Year of the Rat

by Grace Lin

  But then the priest started speaking in Taiwanese! He was marrying them in Taiwanese and I couldn’t understand a thing he was saying. I slumped down. This wasn’t that much fun. I had to wear an old dress, I didn’t get any flowers, no one wanted to take my photo, and now I couldn’t understand the ceremony. Clifford was changing and I wasn’t a part of it.

  Mom nudged me to sit up. I straightened up again and tried not to be rude. The dark wood of the pew was smooth and warm against my fingers; the light from the stained glass windows cast a glow on the guests and our Chinese silk dresses shimmered. I watched a tear run down Aunt Linda’s cheek, leaving a trail of black from her make-up. She was smiling, though, so I knew they were what people called “tears of joy.” I always thought that was strange. I never cried when I was happy. But I guessed this meant Aunt Linda was happy about Clifford changing, so maybe this change wasn’t that bad either. The minister droned on and on.

  Finally, Lian was talking and then Clifford. This was it; it was almost official . . . and then it was! Clifford kissed Lian and everyone stood up and clapped and cheered. Clifford was married!

  Chapter 21

  Clifford’s Chinese Reception

  AFTER THE CHURCH CEREMONY, WE DROVE TO A Chinese restaurant called China Pearl. Clifford had rented the whole restaurant for the evening! I guess he needed to because there were so many guests.

  Lissy, Ki-Ki, and I followed Mom to the private room where Lian was changing. All the women were there helping. They clucked around Lian like chickens waiting to be fed.

  “Hello!” Lian said to us, as we came in. “I guess I’m your new cousin!” Lian spoke English like Mom. You could understand what she was saying, but she had an accent.

  She was changing into a shining red Chinese dress. I knew red was a Chinese lucky color, so I wasn’t surprised it was the color of a brilliant ruby. A gold and silver dragon and a bird were embroidered on it.

  “The bird is a phoenix,” Lian said, when she saw me staring at her dress. “It’s traditional for Chinese weddings because a dragon symbolizes the groom and a phoenix symbolizes the bride.”

  That made me wish even more that my dress didn’t have dragons on it; I knew dragons were for boys.

  From a leaf-green silk-covered box, Aunt Linda took out a fancy Chinese hairpin in the shape of a butterfly. The wings looked as if they were made of gold thread and the green jade stones on it looked like shiny jelly beans. I almost wanted to taste them.

  “Who should fix Lian’s hair?” Aunt Linda asked.

  “I’ll do it!” I said. I thought it’d be fun and then I could be a part of the wedding, too. But everyone laughed.

  “No,” Cousin Hannah told me. “It has to be a lucky adult woman. Someone who has parents, a husband, and kids that are alive, healthy, and happy.”

  “It’s so the woman’s good luck will be passed on to the bride,” Aunt Linda said. “I think your mom should do it.”

  Mom protested, because she was nervous about fixing Lian’s hair. “I don’t want to make it ugly!” she said. But everyone insisted.

  But just as Mom was putting the fragile butterfly in Lian’s hair, there was a loud knock at the door.

  “Hello?” Clifford called.

  “We’d better take care of this,” Cousin Hannah said to Lian’s mother with a wink. As they left, Lian and Aunt Linda laughed as if there was a joke. Lissy and I looked at each other, puzzled, so we went too— followed by Ki-Ki, Ting Ting, and some other bridesmaids.

  “You know you have to pay up if you want to see your bride,” Cousin Hannah said to Clifford. “What do you have for us?”

  “You’re not really going to make me pay, are you?” Clifford asked. “That old tradition? C’mon, let me in!”

  “Nope,” Cousin Hannah said. “We’re waiting.”

  At first, I was surprised that Cousin Hannah was being so mean, but her eyes were twinkling and I could see that everyone was trying hard not to smile and laugh. This must’ve been the joke.

  “Okay,” Clifford said. “Here’s nine dollars and ninety-nine cents.”

  “Nine dollars and ninety-nine cents!” Cousin Hannah said. “Are you crazy? Is that what your bride is worth to you?!”

  “Hey, it’s 999,” Clifford said, “I’ve tripled the lucky number nine!”

  “Why is nine a lucky number?” Lissy asked.

  “Because it sounds like the Chinese word for ‘forever,’” Clifford told us. “So nine dollars and ninety-nine cents means forever times three!”

  “Cheapskate,” Hannah said. “I’m ashamed we’re related.”

  “Okay, okay,” Clifford said. “Here. Ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents.”

  “Well, that’s better,” Hannah said. “Still, I think Lian is worth more than ninety-nine dollars and ninetynine cents.”

  “You know,” Clifford said, handing Lian’s mother a red envelope, “you are completely right. She is worth much more than ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. Here.”

  Hannah took the envelope from Lian’s mother and started counting it. $200, $300, $500 . . . $999.99! Everyone exclaimed and shouted in appreciation. I didn’t say anything because I was shocked. I didn’t know Clifford was so rich. Maybe his grandparents gave him the money.

  “Okay,” Hannah said, “You can have your bride. Lian!”

  And out came Lian. She looked even prettier than she had at the church. She was sparkling red and gold and in the light she glittered like tinsel on a Christmas tree. Clifford grinned like a jack-o-lantern as he saw her.

  “C’mon everyone,” Clifford said as he offered Lian his arm, “Let’s go and eat!”

  Chapter 22

  Double Happiness

  I THOUGHT THAT AS SOON AS WE SAT DOWN IN the dining room we’d get food, but we didn’t. Another gong clanged and everyone was quiet. Clifford’s parents and Lian’s mother and grandmother were sitting on chairs at the front of the room. Behind them on the wall was a big lobster-red sign with a Chinese symbol on it. Next to Clifford and Lian was a small table with a white teapot, polished and smooth. With two hands Lian offered a teacup to Clifford’s father.

  “What’s happening?” I asked Mom.

  “It’s the tea ceremony,” she told me. “See how Lian is serving tea to Clifford’s parents? That’s to symbolize that she is now part of his family. Clifford will do the same for Lian’s mother and grandmother.”

  “What does the sign say?” I asked.

  “It means double happiness,” Mom said. “Do you see how it is two characters that are exactly the same? Alone, that character means happiness. For weddings we repeat it, so it means double happiness. It’s just like when two people are married; together they double their happiness.”

  Clifford and Lian finished serving the tea and kissed. And everyone cheered and clapped again. I guess that meant they were married again and that double happiness also meant double wedding ceremonies — American and Taiwanese.

  And then, finally, the food! I was glad because I was hungry. We ate and ate. There were nine courses! I guess the nine meant forever with food, too, because it kept coming and coming. After the bird’s nest soup (which wasn’t made from a real bird’s nest, just noodles that looked like a nest), each table got a whole roasted chicken, lobster in a white sauce, a whole steamed fish, and a big platter of fried rice. There were also stir-fried vegetables with crunchy water chestnuts, crispy brown peking duck, and glossy red sweet and sour pork.

  “Did you know that this food has a special meaning?” Dad said.

  “Like on Chinese New Year,” Lissy said, “like fish and dumplings mean money?”

  “Yes,” Dad said, “But here the chicken symbolizes the phoenix—which is the bride, and the lobster represents the dragon—which is the groom. So having them served for dinner means the couple is now together.”

  I thought that was strange. We were eating the chicken and the lobster! Did that mean we were eating Lian and Clifford? By the time the cake was cut and the
lotus-seed buns were served for dessert, I was so full I could hardly move. But when I heard Lian was throwing her bouquet, I jumped up. The wedding was almost over, and catching the bouquet was my last chance to be a part of it. Besides, I wanted the flowers.

  But Lian threw it too high and Cousin Hannah leaped up and grabbed it in the air. No fair! But Mom said that whoever caught the bouquet was supposed to get married next, and I was too young to get married for a long time. So, maybe not getting the bouquet was, like Dad said, fate.

  And that was the end of the wedding. We went back to the hotel. The sky was dark ink-blue and Dad carried Ki-Ki, who was half asleep. I felt sad—Clifford was married, the wedding was over, and I hadn’t done anything for it except watch.

  Chapter 23

  One Last Thing

  BUT JUST AFTER I FINISHED PUTTING ON MY FUZZY pajamas, there was a knock on the hotel room door. Mom opened it and there were Clifford and Lian!

  “We need to borrow your kids,” Clifford said. “Especially Pacy.”

  “Why?” I asked as we followed them out the door into the elevator. “What do you need me for?”

  “We need you to jump on our bed,” Clifford said. We all laughed. It was such a funny thing to ask me to do.

  “We need all you kids to jump on the bed before we sleep on it,” Lian said, “so that hopefully, someday, we’ll have kids, too.”

  “And I remembered when I had to climb through a window a long time ago,” Clifford said, “so I knew Pacy would be especially perfect for the job.”

  “What do you mean ‘climb through a window’?” I asked. I had no idea what Clifford was talking about.

  WHY CLIFFORD CLIMBED THROUGH A WINDOW

  When you were just born, Lissy was very jealous of you. She was used to being the only one and getting all the attention, and when you came along she felt like everyone ignored her. She didn’t like you at all.

  One day, when I was about fifteen or sixteen years old, all of our families got together at my house. You probably still weren’t even a year old yet, so while all the parents were talking you fell asleep. We didn’t have a crib in our house, so your mom put you in my parents’ bedroom upstairs.

  But about five minutes later, we heard you crying. Your mom went upstairs to get you, but when she got to the room the door was closed and locked! Quickly, she called everyone upstairs to help.

  We all crowded around the door to see if we could open it. We heard you crying and crying. And we heard something else. We heard giggling. It was Lissy! She was inside the room with you, laughing.

  “Lissy,” we called to her, “open the door! What’s going on in there?”

  But Lissy wouldn’t open the door. She just kept laughing and you just kept crying. And none of us knew what was happening.

  Finally my dad turned to me and said, “Clifford, we left the window open. Why don’t you climb the tree outside and see if you can get into the room?”

  So, I went outside and climbed the maple tree next to the house. When I finally reached the window I looked in the room, and you know what I saw? I saw Lissy jiggling the bed so you’d bounce. Every time she jiggled, you’d cry. And the louder you cried, the louder she laughed.”

  “Of course,” Clifford ended, as we entered their hotel room, “I got in the room and rescued you. I was the hero; it was one of the most memorable days of my life.”

  “I got in a lot of trouble,” Lissy said. “I remember, too.”

  I looked at Lissy. She didn’t seem a bit sorry. “I guess I was lucky, back then,” I said.

  “Yes, you were,” Clifford said. “And, since you were so lucky to be saved by me from that bouncing bed back then, I thought you could pay me back with some lucky bed jumping now.”

  “Okay!” I said as we leaped on top of their red silk– covered bed. My feet sank into the mattress and silk twisted around my ankles, but I didn’t care. Finally I was part of the wedding! I jumped as hard as I could. One great jump almost bounced me off the bed, but Clifford caught me.

  “Thanks,” he said, smiling. “We couldn’t have finished the wedding without you.”

  Chapter 24

  Back to School

  ALL TOO SOON, LIKE A CHERRY POPSICLE ON A hot day, the summer melted away. It seemed like as soon as we got back from Clifford’s wedding, Mom was driving us all to the mall to get new backpacks, socks, and shoes for our first day of school.

  At school, my new teacher was Mr. Davidson. It was the first time I ever had a male teacher. He was tall, with glasses and brown hair the color of toasted bread. He was different from all the other teachers I’d had.

  First, he was really picky. Everything we wrote had to be in cursive writing; we were too old to print things anymore, he told us. Also, all our papers had to been done the same way—the holes had to be on the left side, our names on the first blue line on top on the right-hand side, and the date, subject, and assignment lined up underneath.

  But he also was fun, too. He let us choose our own seats, wherever we wanted. Becky, Charlotte, and I put our desks right next to each other, though I really wanted to sit next to Sam Mercer. And almost at the beginning of the year, he told us that our grade was going to have a talent show.

  That was exciting! Everyone talked about what they wanted to do. For the first time, I wished my talent was something other than writing and drawing. You couldn’t do that for a talent show.

  “Becky and I want to do a dance to that song ‘Love Me Forever,’” Charlotte told me. “Do you want to be in it too?”

  I thought about it. Becky and Charlotte took dance lessons every Saturday and I wouldn’t be able to do all the steps they did. Also, I didn’t like that song “Love Me Forever,” and I knew I’d feel really silly dancing in front of people to it.

  “I don’t know if I can dance like you guys,” I said. “Maybe I should think of doing something else.”

  “Kurt and Rich are going to lip synch a song,” Becky told me. “They wanted to do the song ‘I’m Too Sexy,’ but Mr. Davidson told them to choose a different song.”

  “I know what you can do!” Charlotte said. “You and Dumb-Way can do a karate skit together. It can be like a scene from that kung fu movie. Hi-yaa!”

  Suddenly, I felt like a blowfish puffed up in my throat. I hadn’t seen Dun-Wei in a long time, even though I knew Mom talked to his mother on the phone a lot. It wasn’t that I had forgotten about him, it was just that I tried not to think about him, as much as possible. Whenever I did, I always felt uncomfortable. It was easier just to put him out of my mind. And, usually, since he was in Mrs. Janey’s class, that wasn’t too hard.

  But everyone still seemed to pair us up. Now Charlotte was even saying Dun-Wei and I should be in the talent show together!

  “I don’t even know karate,” I said. As I watched Charlotte try to do pretend karate, the annoyed feeling I had when I was with them came back, like a black fly that I couldn’t swat.

  “Oh, well,” Becky said. “If you can’t think of anything, you can join our dance.”

  “Maybe,” I said. I didn’t know what to do. I still felt worried and confused. It seemed like this new school year was going to be exactly the same as last year.

  Chapter 25

  Wishes

  EVEN THOUGH I AVOIDED DUN-WEI AS MUCH AS possible, I couldn’t always escape. Mom and Dun-Wei’s mother were now good friends. Such good friends that in October they decided that we should celebrate the Moon Festival together. We were all going to go to the park, have a night picnic, and watch the moon. The Pans, the Taiwanese family that lived an hour away from us, were coming, too. They had some relatives who had come to visit and two boys, Teddy and Phil, as well as a girl named Emily, were coming as well.

  We had never celebrated the Moon Festival before, even though Mom and Dad had talked about it. Mom said it was kind of like a Chinese Thanksgiving—a time where families celebrated being together, but you ate moon cakes instead of turkey.

  It was already dark
when we left, so as soon as we got to the park all the kids helped the adults make a charcoal fire in the grill. Once the fire was crackling and burning orange, Dun-Wei’s mom put a pan of chestnuts over it. Mom and Mrs. Pan were laying out the platters of cold chicken, noodles, rice, and a big bowl of soup, still warm from home. Teddy started to poke in the box where the golden-baked moon cakes were, but his mom shooed him away.

  “Those are for later,” she told him. “Save them for when the moon comes out and you make your wish. Have some soup instead.”

  “We wish when the moon comes out?” Lissy asked, as we each took a bowl of soup.

  “Yes,” Dad told us. “When the moon is at its fullest, you can tell the moon your most secret wish. You don’t say it out loud; you just think of what your heart wants the most and the moon will hear it.”

  “And does it come true?” I asked.

  “Sometimes,” Dad said. “It depends on the moon.”

  “Sometimes it depends on yourself,” Mom told me. “Remember what we talked about at Chinese New Year, about resolutions and wishes? Sometimes you can make your wishes come true by resolving to do things.”

  “But for all the other things,” Dad said, “you can ask the moon.”

  I was excited about my wish. I felt like I had wasted my birthday wish, so this looked like a second chance. As I thought about what I’d wish for, I put a spoonful of soup in my mouth. Yuck! I made a face. It didn’t taste good. The soup left a dry, sharp taste in my mouth, like it had been made of rubber bands. I pushed the bowl away from my plate.