Ha Jin - A Free Life

"Then I'll go ask him." Dick also ordered fried wontons for an appetizer, watercress soup, and Five-Spice Beef. In addition, they each wanted a beer, he a Tsingtao and Eleanor a Miller Lite.

Nan had learned how to stir-fry and steam shark from Mr. Wang, though he hadn't printed this dish on the menu for fear that some children, if they knew the restaurant offered shark, might dissuade their parents from dining there. In fact, Mr. Wang had once included this specialty on his menu, but several kids talked to him about all the virtues of the fish, and still the old man wouldn't give up serving the dish. As a consequence, the kids made some people boycott the shark-serving Gold Wok. Soon Mr. Wang stopped offering this dish and mailed his new sharkless menu to hundreds of households in the area.

Dick went into the kitchen and asked Nan, "Can you cook shark for us today?"

"Sure, we have some fresh steaks. Boy, you're quick-you got a girlfriend the moment you started teaching here."

"I should learn more about southern women, shouldn't I? Actually, Eleanor is a Ph.D. student in my department."

"Well, zat's not very professional. You're not supposed to date your student." Nan winked at him while tossing bok choy and shrimp in a wok.

"That's why I should make her happy. Cook a big shark for us, will you?"

"Stir-fry or steam?" "Stir-fry."

"I'll get it ready in fifteen minutes."

As soon as Dick went out of the kitchen, Pingping came in and talked with Nan about the way Tammie was treating the couple. They guessed the waitress might be jealous; still, she shouldn't have been rude to the customers. To forestall trouble, Nan suggested that Pingping take over that table. If Dick had been here alone, he could have smoothed things over by chatting with him himself every now and again, but today Dick had a lady friend with him. Eleanor seemed at ease and even swigged beer directly from Dick's bottle. They must already have shared a lot together, so Nan wouldn't go over and interrupt them.

He felt relieved that Tammie was pleased with Pingping's help; she already had her hands full, waiting on the other tables and booths. Yet the waitress couldn't stop throwing glances in the direction of Dick and Eleanor. Her eyes were shining and her face flushed.

Done with dinner, Dick left a five for tip, which Pingping let Tam-mie take. When they were cleaning up before they closed, Nan said to the waitress, "Tammie, why do you look so unhappy today?" He spoke just as a way to start conversation, as he assumed he knew the reason for her sullenness.

"I dunno," she said.

"You should have tritted Dick and his girlfriend better."

She glared at him and asked, "Why did you say he was gay?"

Nan was taken aback as he remembered their conversation from long ago. He still believed Dick might be a homosexual, but was unsure how to explain, so he said, "I had no idea he had a girlfriend. I asked him just now, and he said he wanted to know more about souzzern women."

"Then how could he be gay?"

"Zis is beyond me too."

"I know you think I'm cheap and silly. You too, Pingping, always take me to be a fool."

"Not true, we never think that way," Pingping protested. "Don't deny it! If not, why did Nan lie to me?" "I didn't lie to you," said Nan. "You told me Dick was gay."

"I saw him wiz some men in New York. I still sink he might be a homosexual."

"Then why was he with that snake-hipped woman?"

"Maybe he likes women too. How can I tell? I didn't know him zat well before he came to Atlanta."

"You lied to me, because you thought I lost my head about him. Let me tell you, I don't care a damn about what he is. I just have enough of your tricks."

"Please, Tammie, don't explode like zis. You reelly misunderstood my intention."

"Good night." She plopped the mop behind the kitchen door and picked up her shoulder bag. Without turning her fluffy head she tore out toward her car.

The next day Tammie didn't show up. Nan and Pingping were worried and called her, but nobody picked up the phone. She didn't have an answering machine. The Wus were at a loss. There wasn't a lot of business at the moment, and even without Tammie they could manage. But the understaffed situation mustn't continue, because Pingping couldn't possibly work as both the cashier and waitress for long. A few days in a row Nan called Tammie, to no avail. If he had known where she lived, he would have gone to her apartment and begged her to return, but there was simply no way to get hold of her. Once her roommate answered the phone and promised to pass Nan 's message on to her, but Tammie never called back.

TAMMIE'S walkout upset Nan and Pingping. A week later they heard that she had started waitressing at Grand Buddha in Decatur; obviously she was making more money there. That Chinese restaurant was owned by a Korean family and had a full bar and more than forty tables. Now that Tammie was gone for good, Nan began looking for a new waitress. A few women showed interest, but he didn't hire any of them because they were all college students and might not stay long. He couldn't afford to have a disruption again and preferred to use someone who depended more on such a job.

Then the idea came to him that he could call Ding's Dumplings in New York and see whether somebody there might be willing to come to Atlanta and work for him. He knew that many Chinese had left the Northeast for the South because life here was comfortable and more affordable. Also, the staff at Ding's Dumplings viewed that restaurant as a transit place and would move elsewhere once they had enough work experience. Nan called New York one afternoon, and Yafang Gao happened to answer the phone. "How have you been?" he asked her. "I thought you had left Ding's Dumplings."

"I'm fine. I'm the hostess now."

"Congratulations! You're in charge there?"

"Basically."

Nan went on to describe his need for a waitress and the kind of money that person could make at the Gold Wok, at least two hundred dollars a week, cash, if the business was good. He told her that rent here was very low compared with New York.

"Maybe I should come," Yafang said in a joking voice, which surprised Nan.

"No, I can't pay the kind of wages you're pulling in." He knew that as the hostess she was paid by the hour. Besides, her work at Ding's Dumplings was less demanding.

"Here's the deal-I'll come if you divorce your wife." She giggled.

She sounded like a different person now, flirtatious and carefree, no longer the timid young woman tricked into an adult movie theater and then into bed by Heng Chen, that desperate man. She must be a capable hostess at Ding's Dumplings.

It happened that Yafang had a distant cousin studying somewhere in Georgia (she wasn't sure at which school), whose wife had just come to America from Jiangsu Province. Yafang wondered if his wife might be interested in the job, and gave Nan the phone number.

Then Nan inquired about his former fellow workers and acquaintances in New York. Yafang told him that David Kellman and Maiyu had married last spring, that Chinchin had gone to nursing school at the University of Connecticut, and that Aimin had started a snack shop with her cousin in Flushing.

"How about Heng Chen?" Nan paused. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought up his name."

"That wretch has returned to China." She sounded flat and unemotional.

"Really? What happened to him?"

"He couldn't make it here. Such a loser."

"He got into trouble?"

"No, he had to go back. Maiyu said he was sick of America and he had come just to make money."

"He must've taken back a fortune with him."

"Not at all. He didn't even have enough money to buy gifts for his parents and relatives, so he sold a kidney."

"What? Is that true?"