,” added May-Yen eagerly.
    “Mah, I’m not going to have room for dinner tonight,” protested Su, looking at the food on the kitchen table.
    “Well, just eat a few dumplings, but drink all the soup,” said May-Yen. “I’ve got more for you to take home.” Wong
Mo
nodded in agreement.
    Su picked up the white ceramic spoon and gently slurped the brown liquid. The two older women looked on approvingly.
    “Now remember, the soup is just for women. No good for men,” added Wong
Mo
.
    “Just eat a few dumplings. Your favourite – shrimp and chicken,” insisted May-Yen. “Too much for us.”
    No kidding, thought Su to herself. You old girls have made enough to feed an army. She grinned at her mother and Wong
Mo
as she put down her spoon and picked up a dumpling with her chopsticks.
    Watching her mother and Wong
Mo
fuss in the kitchen, Su thought about the woman who hid and worked all those years in the shadows of her father’s laundry. And again in the kitchen of her brother’s restaurant. Was she finally seeing a glimmer of the woman who had lived and worked in China so long ago? Su felt a flush of heat in her cheeks as she remembered her protests when May-Yen told her about moving. Why do you want to move? I do everything here for you. You don’t have to do a thing. You’re going to have a hard time managing.
    An hour later, Su stood at the apartment door, ready to leave. First she hugged Wong
Mo
, then her mother. May-Yengave her daughter two white plastic bags of food. Su walked down the apartment hallway with a bag of dumplings dangling over her wrist and both hands around a jar of hot tonic soup wrapped inside a plastic bag. Taking special care to keep the jar upright, she held it against herself, feeling its heat warming her hands and her chest.

The Lucky Wedding
     
    IT WAS SUNDAY morning, the day after Valentine’s Day. Sandra had been married to Victor for eleven days and no one in her family knew. She was driving to her brother’s