Mambo in Chinatown

I walked a few blocks downtown to a large department store. Except for a few times when I’d come uptown with Zan and Mo Li to window-shop, I avoided these types of stores, knowing they were filled with things I couldn’t afford. I entered the department store, but all of the people lying in wait behind black marble pillars to spray perfume on me made me uncomfortable, so I took the escalator upstairs. I spent some time browsing through women’s dresses, wondering which ones I’d be able to dance in, knowing I couldn’t pay for any of them. Finally, it was time to get Lisa.

They’d sorted the parents by last name so I waited in the “W” room for Lisa to come back. I leapt up when I spotted her. She was clutching my scarf. We talked as we exited the building among the hordes of students and parents.

“How was it?”

“The begi

“They probably took a prep class together.”

“Yeah, they said hello to each other and stuff. Then I dropped my pencil case and everything fell out with a big crash so I had to scramble to pick it up. Everyone was staring at me, especially the proctor. She probably thought I was trying to cheat. I even had to ask permission to leave the case on my desk. She checked it first. I forgot to go pee, Charlie, I was too nervous.”

“That’s okay. So how was the test?”

“The English part was fine and I felt good about it. But then the math was crazy.”

“What do you mean?” Lisa had always been great at math.

“It made no sense. There were about forty-five questions, and on some of them, I had a reason for guessing what I did. The rest, I just picked an answer at random.”

My heart sank. “Really?”

“Well, I tried of course, but the questions didn’t make any sense. There was like a big fraction over another fraction, minus a fraction, times a fraction. I tried to do it and couldn’t find my answer anywhere. Another question was so messed up, it must have been a mistake. There was no question. It was just smudges of ink.”

I tried not to let Lisa see how concerned I was. “Did you freak out?”

“I wanted to. But I figured I wouldn’t have time to finish the test if I had an anxiety attack and ran around screaming.”

I laughed. “Very logical of you.”

“I kept telling myself that if I didn’t get in, you and me and Pa would go do something nice together.”

We were walking toward the train station by now and I heard someone calling from behind us. It was Ha

When they caught up, Ha

Lisa said, “I thought the math was really hard. Like impossible.”

Ha

I interrupted. “What was the subject?” I remembered Lisa saying the essay was one of the most important parts of the test.

Ha

Lisa twisted a lock of hair around her finger. “Well, we have this jar filled with change, and Charlie and I are saving to see a Broadway show.”

“You wrote about that old thing?” I couldn’t cover my surprise.

Ha

Her father jumped in. “Now, Ha

Lisa’s cheeks were bright pink. “That the jar isn’t just a collection of coins for a couple of tickets but rather a measure of our love for each other and our hopes for the future. That with every cent Charlie drops into that jar, she shows me her belief in our ability to change our lives.”

There was a pause, then both Ha

Lisa said, “Thanks, but we’re meeting our pa to celebrate downtown.” This was a lie. I felt sad that Lisa already knew we couldn’t afford to go with Ha

After they waved and left, I turned to Lisa. “So level with me. Do you think you got in or not?”

She met my eyes. “I have no idea.”

—

I was teaching students regularly now. They were all begi

I was always especially curious about the Asian students, who they were and what their lives were like. In one of my begi

In anticipation of Valentine’s Day in a few weeks, the theme at the studio was already “romance.” So before we began our class, I had everyone stand in a circle and share a story about love, if they had one. I’d found that if we did a few minutes of talking before we started to dance, the students were much more comfortable with each other.

“Please say your name, what you do, and if you have a memory about how you met someone special, we would love to hear it. If you don’t, just skip the story,” I said.

We went around the room and the first two people said their names and professions, but didn’t want to share anything else. Then it was the Asian man’s turn.

He had distinguished features and eyes filled with good humor. “My name is Jason. I’m a neurologist and I asked my wife out on Valentine’s Day.”

The petite Asian woman next to him giggled. “Yes he did. I’m Naomi. I’m a psychiatrist. I didn’t trust him at all because he was so handsome.”

The other students laughed.

Jason beamed. “Honestly, I didn’t even know what Valentine’s Day was. I’d just arrived from Hong Kong.”

“And I wasn’t sure what to do because he wasn’t Japanese like me,” Naomi said. “So I asked my mother. And she said, ‘He’s new in this country. You should be nice to him. Go out with him.’”

“So actually, it was a pity date,” said his friend, the African-American man, gri

“Hey, you owe me,” said Jason. “I set you up with Kimberly here.”

I smiled at the next couple, the African-American man and Chinese woman. “So what’s your name and story?”

“I’m Tyrone Marshall. I’m a neurologist too. And Jason didn’t introduce me to Kimberly, we’d already met in elementary school.” He put an arm around the attractive woman next to him. She was wearing a golden necklace with a jade Kuan Yin pendant.

She smiled and said, “Yes, that’s true but we do owe Jason because Tyrone and I had completely lost touch. I’m Kimberly Chang, by the way. I’m a pediatric cardiac surgeon.”

Someone in the crowd whistled. “So if anyone feels like having a stroke or heart attack, now is the time.”

Kimberly laughed and cleared her throat. “Yes, we shall endeavor to save you. In any case, Jason and I work at the same hospital. One day, while we were chatting, he mentioned this brilliant neurologist he’d met at a conference, a man named Tyrone Marshall. I said, ‘That name sounds familiar . . . ’”

“And the rest was history,” said Tyrone. His eyes hadn’t left her face the entire time she’d been talking. Now he bent down and brushed her hair with his lips. I wondered what it would be like to have someone love me like that.