The Year of the Rat

I had been so worried about Melody moving, that I forgot that we were going to Albany for my cousin Max’s birthday. He was turning one year old. Albany was far away, but not so far that I got to miss school. Two years ago we had gone to my Cousin Albert’s birthday party in New Jersey and got to miss two days of school. Since Cousin Max lived closer, we were only going to be away for the weekend.

But even though Max didn’t live that far away, it was nighttime when we got to his house. Actually, I don’t remember getting to his house because I fell asleep in the car. When I woke up in the morning, I was in bed and the sunlight was streaming through the windows, casting a lace pattern shadow of branches on my face and pillow. Lissy and Ki-Ki were beside me, snoring a musical duet. But it wasn’t their snores that woke me up, it was the doorbell ringing. I poked my head out of the room and heard the footsteps of a crowd of people answering the door.

“Kim!” I heard Uncle Leo say. “Ja-be, bei?”

Ja-ba, bei means “Have you eaten yet?” in Taiwanese.

But it also means “Good to see you!” and that meant people were arriving for Max’s party already! I went back to the room and shook Ki-Ki and Lissy awake.

“Wake up,” I told them. “Max’s party started already. They’re starting the party without us!”

And as we scrambled downstairs, we saw all our relatives. Everyone was there – Uncle Leo, Aunt Judy, two-year-old Albert… The house felt like a bulging bag of uncooked rice about to burst. Even Cousin Clifford was there! Cousin Clifford was our favorite cousin. He was older than us, but not a real adult yet. We hadn’t seen him in a long time. The last time I saw him, he was graduating from college with a black robe, a funny hat, and a big smile with sparkling eyes. Now, he looked pretty much the same, except not in a black robe.

“Did you start the party without us?” Ki-Ki demanded.

“No,” Mom said, and laughed. “We were just getting everything ready. Look, even Max was waiting for you – he’s just coming out now.”