“Don’t you remember that the teachers tried to call you Molly and you refused? You said, ‘My name is Mo Li.’ You stay who you are and you’ll be just fine.”

Her smile showed her small, even teeth. “You actually look different.” She narrowed her eyes. “I can’t put my finger on it. It’s like you got taller or something.”

“I’ve got some news too.”

After I’d filled Mo Li in and she’d finished jumping up and down, she said, “I can’t believe you actually taught a dance class! But then again, I can. You’ve always had this gangly grace.”

I snorted.

She went on. “Really. You’d spill everything in the dining hall, but in gym you could beat even the guys sometimes. Hey, do you want the circle lenses? You could probably use them more than me.”

“I’d blind myself trying to get them in.”

“True. Well, if you don’t need them, I guess I don’t either.” The buzzer sounded. “Oh, that must be Zan. I’ll be right back.”

While Mo Li went to open the door, I wandered around her apartment. Unlike ours, her apartment had no religious icons whatsoever. I was used to Chinatown, where almost every store had an altar hidden away in the back. Mo Li had explained that religious rituals had been discouraged by the Communists, so she and her parents were agnostics. There were no red strips of paper with lucky sayings on them. The only thing hanging on her walls was a fine Chinese landscape, probably brought over from the mainland, and a ragged poster of the periodic table. A bumper sticker that read “Boston University” was stuck on the window, probably because they didn’t own a car to put it on.

Since they’d moved to Brooklyn, they had more space than we did. Mo Li didn’t have any siblings, due to China’s one-child policy, so she had a tiny room all to herself. The living room was cluttered with cardboard boxes and the little kitchen was through an archway. One box was open next to their coffee table, which was covered with decks of playing cards. I sat down on the flowered sofa next to the table.

Zan took off her coat and waved at me as she came into the room. Mo Li called, “Would you guys help me do the decks? The faster I’m done, the sooner I can just hang out. You want some soda?”

Zan and I sighed. We each picked up a deck and started sorting it. Since Mo Li’s father worked at a casino, he often brought extra odd jobs like this home. All of the playing cards needed to be resorted after use. They got paid ten cents per pack or something like that. I started organizing mine by color, then suits, then number. Mo Li brought a few glasses of cola over to us.

“Why are you home so early?” Zan asked. “It’s not Thanksgiving yet.”

Mo Li said, “My ma flunked the naturalization exam. She has a chance to retake it next week. I need to help her study.”

“Aren’t you missing your own classes?” I asked.

“Yeah, but I’ll manage. She can’t do it without me.” Mo Li’s ma could barely speak English. “She’s been listening to tapes and practicing, but she gets so nervous. She can hardly look at the examiner.”

For a moment, we all worked on our cards in silence. Mo Li was faster than we were, probably due to all the practice she’d had. She tied off her deck with a rubber band and grabbed another one from the box. “So, Zan, what’s the gossip?”

Since Zan’s egg cart was in one of the busiest parts of Chinatown, she saw and heard just about everything that happened. Zan took a new deck too. Everyone was faster than I was. “I saw Winston with a new girl.”

My heart sank. Not that I cared. “Who was she?”

“Don’t know. Maybe a college student. But I’m sure she’ll be gone soon too. And the police were clearing out the park again. I heard the Vision got rounded up.”

Mo Li looked up. “Really? For fraud?”

I said, “Come on, she works a lot with my uncle. Many people swear she’s for real.”

Mo Li sniffed. “There’s no scientific evidence that any sort of paranormal activity exists. I think she’s just milking people for their money.”

Zan said, “They didn’t arrest her. It sounded like they just told her to stop burning joss paper in the park.”

“Western medicine doesn’t know everything,” I said. I didn’t like them dismissing Pa’s and Uncle’s beliefs.

“At least it’s regulated,” Mo Li said. “In the east, you have no idea what you’re getting for your money.”

Zan sensed the tension and tried to change the subject. “Hey, Charlie, how’s Lisa doing?”

“Well, at school she seems to be doing really well. She’s going to try out for Hunter high school. By the way, Mo Li, do you think you could help me with something? Did you bring your laptop home with you?”

“Sure,” said Mo Li. “I have tons of work to do.”

“Can you help me register her for the test?”

“Of course! I don’t have an Internet connection here but we can go around the corner to the coffee place. They have free Wi-Fi.” I’d been worried about getting through the online registration for the test with my minimal computer skills. Things were so easy when you knew how. “Hunter’s a really big deal.” Mo Li sounded impressed. “The Hunter kids at BU are fierce. They’re so articulate, like they’re not afraid of anyone.”

I knitted my brow. “I know it’s a good school. It’s just that she seems so stressed by it. She’s wetting the bed at night and having nightmares. I’m worried it’s too much for her.”

Zan said, “Remember Lisa always used to freak out when she didn’t get perfect grades on her report card?”

I smiled. “Yeah. If something didn’t go right at school, she’d put her head down and pound her fists on the table. That was a while ago, though.”

“People go crazy about those things. Believe me, I know,” Mo Li said. “I bet it’ll stop as soon as it’s all over. Come on, let’s go get her registered for the test.”

—

At work on Monday, a heavy older Greek woman sat behind the receptionist’s desk. She had hair that was so black, it had obviously been dyed. Her eyebrows were dark against her pale skin and she had a mole on her cheek with a long hair growing out of it. When she smiled wide, her bright lipstick smeared across her uneven front teeth.

Adrienne came over to Nina and me. “Charlie, this is my mother-in-law, Irene. She’s going to be taking over your job for a while. We’re very grateful she’s helping us out like this.”

Irene gave me a wink. “She’s just getting me out of the house. That’s okay, I’ll stay here as long as things stay interesting.”

I said, “Do you want me to help Irene—”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Adrienne interrupted hastily. “Thanks, Charlie, but I’ll show her the ropes. We need to get you started on your new job first.”

I had dressed carefully that day. I’d worn the dress that Pa had deemed too immodest for the dinner with Uncle. Although it had a square neckline and was therefore open around my neck, it hit me at midcalf and hung loosely around my body.

Adrienne and Nina walked with me into the teachers’ room. On the floor were two large shopping bags filled with clothing.

Adrienne started talking. “Now that I know what you can look like, I want an improvement from you. I didn’t say anything before because I didn’t know we had a choice, and because you were the receptionist. But if you are a dancer, we need you to appear like one of us. So I was cleaning out my closets because I need to make room for the baby’s clothing anyway.”

“She always brings in stuff for us,” Nina said. “At least once or twice a year, she’ll bring in a couple of shopping bags full.”

“Well, this time, you get first pick.” Adrienne considered me. “In fact, just take it all, Charlie.”

“I couldn’t do that.” I could already see from the rich fabrics that the bags were filled with expensive clothing. “What about the other dancers?”

Nina said, “We’ve been given stuff for years. Now it’s your turn.”

I pulled out a soft dress in a dark burgundy color and touched it to my cheek. It was a rehearsal dress like the one Nina had lent me. “Why are you getting rid of this? It’s in perfect condition.” I turned to her in wonder. “You’re doing this to help me.”