Mambo in Chinatown

I was going through some of the costumes hanging from the rack in the teachers’ room. “Much less. There’s almost no material at all.” I studied one red-and-black number. It was so brief that I couldn’t figure out which part of the body it could possibly cover. “I’m not sure I can wear something like this.”

Nina said, “Why not? You got it, flaunt it. At least you don’t have my saggy boobs.”

“Stop it with your boobs. I can’t wear this because it’ll slip off and I’ll be naked in front of a thousand people.”

Katerina said, “That happened to a friend of mine. No problem, you just keep on dancing. They’ve seen it before.”

“No, thanks.”

Nina said, “She must have put it on wrong. The costumes are made to stay put. Even if they look like they’re barely hanging on to your skin, they shouldn’t budge.”

“What I do,” said Katerina, “is I make them myself. The most work is the stones.”

“Can you design dresses?” Maybe there was hope for me.

“She made this one,” said Nina, pulling out a large sleeveless jade green dress. It was much more modest than the others, looking more like a cocktail dress than swimwear. It shone with rhinestones around the neckline and had a ruffled hem.

I took it and held it up in front of me. It was too big but I enjoyed the way the fabric felt against my legs. “I like that. Whose is it?”

“Designed it for a student. She is probably seventy years old. She’s picking it up tomorrow,” Katerina said.

“Could you make one like it for me?”

Katerina evaluated me. “Sure, but you could wear something much sexier. It’ll also be cheaper if you apply the stones yourself.”

“This style is good for me.”

“You’d need another color,” Nina said. “You can’t wear green. You’ll look like a frog.”

“How about a bright robin’s-egg blue?” Katerina said. “It would look great with her skin and hair.”

“Yes, that would do,” said Nina. “I’ll show you where you can buy the fabric and get the best stones on the Lower East Side.”

—

I had trained my body, but it seemed my hands were still as clumsy as ever. I worked on my dress in the teachers’ room when I could.

“Isn’t glue faster?” I was so tired and my fingers bled from all of the times I pricked myself. I could hardly hold the needle anymore. I had completed so little of the dress after hours of work. Often I placed the stones in the wrong place and had to tear them out and sew them in again.

“Yes,” said Katerina, “but I have been watching you. You are not a person who should use glue. Trust me. Needle and thread, when you make a mistake, you can undo it. If you do something wrong with glue, you will smear the fabric and it will look horrible. You’ll ruin your dress.”

I shut up and went back to sewing. It was painstaking work, finishing the dress stone by stone, but when I was finally done, it glittered and shone. I’d panicked at home one day when I saw one of my rhinestones glittering on our vinyl floor and quickly stepped on it before Pa could notice.

—

Uncle Henry had come up with a treatment plan for Lisa and today was the first session. She begged me to accompany her to the procedure. I canceled all of my evening students and left the studio at the di

“It’ll be all right,” I said. “You’ll see.”

Lisa’s face was drawn. “Sometimes I feel like I’m the older sister. No matter how hard you try to be tough enough for this world, you’re a romantic at heart, Charlie.”

“And what are you?”

“A realist.”

I stroked her arm. “It’s not going to be that bad. Come on, let’s go upstairs.”

Her legs seemed worse and I let her lean on me until we got to Uncle’s office. In addition to Uncle Henry and De

As we greeted each other, I heard the Vision say to Lisa, “It was your birthday recently. Did you wash your hair on that day?”

I knew what was coming. Pa didn’t want us to wash our hair on birthdays or holidays because it was supposed to bring bad luck.

“No, I didn’t.” Lisa was telling the truth. She tried to please Pa when she could.

“That is correct.” The witch turned to me. “But you did.”

How had she known? “I can’t remember,” I lied. With my job, I had to shower every day. Dancing was physical and I was constantly close to the students, but in my defense, I washed my hair on my own birthday too.

“You must be more careful of your sister.” Then the Vision addressed Uncle Henry. “We may proceed.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked. Lisa’s hand was trembling and I clasped mine around it.

“A moxibustion procedure,” said Uncle. I knew what that was. Acupuncture needles were inserted into the skin. Then the herb mugwort was burned near the needles to enhance their effect. “The Vision will pray for her at the same time, also exorcising any spirits.”

I shuddered at the thought of a malignant soul preying upon Lisa.

“Which type of moxibustion shall we perform?” De

Uncle smiled at De

De

I heard Lisa’s gasp of fear as I pulled her behind me. “Absolutely not.” With this type of moxibustion, a small cone of mugwort was placed on the skin at an acupuncture point and burned until the skin blistered. The skin scarred after it healed.

Uncle Henry was shaking his head as well, looking a bit surprised.

De

The Vision said, “Her father has given permission to do whatever we need. We mustn’t hold back just because of a young girl’s squeamishness.”

I said, “But no one knows if this will work or not. You say I’m hurting my sister because I wash my hair on her birthday and then you want to scar her?”

Uncle Henry said, “Don’t worry, De

I took a deep breath and turned to Lisa. “What do you say?”

“I want you to come in with me.” She darted a glance at Uncle and the Vision, avoiding De

“Not possible,” said the Vision. “The room is too small. De

“It would be a danger to Lisa,” Uncle Henry said. “You know that, Charlie. We are only trying to help her. We will do acupuncture with nonscarring moxibustion. I am also her family. I would never hurt her.”

Lisa was looking at me pleadingly.

“The door stays open,” I said. “I’ll be in the hallway.”

Uncle Henry sighed. “We’ll do it your way this time, Charlie, but you ca

—

Todd followed me out to the hallway and we leaned against the wall. Through the open door, I could see the Vision undressing Lisa down to her underwear, then having her lie face down on the examination table. While De

The Vision closed her eyes, starting to invoke the gods and spirits. “Come cleanse this girl. Purify her and remove all that is tainted.”