7 #3
“I don’t want to go to America, but it’s hard to stay here.
My husband thinks it will be good for Yun.
There’s only three of us, so we’ll stay at my sister-in-law’s in Orange County.
I don’t speak English. Not like you. You’re so smart.
I have an empty gourd for a head. I just know how to spend money, and if I had been a better wife, then maybe—” Nari could not continue speaking and clamped her mouth shut.
She fidgeted with the tissue box on the mirrored coffee table.
Helen looked away, feeling terrible for the woman. She knew what it was like to decamp and move somewhere else, though of course it was different when your husband still had a job.
“You’re going to be fine. I’ve moved a great deal over the years, and each time, it was difficult, but I focus on my children and husband.
Within each country, we moved several times, too.
Sometimes more than once in a year because apartments cost too much, and we had to watch expenses. I wish life could be easier.”
“Yun is not herself. She was elected the head of the class again this year, and I think she could have done so well here. We thought she could go to university in America one day, but not like this. In an American high school, she’s going to be last at everything.”
“No, no. You can’t think like that. Children are good at adapting. I worry more about you.” Helen laughed. “But I know you’ll be able to manage. You’ll see.”
“I didn’t know you were so nice.”
Helen raised her eyebrows.
“You and your sister are so smart and went to good schools. I’m just a country girl who married a bumpkin.
Yun’s father made a lot of money, then he lost it all.
It was that terrible man.” Nari’s mouth grew firm.
“I can’t talk about it. I hope he burns in hell.
” She had surprised herself and looked up.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t say such things.
No matter what, I must not hate my enemies, right? ”
Helen nodded, trying to understand. She had never been in this situation before.
Her father had taught her not to judge people if you could help it.
You never knew what they were going through.
Perhaps he needed to say this since he was a gambler who drank and never kept a job. He had not wanted her judgment.
“My father and mother never had much, and whenever they did, they would throw it away. For nothing. They never planned for next week. It was always for today. They played cards.” Helen shrugged.
They were long dead, and she wasn’t angry with them anymore.
This was something she and Sonya never discussed with others.
“I didn’t know.”
“It’s shameful to discuss. But my sister and me, you have the wrong idea.
We had nothing growing up except our parents’ debts and messes, and no one thought our family was any good.
But we still got through school, and we’re fine.
The church helped us when our parents would abandon us.
They died young such a long time ago, when we were young students. Anyway—”
Helen paused, not wanting to talk about the past.
“Yun-umma, you are going to be okay. You’re healthy and strong. I’ve heard California is a wonderful place. You’ll make money again. More than anything, Yun is a bright and beautiful girl, with such a big heart. Mido wasn’t herself until she met Yun. I’m here because your daughter does you credit.”
Nari wiped her face with a tissue. The mascara had run, smudging the hollows of her large eyes. She looked lovelier in a way. Helen had righted a piece that had fallen out of place in the past week, just by telling her something about her life.
“I heard you’re not leaving until the end of the summer.
During break, I was going to send Mido to Sydney, and I wonder if maybe Yun would like to go.
Improve her English. My brother works for Qantas, so we’ll take care of the tickets, and it won’t cost anything once the girls are there.
They can go to school where my sister-in-law works.
My brother Kenny has four lovely children.
Their break is different from ours. Would you like that? ”
Nari looked hopeful. “I can pay for the plane ticket.”
“No, no. That’s not necessary. My brother gets extra ones that he never uses.
His wife, Lily, was born in Australia and works at a nice private school.
She loves Mido and needs help with the children.
They’re very young, and one is a newborn.
There’s an au pair, but they can use all the hands they can get.
Mido loves to go to their house. She talks the most when she’s with little ones. ”
Nari covered her face with her hands.
“This means so much to me. Thank you. My husband has been so angry. He’s not himself anymore. And there’s so much to do. While Yun is gone, I can get ready for our move. Her English will improve, too, right?”
“Of course,” Helen said, smiling.
Briefly the two mothers held hands again, then Helen rose from her seat.
“I will call with the dates and schedules,” Helen said.
In the elevator, Helen smoothed her hair, her back reed-straight.
The polite security guard in the parking lot bowed as she left the building, and she smiled at him, recalling that as a girl who’d had to plead with nuns for a small bag of barley, she would have been grateful if her father had worked a steady job like his and just come home each night.