by Vivien Chien
“It looks great!” my sister chimed in from behind me. “And your dress is amazing.”
“Thanks, dear,” she said, smoothing out the lines near her waist. “Calvin Klein never lets me down, I can tell you that. And you girls look lovely as well.” She assessed our matching qi-paos. “It was a great idea of your mother’s to have the ladies wear matching outfits. Uniformity is a clear sign of classic professionalism.”
I bit my tongue because I didn’t agree. I thought it was an awful idea, but now wasn’t the time to express my true feelings about my attire to the birthday girl. “Donna, why don’t you go and relax for a little while and let us handle everything down here. I can get the door as the guests start to arrive. And Yvette seems to have everything else under control.”
“Oh sure, I suppose you’re right about that. I probably should check on the girls one last time as well. They invited a few of their little friends over and I want to make sure they understand the ground rules. After all, this is an adult party.” As she started to walk away, she turned around to say, “Just send everybody out onto the back deck and I’ll be down in a little while.”
After she left the room, Peter, who had remained silent during the whole conversation, let out a low whistle. “Dude, someone needs to chill.”
Easy for Peter to say: I’d seen him emote maybe a whole two times since the day we met. Although it was odd for Donna to act out like this. The Donna I knew was calm, collected, and ate social functions for breakfast.
“Give her a break,” my sister said, swatting his arm. “Women get weird on their birthdays as they get older. Life is passing, things haven’t happened, things have gone by the wayside, whatever. There’s always something. And she’s already a widow.”
“Age is just a number,” I said, knowing full well what would happen next. But there are moments when I just can’t help myself.
My sister rolled her eyes at me. “That’s because you’re not even thirty yet, Lana. Trust me. You’re going to be singing a different tune in two years. Mark my words.”
“Doubt it,” I replied. “You’ve said this to me every year for how many years and I still don’t agree.”
“Lana, I am the big sister, so trust me. I know.”
My sister is only three years older than me, but she acts like there’s twenty years in between us. She is always warning me about this and that and how things are just all heading down from here.
On more than one occasion, I’ve been called an idealist, and truly, I think it’s a blessing if anything. Yes, I’d like to believe in the good of life and humanity. Is that so wrong?
Instead of caving to the typical argument that follows between us on the subject, I decided to busy myself with the actual task at hand.
The bulk of the party would be outside in the backyard around the pool. My friends from Asia Village, Kimmy Tran—who was also Peter’s girlfriend—and Rina Su would assist in serving food. Since the size of the party had been larger than we expected, the two women had offered to help out. I was more than grateful to them considering I knew how much they had going on in their own lives.
Not only did Kimmy help run her parents’ entertainment store, China Cinema and Song, but she also moonlighted at a local strip club as a cocktail waitress to help ends meet. Her second job was pretty hush-hush; the only people who knew about it were me, my boyfriend Adam, Megan, and Peter. If her parents ever caught wind of this, their heads would probably explode as they were a little on the reserved side.
Rina was a newer friend of mine who’d just moved to Cleveland a short while ago. The tragic death of her sister and brother-in-law had brought her here from New York, and she’d decided to stay and open her own business. She now owned the cosmetics shop at Asia Village, The Ivory Doll, which so far had been a smashing success. My own makeup collection could be testament to that.
The menu was predominantly appetizers, and we would be circulating throughout the party with trays. But as manager of Ho-Lee Noodle House, it was also my job to make sure that everything ran smoothly. My parents would be in attendance at the party, but they were coming as guests. It was just the Lee girls working tonight, since Peter’s mother, Nancy, usually our most reliable waitress at the restaurant, had been exempt from the evening because of the weirdness between her and Donna. I thought at first that it might hurt her feelings, but she was actually quite relieved. She and our other cook were at the noodle house keeping the place running so we didn’t have to close to cater the party.
Peter went out to move the van, and my sister got busy finishing up the final tasks before the party started. We were being extra particular, not only because this was Donna’s birthday party, but also because it was our first catering gig and there would be many prominent guests here that might want our catering services for themselves in the future. I’d had special menus and extra business cards printed to hand out to guests if anyone asked. Nothing could go wrong tonight. Absolutely nothing.
CHAPTER
3
An hour after the guests had begun to arrive, the party was in full swing. Donna had hired a DJ to give the party a more carefree vibe. She told me originally the plan was to hire a pianist to provide the music, but her new nanny, Alice Kam, had assured her that something more upbeat would make a better atmosphere for birthday party time. I was grateful to the new young woman in Donna’s life for the suggestion, since I’d much rather be listening to lively dance music as I worked than a lone piano, which seemed more fitting for a casual, sit-down dinner.
I did loops around the pool with my tray of teriyaki beef sticks while Kimmy, Rina, and my sister carried trays of various appetizers. We had shrimp toast wedges, mini egg rolls, crab Rangoon wonton cups, and sweet-and-sour chicken balls circulating the party. The beverage service was handled by Penny Cho from the Bamboo Lounge, and while she staffed the bar, her helper worked the crowd with flutes of champagne.
I returned to the kitchen to grab more appetizers from Peter when Kimmy stopped me. “I am seriously super mad at your mom right now,” she said, pointing at her dress. “I feel absolutely ridiculous. Like a stereotypical Asian girl. Now all I need are chopsticks in my hair and we can get this party started for real.”
Rina sidled up next to us. Her tray was empty as well. “Is Kimmy complaining about her outfit again? I told her she looks great in it. It really compliments her curves.”
“It’s true,” I agreed. “You look great, Kimmy. I don’t know why you’re so upset about it. At least you have actual hips.” I pointed to my own hips, which barely existed.
“Whatever,” she replied. Kimmy was known to dismiss compliments or anything positive you said to her. Most of the time she acted as if nothing affected her. But I knew her well, and I knew that she had a big heart. She actually cared quite a bit more than your average bear. She just didn’t like to do it while people were looking. “I can’t wait to get out of this dress.”
Peter smirked.
“Peter Huang, what is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” he replied, avoiding eye contact. “Lana’s here.”
“Oh, ew.” I made fake gagging noises. “Let us fill up our trays and get out of here before you guys continue this conversation.”
Rina chuckled and nodded in agreement.
After Peter filled my tray with freshly made teriyaki sticks, I started to head back out the French doors into the backyard, but right as I opened the door, Jill, Jessica, and a girl about their age with black, braided hair came flying through in the direction of the backyard. They jumped into the pool while one of the girls yelled, “Cannonball!”
The three teenagers leapt into the pool at the same time, and large waves of water erupted out onto the surrounding area, splashing a majority of the guests. Shrieks and “what the hecks” filled the party.
Kimmy, Rina, and I gawked at one another before rushing out to see what was going on.
My eyes immediately landed on Donna, whose face had turned a bright red
. She screamed at the girls to get out of the pool. The three teenagers, sensing the severity of what they’d done by the tone in Donna’s voice, swam to the edge and hoisted themselves out of the water as if their bodies were made out of lead.
“What did I tell you girls not even two hours ago?” Donna yelled with a bit of a slur in her voice. “Where is Alice!”
Jill or Jessica, I could never tell them apart, said, “We don’t know…”
Donna regarded the other twin and she shrugged, tucking her chin inward.
“The three of you, go back upstairs to your room this instant and I will deal with you later.”
As the girls turned to leave, Alice the nanny came out onto the deck in an obvious state of panic. When she put together what had happened in her absence, her hands flew up to her gaping mouth. “Ms. Feng, I am so sorry! I was only in the restroom for a minute and when I came back, they were gone!”
“You are an absolute moron!” Donna shouted, stomping a foot. “Look at my beautiful dress! Look at my guests! I told you specifically to keep those girls upstairs and out of my hair, but you couldn’t even do that right. What do I even pay you for, Alice?”
Alice’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”
We all watched on as if it were an episode of As the World Turns. I could barely believe my eyes. In all the years I’d known her, I’d never seen Donna act like this before. As I watched her now, I felt slightly embarrassed at her outburst. She’d clearly had too much to drink, and I wondered if she was even aware of how she was coming off in front of her guests.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mother sidle up slowly to Donna and squeeze her arm, whispering something in her ear.
Donna teetered back and forth, shaking off my mother’s hand. “I will deal with you later,” she spat at Alice. “You just wait! I will not stand for this! Now get out of my sight!”
“Yes, ma’am.” Alice lowered her head and disappeared back inside the house.
The music had stopped and everyone stared blankly at Donna, unsure as to what we’d just witnessed. It was so quiet that all you heard was the lapping of water against the pool’s walls. I don’t think anyone here had ever seen her act this way.
“Well,” she said, breathing heavily. “I apologize for the inconvenience. I have fresh towels in the pool room if you’d like to dry yourself off. Follow me.” She signaled the DJ to turn the music back on. “Let’s continue this party, shall we?”
I squeezed into a trio of well-dressed women who were whispering among themselves. “If you ask me,” a petite woman in a blue dress said to the other two, “she’s totally lost her mind since her husband passed away. Poor thing can’t handle it all.”
The second woman, wearing a gold, gauzy dress, nodded in agreement. “Can you blame her? Those kids are a nightmare. Then there’s that other thing to deal with.”
They didn’t say what thing they were specifically talking about, but I was sure they meant the situation with Peter. The two women bobbed their heads in unison, understanding the unspoken words, while the third woman, whom I recognized as Ms. Evelyn Chang, turned away as if she would rather not participate in the conversation.
The woman in the blue dress spoke again. “If you ask me, it’s only a matter of time before she goes totally insane and does something to completely ruin her reputation.”
Ms. Chang jutted out her chin. “If the two of you ask me, you both need hobbies to keep yourselves busy instead of judging something you know nothing about.”
The woman in the blue dress sneered. “As if you know what it’s like to lose a spouse.”
Ms. Chang turned her nose up. “It’s called ‘empathy,’ darling, you may want to look it up.”
The three women noticed me eavesdropping and I blushed, holding up the tray as my disguise for being there. “Would you like a teriyaki skewer? They’re fresh off the grill.”
With polite smiles they shook their heads in unison. I slunk away to the next group of partygoers.
It’s true that Donna had seemed out of sorts recently, and it appeared to be getting worse as time went on instead of any better. Tonight was proof enough of that. My only hope was that they were wrong and she didn’t end up doing something that she’d regret.
* * *
While Donna was helping her guests put themselves back together, I decided to slip inside and check on Alice. I didn’t know the woman, but I felt sorry for her nonetheless. As I headed up the stairs, I could hear loud pop music coming from one of the closed doors and figured the girls were keeping themselves entertained and wouldn’t be heard from again that night … at least if they knew what was good for them.
From a previous visit to the Feng household, I remembered which room had been the guest room, and I found that door to be closed as well. I lightly tapped on the hollow wood. “Alice? Are you in there?”
“Who is it?” a muffled voice returned.
“My name is Lana. I’m the one handling the catering.”
There was silence for a moment, and then the doorknob turned. She opened the door a crack, and I immediately noted that she’d been crying. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and her nose was reddened. “Did you need something?”
“Actually I came to check on you,” I said quietly. “Make sure that you were okay.”
She forced a smile. “Thanks, I appreciate that, but I’d like to be alone right now.”
“Donna doesn’t mean it, you know. I’m sure everything will be fine once she’s calmed down. She’s just under a lot of stress right now.”
Alice snorted. “Are you kidding me? She’s been like this since the moment I walked in the door that very first day. I was beyond shocked with the instant change in her attitude.”
“What do you mean?”
“She certainly didn’t act like that when I interviewed with her. She was very pleasant and practically begged me to move in here as soon as possible. I could see she was struggling with everything she has going on. I mean, these society women … they just don’t sit still. So I agreed. I moved in that week. And as soon as I stepped foot in the house, she was always barking orders, always yelling. It’s like I can’t do anything right according to her. It’s tiresome and I don’t know if I can work for her much longer. I will not be someone’s punching bag.”
My eyes widened. “Really? I can’t—”
“There are things…” Alice paused. She opened the door a little more and stuck her head out, glancing down the hallway. “There are things that people don’t know about her. Things she wouldn’t want anyone to know.”
I felt a knot form in my stomach. “Like what?”
Alice looked down at her feet. “Nothing I care to share at the moment. But she’s lucky that I’m a loyal employee. At least I have been … so far.” She lifted her head, sniffled, and gave another weak smile. “I’m sorry, if you’ll excuse me, I really would like to be alone. I’m sure you understand.”
“Sure.” I nodded. “No problem.”
Before shutting the door, she said, “Hope the rest of the party goes without incident.”
“Yeah, me too,” I mumbled to myself as I hurried back down the stairs.
* * *
It was nearing eleven p.m. and the party had thinned out considerably. My parents left shortly after Donna flipped out on Alice. They used the need to get back to my grandmother as an excuse to leave.
The DJ had closed up shop and the stragglers that stayed behind seemed to be Donna’s closest friends. The party had now moved into the house, and most of the remaining guests lounged in the living room area.
Donna had disappeared several times throughout the night to check on what was happening upstairs. She appeared on edge, and my guess was that she would have a hard time relaxing the rest of the evening.
The DJ stopped me in the kitchen while I was cleaning off party platters. His shaggy hair was tousled and hung down to his eyelids. He tilted his head and swept it out of the way. “Do
you know where the boss lady is? I need to get paid.”
“She’s around here somewhere,” I said. “I can look upstairs, she might be with her kids.”
“Nah, on second thought, that’s okay. I gotta take off. I’m sure I’ll get my money one way or another.”
I gave him a once-over. The entire right side of his black, button-down dress shirt was drenched. “You got splashed by the kids messing around in the pool too, huh? I hope none of your equipment got ruined in the process.”
He shrugged. “It’s all good. Kids will be kids, right?” He jerked his chin toward the door and started to walk away. “I’ll be seein’ ya.”
“Okay, I’ll let her know you left.”
He gave me a nod as he headed out of the house carrying the rest of his equipment.
Peter had pulled the van back up into the driveway and was hauling things out. Since my feet were throbbing, Peter cut me some slack and suggested that I clean up in the kitchen and pack up for him to take things out instead of me making trips in and out of the house. I’d sent Rina and Anna May home half an hour before. They’d both busted their tails all night, and seeing as I was manager, I felt it was my responsibility to finish the cleanup. I tried to send Kimmy home, too, but she stayed behind because she planned to leave with Peter.
One of the guests stopped over. “Excuse me, young lady, have you seen my handbag? It’s a teal sequined clamshell about this big.” She held up her hands to show me.
I thought for a few seconds but couldn’t remember seeing anything like that. “No, I’m sorry, did you maybe leave it outside?”
She smacked her forehead. “I probably did. After all the commotion, I slipped inside and must have left it at one of the patio tables.” She headed for the French doors, and I turned my attention back to the packing box I was filling in front of me.
Not even five seconds later, that same woman let out a bloodcurdling scream that startled me so much, I dropped the silver party platter I’d been holding on the floor. It clanked loudly as it hit the ceramic tiles, and I cringed from the sound. Leaving the platter where it had fallen, I ran out the door to see if the woman had slipped and fallen.