Friends Are Friends Forever

In our town, the winter howls.
Heavy flakes swarm and glaze the earth.
KISH SKISH-
Yueyue and I slide, holding on to each other.
She is my neighbor and my best friend.
Together, we teeter and shimmy and giggle to school.

Days before Lunar New Year,
my parents say we’re moving- far away.
“Dandan, will you come back?” Yueyue asks.

I kick snow. “I don’t know.”

On Lunar New Year’s Eve, the grown-ups
bustle, their faces swallowed by steam.
Crunchy vegetables slide around the wok.
Flame-red chilies speckle silky noodles.
Batches of dumplings jiggle in boiling water.