Girl in Translation

That summer, A

I am so bored here! There is no one fun and all of the

activities are dumb. The only thing I like is swimming.

When it gets hot, the water is cool in the lake. They

make us sing stupid songs and play stupid games. I

wish I was back in NY with you!

I’d never seen a lake and I’d never been swimming. Like many people in Hong Kong in those days, Ma and I hadn’t had the money to do such things. Often, when I was working, I pictured being at that cool lake with A

Each fan was tall and black like a sarcophagus, swathed in dust. Thick strands of filth hung off each part of the wire hood, swaying in the wind until they broke off to splatter against my face or worse, the piece of clothing I was working on. The air they blew was a sweltering wind, merely redistributing heat from the steamers and scorching motors of the machines to our own wet bodies and back again, yet we were glad of them because there was nothing else. During our breaks, we were too hot to play, and Matt and I stood with arms outstretched in front of the fans, our hair streaming out behind us, pretending we could fly.

The factory dust became worse than usual because we were bathed in sweat and the fabric fibers clung to us. My bare shoulders and neck were streaked where I’d wiped the dust off with my fingers.

Despite the expense, Ma bought me a few stamps so I could write back to A

Sorry it is boring there! New York City is

relaxing. I enjoy it to rest and read books.

Songs and games are greatly stupid. I hope

you come back soon. Maybe my mother and

me will go trip soon.

From Florida, A

Your so lucky you get to relax in NY! Well, my

grandmother’s house is pretty neat. Yesterday, we had a

barbeque and I got to eat my hot dog while I was

sitting in the pool! Where are you going? I hope you

have a great time! Don’t forget about your best friend

when your gone!!!

She also sent me a postcard with a picture of a castle and the words “The Magic Kingdom” printed on it.

I answered:

I had a hot dog one time and I liked it very greatly.

Only I not like the yellow sauce. Ma and me maybe not

go trip now because it is too nice in New York City.

When I go trip in future, I will buy you a present. What

you like? Thank you for a beautiful postcard. I like it

very much. Your grandmother belong to your mother’s

side or your father’s side? I hope she has good health.

Every night, when I got home from the factory, I reread A

In our apartment, the roaches and mice had returned with a vengeance and we couldn’t leave anything unsealed even for a moment, not even the toothpaste, or we would return to find a roach licking it, with its long waving ante

I said to her once, “Ma, you don’t have to play for me every week. You have so many other things to do.”

“I play for myself too,” she’d answered. “Without my violin, I’d forget who I was.”

Finally, the heat got so bad that Ma bought us a small fan and we set it in front of our mattresses. After work, we both caught our breath in front of that fan, sitting on the mattresses on the floor, our backs resting against the wall. Slowly, two yellowish human-shaped stains developed against the cracked paint: a small one for me and a larger one for Ma. Those stains are probably still there in that apartment, and I’ve dreamed about them, about our skin cells, our droplets of oil and sweat, sunk into that porous wall, bits of us that will never escape.

One Sunday afternoon near the end of the summer, A

“Who can that be?” Ma said.

I ran to the front window as Ma said behind me, “Kimberly, stop! They’ll see you!”

I was already peering down and saw A

The doorbell rang again, then again. Ma and I stared at each other, not daring to whisper, as if the factory inspectors were at our door. Finally, the ringing stopped and I heard the car drive away.

“I think they’re gone,” I said.

“Don’t look yet,” Ma said.

We waited another ten minutes before I dared to check that A

A few days later, I got another letter from A

You are going to be very disappointed! Because I actually

came to your house, just to say hi! But you weren’t there.

I thought I saw a face in the window but no such luck.

Hey, what’s your phone number? How come I still don’t

have it? See you very soon… at our new school!!!!

In preparation for Harrison, Ma bought me some new clothes. I had to get a dark blue blazer to conform to the dress code, but it was hard to find one we could afford. Finally, in a discount store, we bought a navy blue one for $4.99. It was made of scratchy polyester and the sleeves were so long they covered my hands. The shoulders were padded and protruded into the air past my own, but at least it vaguely resembled the ones I thought the other kids had been wearing. We got a white shirt and a dark blue skirt at Woolworth’s.

When I had the entire outfit on, I looked in the mirror and I saw a small Chinese girl with short hair, her torso and arms engulfed by a boxy blazer. A cheap shirt peeked out from under the blazer and below that, a stiff skirt jutted out above ski

I was as ready as I ever would be to start Harrison Prep.

Now that I was a student, I could take a private bus to Harrison that stopped close to my old elementary school. I stood there in my ill-fitting clothes, and when the bus pulled up, I didn’t recognize it for what it was. It was sleek and gray, with a white board showing the number 8 in the front window. Inside, the seats were arranged around the perimeter instead of in rows. The bus was half full, with about seven other kids of different ages already on board, all of them white, all in blazers. I slid into the closest seat, next to an older boy who was so tall he stretched his legs out into the middle of the bus.