The Mystic Arts Of Erasing All Signs Of Death Part 27

I dropped my sponge in the sink and started to reach for her hand with one of mine, pulled up and stripped the thick rubber glove off.

-Hi. Nice to. Po Sin's said a lot about. Hi.

She took my sweaty hand; hers tiny and strong and cool.

-So he finally got you in here.

-Uh, yeah.

She kept my hand firmly in hers, looking up at me, smiling.

-He's been talking about it forever. Saying how he thinks you should be working.

Po Sin came to the door.

-Lei.

She waved her free hand over her shoulder.

-Shut up, Grandfather Elephant.

She touched the jade necklace that hung down over a loose orange cotton blouse.

-He'd just as soon no one knew he cares about anything, but he does. Of course.

-Lei!

-Ignore his bl.u.s.ter. He thinks I'm not minding my own business. How have you been? Are you feeling better? You're working here, you must be feeling better. Not spending all your time slacking at your friend's tattoo shop. Good, that's good for you.

-Jesus, Lei.

She tugged on my hand, pulled me a step closer, put a hand to her mouth for a stage whisper.

-I'm embarra.s.sing him. Being overly personal with someone I've just met. He hates it.

-He has work to do, Lei.

Still holding my hand, she turned.

-You have work to do. have work to do.

She tilted her head toward their son tucked in the corner, clutching his bag.

He slapped the back of his neck.

-I know, I know. Where is she?

-She's out in the car.

He started for the door.

-I'll get her. Just let Web do his work, OK? I don't pay him enough to get grilled by you.

He stepped out the door.

-Xing. Xing, over here. Now. Now. No, I will not carry you. Now, I said. No, you are perfectly capable of walking on your own two feet. Now. Now! d.a.m.n it.

He walked out of sight.

Lei turned back to me.

-I'm not a Hindu, Web, but I swear I must have done something in a previous life to deserve my daughter.

She nodded her head.

-I know, I know, it's my own fault, our own fault. She's ours after all. She didn't just appear out of thin air. We made love, we made a baby. One baby wasn't enough. We had to go back to the well for more. So we got what we deserved. And with all Yong's problems, beautiful boy that he is, she doesn't get all the attention she maybe deserves.

She leaned close.

-What she deserves is a good whack on the a.s.s from time to time, but Po Sin won't allow it.

She leaned back.

-Of course, I'd be terrified to try it myself. Have you ever seen Demon Seed? Demon Seed?

I nodded.

-Sure.

She tapped the tip of her nose.

-That's our Xing.

-But I didn't didn't take it. take it.

We both looked as Po Sin ducked through the door, Xing on his shoulders.

-Honey, don't lie.

-But I'm not not lying. lying.

He took her from his shoulders and stood her on his desk and looked her in the eyes.

-Xing, my little lovely apricot, no one likes a liar.

She stomped.

-But I'm not not lying. lying.

He put a finger to his lips.

-Shh.

-But I'm nooot! nooot!

He shook the finger at her.

-Nu-uh. No more. Listen to me. Listen.

-Buuut.

He snapped his fingers, a meaty slap of flesh.

-Shht. Now!

She stopped talking and looked down at her feet in their pink and white sneakers.

Po Sin pointed at her brother.

-Does Yong ever lose his Legos, Xing?

She bit her lip, not looking up.

Po Sin put a finger under her chin and tilted her face to his.

-I asked a question.

She blew out her cheeks.

-You told told me to be me to be quiet quiet and and listen. listen.

-And now I want you to answer. Does he ever lose his Legos?

-I don't know. know.

-Yes you do. You know he doesn't. Sometimes people take them at school. But he never loses them. Because after your mom and me and his loving sister, the most important thing in the world for Yong is his Legos. Isn't that right?

-I don't know. know.

Po Sin straightened, folded his arms, shook his head.

-Xing, I will never take you to the American Girl store ever again if you don't stop lying.

Her eyes went big. She looked at him, found him unyielding; looked at her mom, found her utterly fed the f.u.c.k up. Her eyes darted from side to side, surveying the room, found no escape. She made little fists, pounded them against her thighs twice.

-But I didn't didn't steal it! I just steal it! I just borrowed borrowed it! it!

Po Sin held out his hand.

She frowned, squatted, unlaced her left shoe, dug a finger inside and came out with a little k.n.o.bbed bit of black plastic.

She put it in her father's hand.

-It's just a little little piece. He has piece. He has hundreds hundreds of them. of them.

Po Sin folded the piece in his hand.

-And they're all equally precious to him. Just like the two of you are equally precious to us. We wouldn't want to lose either of you, no matter how much we love the other one.

-But he has so many. many.

-That doesn't matter, honey.

He turned and walked to his son.

-That doesn't matter at all.

He squatted and opened his hand in front of Yong's face. Yong looked at the piece, started to reach for it, stopped. Po Sin nodded, set the piece on the floor. Yong s.n.a.t.c.hed it up, opened a zipper on the side of his backpack, dropped the piece inside, and zipped it back up.

Po Sin held out his index finger again.

-Now can I have a real hug?

Yong nodded, wrapped his little hand around Po Sin's finger, squeezed, and let go.

Po Sin looked over his shoulder at us.

-There, all better.

-Today was a bad day.

I walked with Lei to her car.

-Usually he's more interactive. But when something gets out of sequence, or lost, he gets untracked, his mind, and he can't focus on anything else. Emotions don't make much sense to him, so he has to concentrate very hard to read signs he's been taught to recognize. When he can't, he gets confused and scared. He withdraws. And touch is difficult. He doesn't like too much contact. Random contact. It's hard to explain. He loves being sandwiched. We have these pads at home we can put him between and apply pressure over his whole body, and somehow that comforts him, makes it easier to think. But generally, he needs a task to focus. The Legos.

She opened the driver's door of her tiny yellow Scion.

-Those kits? The impossibly difficult ones? Cities, trains, huge airliners. He opens the box, glances at the instructions, and builds them without ever making a mistake. You can take thousands of pieces, mix them all up, pull out one and show it to him, and he'll know exactly what kit it's from, where it goes, even what page it's on in the instructions, and its code number. The other kids know he's different, but they're young enough to think it's cool that he knows so much about Legos.

She shaded her eyes from the sun to look up at my face, smiling.

-They come to him with all their Lego dilemmas. He's like their shaman. Treasured for his oddness. For now, anyway.

A big sigh.

-We'll see in a couple of years how they deal with him.

-Um, Lei.