Part 6 (1/2)
”The children will go to their true mother-you,” said Brave Orchid ”That's the way it is with ry athiry with hihter”
”He didn't abandon iven me so much money I've had all the food and clothes and servants I've ever wanted And he's supported our daughter too, even though she's only a girl He sent her to college I can't bother hiet aith this? Bother him He deserves to be bothered How dare he marry somebody else when he has you? How can you sit there so calmly? He would've let you stay in China forever I had to send for your daughter, and I had to send for you Urge her,” she turned to her niece ”Urge her to go look for him”
”I think you should go look for my father,” she said ”I'd like to meet him I'd like to see what my father looks like”
”What does it rooman with a husband and children of your own You don't need a father-or a mother either You're only curious”
”In this country,” said Brave Orchid, ”o see hi to the second wife's children”
”But he gives us everything anyway What more do I have to ask for? If I see him face to face, what is there to say?”
”I can think of hundreds of things,” said Brave Orchid ”Oh, how I'd love to be in your place I could tell his What scenes I could make You're so wishy-washy”
”Yes, I am”
”You have to ask him why he didn't come home Why he turned into a barbarian Make hi his ht into his house with your suitcases and boxes Move right into the bedroom Throw her stuff out of the drawers and put yours in Say, 'I am the first wife, and she is our servant'”
”Oh, no, I can't do that I can't do that at all That's terrible”
”Of course you can I'll teach you 'I am the first wife, and she is our servant' And you teach the little boys to call you Mother”
”I don't think I'd be very good with little boys Little American boys Our brother is the only boy I've known Aren't they very rough and unfeeling?”
”Yes, but they're yours Another thing I'd do if I were you, I'd get a job and help him out Show him I could make his life easier; how I didn't need his reat deal of money, doesn't he?”
”Yes, he can do soreatly”
”Could I find a job like that? I've never had a job”
”You could be a rants start that way nowadays And thehome all the leftover soap and the clothes people leave behind”
”I would clean up after people, then?”
Brave Orchid looked at this delicate sister She was such a little old lady She had long fingers and thin, soft hands And she had a high-class city accent froe accent re But Brave Orchid would not relent; her dainty sister would just have to toughen up ”Irants also work in the canneries, where it's so noisy it doesn't matter if they speak Chinese or what The easiest way to find a job, though, is to work in Chinatown You get twenty-five cents an hour and all yourin a restaurant”
If she were in her sister's place, Brave Orchid would have been on the phone i one of those Chinatown jobs She would ree that she start work as soon as he opened his doors the nextup store owners and stealing fro It ht them those habits
Moon Orchid rubbed her forehead The kitchen light shi+ned warave her hands a co Brave Orchid, who had been ot in the way of all the work She did not want the gold to wash away in the dishwater and the laundry water and the field water She looked at her younger sister whose very wrinkles were fine ”Forget about a job,” she said, which was very lenient of her ”You won't have to work You just go to your husband's house and dehts as First Wife When you see him, you can say, 'Do you rememberhiether in China Act like a fortuneteller He'll be so ilad to see ht caan to tell her sister that she really was going to face her husband ”He won't like me,” she said
”Maybe you should dye your hair black, so he won't think you're old Or I have a wig you can borrow On the other hand, he should see how you've suffered Yes, let him see how he's hter held Moon Orchid's hand The two of them had been separated for five years Brave Orchid had ry man with citizenshi+p papers He was a tyrant Mother and daughter were sorry for one another ”Let's not talk about this anymore,” said Moon Orchid ”We can plan torandchildren Tell randchildren, don't I?” she asked her daughter
Brave Orchid thought that her niece was like her mother, the lovely, useless type She had spent so hen up these two ”The children are very s ”The teachers say they are brilliant They can speak Chinese and English They'll be able to talk to you”
”My children can talk to you too,” said Brave Orchid ”Cohters mumbled and disappeared-into the bathroo throughout the house One of them locked herself in the pantry-storeroo the food Brave Orchid's children were antisocial and secretive Ever since they were babies, they had burrowed little nests for themselves in closets and underneath stairs; they made tents under tables and behind doors ”My children are also very bright,” she said ”Let o to sleep” She took her sister to the living rooe upside-down fish tank, and inside were her children's athletic trophies and scholarshi+p trophies There was even a beauty contest trophy She had decorated them with runners about luck
”Oh my, isn't that wonderful?” said the aunt ”You must be so proud of them Your children roaned and left Brave Orchid did not understand why they were ashas they could do It was hard to believe that they could do the things the trophies said they did Maybe they had stolen theht cups and medallions and pretended they'd won them She'd have to accuse them and see how they reacted Perhaps they fooled the Ghost Teachers and Ghost Coaches, who couldn't tell smart Chinese from dumb Chinese Her children certainly didn't seem like much
She made some of the children sleep on the floor and put Moon Orchid and her daughter in their roo at your house orto live with her own husband” Brave Orchid was fir
The next day, i to Los Angeles They would not take the coast route along mountainsides that dropped into the sea-the way her children, who liked carnival rides, would want to go She would make them take the inland route, flat and direct
”The first thing you've got to ask your husband,” she said, ”is why he never caht,” said Moon Orchid She was poking about the house, holding cans up to her ear, trailing after the children
”He probably has a car,” Brave Orchid persisted ”He can drive you places Should he tell you to go away, turn around at the door and say, 'May I come and watch your television now and then?' Oh, wouldn't that be pathetic? But he won't kick you out No, he won't You walk right into the bedroom, and you open the second wife's closet Take whatever clothes you like That will give you an American wardrobe”
”Oh, I can't do that”
”You can! You can! Take First Sister-in-Law as your exae, but he took a second wife in Singapore, where he had gone tothe Revolution ”The Communists will kill apore” Little Wife felt so sorry for her, she reet her out of China before it was too late Little Wife saved the passage fare and did the paper work But when Big Wife ca for their husband to do but build a second house, one for each wife and the children of each wife They did get together, however, for yearly family portraits Their sons' first and second wives were also in the pictures, first wives next to the husbands and second wives standing a the children ”Copy our sister-in-law,” Brave Orchid instructed ”Make life unbearable for the second wife, and she'll leave He'll have to build her a second house”
”I wouldn't mind if she stays,” said Moon Orchid ”She can comb my hair and keep house She can wash the dishes and serve our meals And she can take care of the little boys” Moon Orchid laughed Again it occurred to Brave Orchid that her sister wasn't very bright, and she had not gotten any smarter in the last thirty years
”You ht at the start what you expect of him That is what a wife is for-to scold her husband into becoood o visiting anyti sister,as I please Let him know exactly how much money you expect for allowance”
”Should I ask for more or less money now that I'm here?”
”More, of course Food costs hter, who is the oldest, s at the start Don't begin meek”
Sometimes Moon Orchid see-story ”Have you seen him in all these years?” she asked Brave Orchid
”No The last tilyyou'd be satisfied with his money How evil he is You've had to live like afor thirty years You're lucky he didn't have his second rite you telling you he's dead”
”Oh, no, he wouldn't do that”
”Of course not He would be afraid of cursing hily and mean, maybe I shouldn't bother with hihter ”He wrote me a nice letter”