Girl in Translation

After a drive in which eleven-year-old Kim searched futilely for skyscrapers and the Liberty Goddess, Aunt Paula and Uncle Bob park the car in a run-down, dirty neighborhood. Everyone gets out of the car. Uncle Bob unloads Kim and Ma's suitcases and Ma's violin case and stacks them in front of a boarded-up storefront. Aunt Paula seems embarrassed as she explains that she hasn't had a chance to inspect the apartment yet, but she'll fix anything wrong with it promptly. She offers Ma a box with sheets, an alarm clock, and a small television in it, and then she and Bob leave for the factory.

Ma unlocks the front door to reveal a dark and cavernous hallway. She instructs Kim to stay downstairs while she makes her way upstairs, wielding the broom, to make sure it's safe. After a few minutes, Ma calls for Kim. As soon as Kim enters the apartment, Ma tells her not to touch anything—the apartment is filthy, and the windows are either cracked or missing entire panes. Dead roaches litter the floor, and Kim catches sight of live ones out of the corner of her eye. Ma stops her from banging the broom handle on the floor to scare them, insisting it'll disturb the neighbors. Kim suspects there are no neighbors.

Kim inspects the bedroom; there's nothing there but a stained mattress, a flaking dresser, and a wobbly coffee table. Kim realizes that Aunt Paula lied: it's clear nobody has lived in the apartment for a while. Kim believes that Paula let them move on a weekday so that she had an excuse to leave while Kim and Ma were still thanking her for her help. Ma reassures Kim, but Kim believes that Ma must also feel betrayed by her older sister.

Stepping back, Kim explains that she and Ma spent their first week in the U.S. in Aunt Paula's house on Staten Island. Kim met her Uncle Bob for the first time and realized that though he's a rich man, he married Paula so he'd have someone to take care of him: he has a limp and uses a cane. Kim met her cousin Nelson and as the children greeted each other, they each whispered insults in the other's ear. The plan was for Ma and Kim to live with Paula and Bob so that Ma could care for Nelson and Godfrey, Paula's three-year-old. Paula had shown off her house and made special note of her fine white tea, insisting that Ma and Kim drink as much as they'd like.

The next day, Ma and Kim woke alone in the house. Kim suggested they try the special white tea, though Ma gestured to the old teapot and an inexpensive box of green tea on the counter. Ma told Kim that Aunt Paula left the cheap tea out on purpose; the special tea was never truly meant for them. She reminded Kim that they owe Aunt Paula and Uncle Bob a great debt for bringing them to the U.S. Kim explains that then, it was difficult for anyone to get out of Hong Kong unless they were female and married a rich Chinese-American man, as Paula had done.

Aunt Paula returned around lunchtime, sat with Ma and Kim at the table, and complimented Kim's intelligence. Ma politely played down Kim's intelligence and asked when she should begin Nelson's Chinese lessons, which made Aunt Paula hesitate. Aunt Paula carefully said that Ma's services were no longer needed, and implied that this was because Ma had contracted tuberculosis the year before. Aunt Paula explained that she fired someone to create a job for Ma as a finisher at the clothing factory, which she insisted was a huge favor. Ma promised to work hard. Ma and Kim spent the rest of the week watching television. Kim felt as though she missed Pa, even though she doesn't remember him.

Back in the present, Ma and Kim spend days cleaning their apartment. On the second day they go to the grocery store to buy some ice cream as a reward for their hard work. However, the shopkeeper charges them three times as much as the price listed, and the ice cream is disappointingly thin and sour. Kim and Ma walk home quickly with their heads down. As they pass an old black man sunning himself in front of his shop, the man leaps up, assumes a martial arts pose, and shouts "hi-yah," terrifying Ma and Kim. The man laughs, explains he loves kung fu, and introduces himself as Mr. Al. When he realizes that Ma and Kim are Chinese, he asks what he can call a customer who he describes as a whale. Kim teaches him the Chinese word for "whale." Ma giggles and wishes him good fortune. Mr. Al smiles and thanks Ma and Kim.

The roaches prove impossible to exterminate or get used to. Kim misses their neat apartment in Hong Kong, especially Ma's piano. In the Brooklyn apartment, Ma kills roaches while Kim protects Ma from the rats and mice. Though they attempt to use mousetraps, Kim is too squeamish to empty and reuse them, so they soon give up. They put the Tong Sing, the Chinese almanac, at the head of their mattress in the hope that it will help keep thieves and evil spirits away. Once the apartment is clean enough, Kim and Ma set up five altars, leave offerings for the gods and goddesses, and ask for protection.

The night before Kim starts school, Ma says that she needs Kim to come to the factory with her after school every day to help. Kim agrees immediately, but Ma looks ready to cry. She says ominously that she's been to the factory. She hugs Kim and says that their future in the U.S. is the only one forward, though Kim thinks she's saying this mostly for her own benefit. Ma tucks Kim into bed, wrapping her in coats and one thin blanket, and promises to speak to Aunt Paula about the state of their apartment. Then she pulls out her violin and plays a Chinese lullaby.