—

I smelled fresh incense in the apartment when I got home. That was unusual. Normally, Pa would light some for the altars in the morning but not so late in the day. Lisa was already asleep but tonight Pa was still up. Even with the Hunter issue behind us, she still wasn’t improving. These days, she didn’t want me to leave her alone. She said she was tired and didn’t want to go to school. Despite all of my probing, she insisted there were no problems there. I thought that maybe she was already anticipating going to Hunter so much that she didn’t care about her current school anymore but the truth was, I had no idea. Pa let her stay home a few times, but it didn’t seem to make things better.

I went over to Lisa and rearranged her blanket. She had the scarf I’d made for her tucked underneath her chin. I looked up to find Pa watching the both of us, seeming so sad that my heart hurt for him. He had a little ceramic pot in his hand, the one that he boiled his medicines in.

“Was the Vision here?” I asked.

Slowly, he nodded. “She gave Lisa a charm. It’s around her wrist.”

I looked and there was a bead bracelet around Lisa’s wrist, the same type that monks wore. You could buy them at the temple for a few dollars. I doubted the witch had been as inexpensive.

“Here is a bit of the strengthening medicine that Uncle Henry made for Lisa. I saved it for you.”

“What is it?”

“Donkey umbilical cord with herbs.”

I tried to keep my disgust from my expression. “Thanks so much, Pa, but I don’t need it.”

Pa stepped forward eagerly. “No, Charlie, you are working so hard and bringing home money for us. I only wish I could afford enough to get you a full dose of everything, instead of just the remains of what Lisa needs.”

I realized he was feeling bad, guilty that he hadn’t bought two donkey umbilical cords instead of one. “Pa, I really don’t need it. And even with my salary, how are you managing to pay for the Vision and all of the medicine?”

“Let me worry about that. The health of my two girls is more important than anything.”

I got up and hugged him awkwardly around the shoulder, being careful not to jostle his small pot. “You’re a great father. I need to rest now. Good night.”

“Are you sure about the medicine?”

“Yes, I’m really fine without it. It’s too late for me to be hungry anyway. Don’t waste it on me.”

With a nod, he was gone.

—

That wasn’t the first or last time I came home to the smell of fresh incense, meaning the witch had been present again. Lisa was sleeping with all sorts of new items. Once I found her with a red veil over her head, which was supposed to protect her from the evil spirits. All I could do was hope that it worked.

—

One night, as all of my fear welled up in me, I shut myself in the bathroom so I could call Zan on her mobile. Having only prepaid phones, we didn’t talk or text too much because of the expense, but sometimes I just needed a friend. She sounded groggy when she answered. I apologized, then told her everything that had been happening to Lisa.

“Oh, Charlie, why didn’t you tell me that she was getting worse?” Her voice was fearful. “I assumed it’d stopped after the test.”

“I guess it seemed like it would make things too real if I talked about it. When I saw you, I wanted to think about other things. Zan, do you believe in all of that Chinese medicine?”

“I never thought about it. My mother would make me herbal teas and stuff whenever I was sick. I feel guilty when I eat a lot of yang foods—you know, too much fried stuff and so on. It’s so much a part of our way of life, it’s hard to separate it out.”

“I know, I’ve always accepted it too. But it doesn’t seem to be helping Lisa.” My voice broke. “I’m at a loss.”

“Mo Li.”

“What?”

“You need to talk to Mo Li. She’ll know what to do.”

—

The next morning, when Mo Li answered her phone and heard it was me, she said, “What’s wrong?” since I almost never called her.

I filled her in as quickly as I could.

“I can’t believe there’s something wrong with Lisa,” she said. “I love that girl. She was always tagging along after us. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. Listen, I don’t know a lot about medicine or treatments.”

“But you’re smart. You study. And read.”

“That counts for a lot less than you’d think. But if you’re asking for my opinion about eastern versus western medicine, I’d say that both types can be effective. Many eastern remedies have the same drugs in them that western medicine does. It’s just not quantified, so you don’t know exactly how much or what is in everything. Treatments like acupuncture have been proven to work.”

I heard the reservation in her voice. “But?”

“But the thing is that eastern medicine is still very much unknown. You have to trust the practitioner, believe that they know what they’re doing.”

“It’s my own Uncle Henry. And the Vision.”

“Well, you know how I feel about all of that mumbo jumbo. I can only tell you that if Lisa were my sister, I’d want to get her to a western specialist as well and hear what they thought.”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing. But we’re not insured.”

“Of course not. I don’t know, Charlie. I can just say that if you have a trustworthy practitioner, that’s great. But if you don’t, how would you know if they were a fraud or not?”

“Mo Li! You don’t mean that.”

“I’m simply trying to be scientific here. What you really need is to talk to a medical person.”

I pressed my palm to my cheek. “You’ve given me an idea.”

Seventeen

I waited anxiously until Jason and Naomi’s next lesson. Jason was a neurologist. I couldn’t remember exactly what Naomi did, but in any case, Jason was the one I wanted to consult. I learned a great deal just from chatting with my students as we went across the dance floor. Jason and Naomi were one of my favorite couples and they were so warm, I was sure they would do their best to help me. The moment they really stole my heart was when they were learning to tango.

“By day, I work at a hospital. But by night . . .” Jason waved his arm and suddenly a rose appeared in his hand, which he then tucked in between his teeth. The tango music rolled on. He pulled Naomi into a dip, then stood up, gave her the rose with a flourish. . . . “I am magic itself.”

I clapped, delighted. “How did you do that?”

“I’m a magician. This door-to-door fire alarm salesman came by one day and did a few tricks while trying to sell us his alarms. I was hooked, then started hanging out at the magic shop. It’s my hobby.”

“He does shows in the evenings and weekends,” Naomi said, very proud. “He has a partner who covers for him when he has to cancel at the last minute because of his hospital work.”

“So you may have two students for life in us,” Jason said. “As you can tell, I have a bit of a weakness for performing, and what better way to attract attention than by dancing up a storm with my lovely wife.”

Now a waltz was playing, and since they hadn’t learned how to travel around the room yet, they stayed in one corner and revolved like a merry-go-round. The other dancers steered around us. I thought about Pa and how grim and lonely his life was much of the time. He spent all of his time working and shunning everything outside of Chinatown. Jason and Naomi had two daughters as well, but if one of them had gotten sick, they wouldn’t be dragging witches home, they would know what to do. Of course, it wasn’t fair. Pa also worked day and night to earn what Jason probably made in an hour.

“Try an underarm turn,” I said.

Jason lifted his arm and Naomi waltzed underneath. “It must have been hard when your kids were little,” I said to her. “That Jason’s job could involve so much last-minute work.”