14 #2
“My husband and I would be grateful if you could take Ginny in until things are a bit better for us here. We would be in your debt, of course. Every cent would be repaid.”
“Ginny has been studying to go to Oxford Academy, which as you know is an excellent new public school that starts in the seventh grade,” Yun said. “It doesn’t cost anything to go there, but she has to take a test, and there is an application process, which we know how to handle.”
“If she’s accepted, then we have to find a way for her to go.” Ginny’s mother sounded worried all over again. “We have no friends or relatives in Orange County.”
“Why don’t we face that situation when we get to it? Do we have your permission for Ginny to come live with us?” Yun asked her.
The mother gladly agreed, promised to call the guardian, and thanked Yun and Lion again before ending the call.
The homestay guardian told Lion that she felt swindled. Mrs. Chiu stood at the entrance of her house in her brown house slippers and didn’t ask him in.
“The parents owe me last year’s fees, and with every call the mother promised to pay it. They’ve already gone through the deposit. Thank God I made them pay that before I took the child in.” The woman stared at Lion like he was an idiot. “Why would you take this problem on?”
Lion glanced at the living room behind the woman to make sure there were no children around. He couldn’t imagine having to hear this sort of talk all the time.
“You’ve heard from Ginny’s mother? That she’s given us permission?”
“Yes, she must have called right after speaking with your wife,” she said. “Ginny is at school now.”
“Good, good. I’m here to pick up her things, and she’ll be coming to Exodus this afternoon anyway. My wife and I will take her home tonight from the hagwon.”
“Why do you want to take her?”
“My wife thinks—” Lion stopped himself from saying that Yun thought it was the only correct choice, not wanting Mrs. Chiu to feel judged. “We understand that you need to house another boarder.”
“I’m not a bad person,” Mrs. Chiu said. “I’m retired, and this is my only source of income.
My husband died of leukemia, and my daughter is in graduate school in Boston.
I paid for everything for Ginny, believing that her parents would pay me back.
Now they owe me $6,000. I don’t charge a high fee to care for these children.
That’s why I have all these problems. If I only took in the really rich kids, then this sort of haggling, owing, and delays wouldn’t happen.
I’m dealing with middle-class children of parents who have company jobs, who have no business sending their kids to the United States.
I felt sorry for them, and I didn’t charge enough to have any cushion for me. ”
The woman was clearly frustrated.
“$6,000 is an enormous sum of money for me. I turned down several students so Ginny could keep that room. I’ve given her everything that I’d promised her parents. What would you do if your hagwon students didn’t pay you?”
Lion nodded sympathetically, having had his share of bounced checks and nonpayments, but the parents almost always found a way to make good.
The hagwon fees for Exodus were not high for Orange County, and the Koreans here hadn’t lost their jobs from the IMF Crisis.
Moreover, working parents couldn’t afford to lose their child’s spot because there was no other nice place for the kids to go at these lower rates.
Mrs. Chiu stood aside to let Lion in. “You can take her things. I’ve already packed them.
Ginny is a good girl. She studies and behaves herself.
” She shook her head in disgust. “But I can’t believe how terrible that mother is.
She lied and lied. I’m not a rich woman.
Look!” She gestured to the modest living room with its old brown furniture and threadbare carpets.
Nevertheless, the town house was well maintained, tidy and free of any visible dust.
Lion removed his sneakers and went upstairs, where there were three bedrooms and two shared bathrooms. The primary bedroom was being used by three boarding students, and the second bedroom was used by two brothers who attended Fullerton.
The smallest room was Ginny’s. Mrs. Chiu slept in the laundry room by the garage.
Lion carried down a large vinyl suitcase and a blue plastic milk crate full of books.
“Is this all?” Lion asked.
“There’s a CD player on the desk. That’s hers.
Last night, she tried to give it to me for the debts, but I cannot accept it.
What use do I have for a CD player?” She shook her head in exasperation.
“I made her three meals a day and packed her snacks. When she got good grades, I would get her pizza. I noticed that she needed underwear and socks, and I bought them for her.”
Mrs. Chiu felt cheated, not just because of the debts, but because she had been a decent person, a good Christian woman.
She never overcharged any of her boarders.
There was always food in the cupboard, and she protected her female boarders vigilantly, like they were her own daughters.
“Just because I accept money to care for children doesn’t make me greedy,” she said defensively.
“Mrs. Chiu, you have been more than generous with Ginny. Her good report card and fine personality must have a lot to do with your excellent care and guardianship. Thank you for caring for her.”
Lion withdrew his wallet, where he kept two extra blank checks. He took out a pen and wrote out the guardian’s name and the full sum.
Mrs. Chiu didn’t understand.
“You were owed this money,” he said.
“You don’t even know these people.”
“Well, I know you now,” he said, smiling at her as he folded the check into the guardian’s warm hands.