Page 104 - Demo

1925 Redefining Americashape of a dragon%u2019s head, dividing the water as Vivien%u2019s departure tomorrow would divide the world once more into those who stayed and those who left.%u201cCan I tell you a secret now?%u201dVivien smiled. %u201cSure.%u201dPhuong hesitated. On the wall, over scabbing blue paint, someone had drawn the stick figure of a girl with a mop of hair, fingers flashing a V, eternally optimistic. %u201cI want to be like you,%u201d Phuong said, gripping her sister%u2019s hands in her own. %u201cI want to go to America and be a doctor and help people. I don%u2019t want to spend my life waiting on people. I want to be waited on. I want to travel anywhere I want, anytime I want. I want to come back here and know I can leave. If I stay here I%u2019ll marry some boy with no future and live with his family and have two children too soon and sleep in a room where I can touch both walls at the same time. I don%u2019t think I can stand it, I really don%u2019t. Haven%u2019t you ever felt this way?%u201d%u201cOh, God,%u201d Vivien said, looking up at the ceiling of the cabin. Phuong had hoped for enthusiasm and would have settled for reluctance, confusion, or condescension, but she was not prepared for the panic on her sister%u2019s face. %u201cI told her she should have told all of you the truth.%u201dThe roller coaster plunged down the tracks, the passengers screaming. When Vivien shifted her weight and pulled her hands free, her arm peeled away from Phuong%u2019s shoulder with a moist suck of sound, the air no cooler than down below.%u201cWho are you talking about?%u201d%u201cMy mother.%u201d Vivien took a deep breath and looked once more through the barred windows. %u201cDid you know that when she came to the States, she told the government she was twenty-five?%u201d%u201cSo?%u201d A drop of sweat trickled down the small of Phuong%u2019s back.9095%u201cShe was thirty.%u201d%u201cI can see a woman doing that.%u201d%u201cMy mother also told the government she was a widow.%u201d Vivien turned back to meet Phuong%u2019s gaze. %u201cShe wasn%u2019t telling the truth when she told our father I was a doctor.%u201dPhuong blinked. %u201cYou%u2019re not a doctor?%u201d%u201cI%u2019m a receptionist without a job. I was let go the month before. My mother and my stepfather do not own a house in the suburbs. They live in a condo in West Tulsa. And my mother does not own the Nice Nail Beauty Salon. She works for it as a beautician.%u201d%u201cThen why tell us you were a doctor?%u201d%u201cBecause you all wanted to know how much I made a month, and what I paid on my mortgage, and how much my car cost. It was easier just to answer than to say I wasn%u2019t a doctor. But just so you know, that whole story about me being a pediatrician was my mother%u2019s idea, not mine.%u201d The cabin had reached its zenith. Far below, an elephant the size of a windup toy tottered back and forth, chained by its ankle. %u201cMy mother also told me not to date my boss, especially if he%u2019s married.%u201d%u201cYour boss? What%u2019s he got to do with this?%u201d%u201cHe said it wasn%u2019t me, it was the economy,%u201d Vivien cried. %u201cHave you ever heard anything so stupid?%u201d%u201cNo,%u201d Phuong said. %u201cNo one%u2019s ever broken up with me before.%u201d%u201cIt happens to everybody.%u201d Vivien%u2019s eyes moistened. %u201cSo I thought I%u2019d come here. A stupid reason, isn%u2019t it?%u201d%u201cI thought you came here to see us.%u201d%u201cThat too.%u201d%u201cWhere%u2019s all the money coming from?%u201d Phuong could not tabulate how much her sister had spent, but she knew it was in the thousands of dollars. Just the gift envelopes 100105110Copyright %u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.