by Ha Jin
With a broom tied to a bamboo pole, Lin was sweeping the cobwebs off the ceiling. As he was passing by, his daughter patted his knee. Seeing Manna shaking a flour sack outside the front door, Hua said, “Dad, my mom is very happy at home. She said she’d wait for you.”
Suddenly he remembered what he had babbled at dinner the night before. Embarrassed, he asked, “I made a fool of myself last night, didn’t I?”
“No, no. We were so glad you came home. You should see Mom—she’s a different person today. She said she’d come and see them in the spring.” She referred to the twins, her forefinger pointing at the crib.
A miserable feeling arose in Lin. He pondered for a moment, then said, “Hua, your mother’s getting old. Will you take good care of her?”
“Yes, I will, Dad.” She smiled.
“Tell her not to wait for me. I’m a useless man, not worth waiting for.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Dad. We’ll always wait for you.”
He felt a clutching in his chest and turned away to sweep the kitchen ceiling, trying hard to hold back his tears. He was upset and touched at the same time. Outside, Manna was cheerfully wishing “Happy Spring Festival” to someone passing by. She sounded so pleasant that Lin noticed her voice was still resonant with life.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to express his thanks to Emory University for a grant that enabled him to complete an early draft of this book. He also wishes to thank his editor, LuAnn Walther, for her consideration and suggestions, and his agent, Lane Zachary, for her comments.
HA JIN
WAITING
Ha Jin left his native China in 1985 to attend Brandeis University. He is the author of two books of poetry; three collections of stories, Under the Red Flag, which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction in 1996, Ocean of Words, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award in 1997, and The Bridegroom; and In the Pond, a novel. Waiting, his second novel, won the 1999 National Book Award and the 2000 PEN/Faulkner Award. He lives near Atlanta, where he is a professor of English at Emory University.
ALSO BY HA JIN
FICTION
Under the Red Flag
Ocean of Words
In the Pond
The Bridegroom
POETRY
Between Silences
Facing Shadows
FIRST VINTAGE INTERNATIONAL EDITION, OCTOBER 2000
Copyright © 1999 by Ha Jin
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 1999.
Vintage is a registered trademark and Vintage International and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Pantheon edition as follows:
Jin, Ha, 1956–
Waiting / Ha Jin.
p. cm.
1. China—History—1949–1976—Fiction. I. Title.
ps3560. i6w34 1999
813’.54—dc21 99-21334
CIP
Author photograph © Jerry Bauer
www.vintagebooks.com
eISBN: 978-0-375-72695-8
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