His stained white kitchen apron still clung to his narrow hips, the front dangling to his knees, and he smelled strongly of fryer oil. I told you she was fine," her father said impatiently, giving her a cursory once-over. "Ai-ya!" Her grandmother began speaking rapidly in Cantonese, waving her hands. Mom, Dad, Daniel and Poh-poh took her in with dark, wide eyes. The rings on the curtain railing clattered as the partition was yanked aside. Sighing, she propped herself up in the hospital bed, smoothing the blanket over her knees. But there was no avoiding the inevitable. "Tiffany?"įor a moment, she considered pretending to be comatose, or ducking away and hiding somewhere until they left. Shadows streaked into her cubicle from beneath the partition. With her family hovering on the other side of the curtain, the pleasant buzz of the painkillers evaporated, and her stomach churned. Tiffany grabbed the edges of the pillow and stuffed them against her ears. "No, Grandma, she's not dead." She heard Daniel reassure in that too-smooth voice of his. "Say joh may-ah?" Poh-poh's voice creaked. Tiffany knew the exact moment when her family arrived in the E.R.
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