[i]
☼ ○ ▬
My mom and I are visiting my Uncle JW's house in the farmland of North Carolina. We hop in the car to leave taking an un-traveled sandy dirt path. I warn her to slow down cause the dirt will make us swerve and lose control. But it's too late. We hit a thick patch of sand and the car sort of hydroplanes. She slams on the brakes but nothing's working. Our wild car is coming up close to the main road where there seems to be a lot of traffic. My mom manages to keep us away from the road and we continue down the hillside. We pass a cop on speed patrol. He is suspicious of us. The brakes start to work again and we come to a complete stop in the middle of the grass. The cop approaches. I explain to him that we just came from my uncle's house. He mentions JW's name; I guess they know each other. He brings a lawnmower out from a shed nearby. I connect mini red and black wires to the car battery and jumpstart it successfully. The cop becomes romantically interested in my mom and asks to get coffee with her sometime.
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Waking up at 11:41 a.m.
Strawberry Toaster Pastries. Orange Juice.
All day shift at China Wok.
Ana slept in my bed pretty late. I invite her to join me at the restaurant for lunch. We share a Super Spinach Salad (Spinach, Chic Peas, Edamame, Pumpkin Seeds, Cranberry Raisins, and Ginger Carrot Miso Dressing) from Trader Joe's with Egg Drop Soup.
The day continues in an autopilot kind of haze. I'm just going through the motions. Delivery after delivery. I find myself losing enthusiasm after each order. I keep enough energy to be cordial and pleasing at the customer's door but that's it.
Banana. Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.
It's after 9 o'clock. Business is winding down. Cecily and the daughters are eating dinner at the table. Eileen as usual is having trouble eating her portion. Cecily sits next to her shoveling spoonfuls of rice in her mouth. She can't chew fast enough before she just throws it up. Cecily, royally disappointed, takes Janice (the other daughter) and goes home leaving Eileen with us, not a normal occurrence mind you. I ask Ling why they left her behind. He said that we all think she's slow and nobody wants her. Explaining to me in his limited English vocabulary it sounds super mean. He laughs and asks if I want to take her to my home. He says it takes her ten minutes to eat just one leaf of bok choy. I just don't know how I can intervene and offer any kind of advice. She's not my child. The Chinese aren't stupid but as parents they can be a tad harsh on the inferior ones. And they're not proud of Eileen; they make this known to her and it damages her self-esteem.
When I arrive home I find the bed made and a hand written note with a heart on it from Ana. "You warm MY heart. Thank you for being YOU!" it says. I thank her via text. She responds with, "I want to leave good beds and good notes just for you because I really appreciate you and everything that you do! [heart symbol] When you left this morning for work and smothered me with hugs as I was half awake and half sleeping...That really made my morning."
Vegetable Lo Mein.
Watching Olympus Has Fallen (2013).
Brushing up on NBA news.
Sleep 3 a.m.
[i] Heart-Note from Ana.
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