Summary—Rose Hsu Jordan: “Without Wood”
“A mother is best. A mother knows what
is inside you,” she said. . . . “A psyche-atricks will only make
you hulihudu, make you see heimongmong.”
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Rose Hsu Jordan describes finding divorce papers and a
ten-thousand-dollar check from her husband, Ted, in her mailbox.
Paralyzed with shock and pain, she leaves them in a drawer for two
weeks while she tries to decide what to do. She stays in bed for
three days, mostly unconscious, with the help of sleeping pills.
Finally, she is wakened by a phone call from An-mei, who asks her
why she refuses to speak up for herself. Ted calls a few minutes
later to ask why she has not yet signed and returned the divorce
papers. He announces that he wants the house because he now plans
to marry someone else. After the initial shock, Rose laughs and
tells him to come to the house to pick up his papers. When he arrives,
Rose gives him the papers still unsigned and announces that she
will not be leaving the house. She refuses to allow him to uproot
her and throw her away.
Summary—Jing-mei Woo: “Best Quality”
A few months before her death, Suyuan cooked a crab dinner
for ten people to celebrate the Chinese New Year. As she and Jing-mei shopped
together in Chinatown for the ingredients, Suyuan explained that
the feistiest crabs are of the best quality; even beggars would
reject a crab that has died before being cooked. During the marketing,
Suyuan grumbled about the tenants who lived above her in the building
she owned. When the couple’s cat disappeared, they accused Suyuan
of having poisoned it. Jing-mei wondered whether her mother did
poison the cat, but she knew not to question her.
While the two women were choosing crabs, the leg of one
of the crabs became detached, and the grocer demanded that Suyuan
pay for the creature. Suyuan thus bought eleven instead of ten,
stating that the damaged crab would be extra. Back at home, Jing-mei could
not bear to watch crabs being cooked, though she knew in her rational
mind that the crabs probably lacked brains big enough to realize
what was happening to them.
The Jongs and their children attended the dinner. Vincent brought
his girlfriend, Lisa, and Waverly brought Rich and Shoshana. Mr.
Chong, Jing-mei’s old piano teacher, was also invited. Suyuan
had not counted Shoshana when buying the crabs, but Waverly now
carefully chose the best crab and gave it to her daughter before
choosing the next best two for herself and Rich. The rest of the
party continued to pick the best crabs until there were two left,
one of which was the crab missing a leg. Jing-mei tried to take
the defective crab, but Suyuan insisted she take the better one.
Suyuan then sniffed her crab, and took it into the kitchen to throw
away, veiling the trip by returning with more seasonings for the
table.
Waverly complimented Jing-mei’s haircut and was shocked
to learn that Jing-mei still went to her gay stylist. Waverly warned
Jing-mei that the stylist might have AIDS and
urged her to consider using her own stylist, Mr. Rory, instead.
Waverly added that Mr. Rory’s prices might be too high, deliberately
referring to Jing-mei’s less successful career. Infuriated, Jing-mei
mentioned that Waverly’s law firm had not paid her for some freelance
work she had done, writing a publicity brochure, and after several
insults from Jing-mei, Waverly replied that her firm had decided
not to use Jing-mei’s work, adding that she had only praised the
work to Jing-mei because she didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Jing-mei
offered to revise the brochure, but Waverly refused, mocking the
quality of the work she submitted. Jing-mei cleared the table and
retreated to the kitchen, fighting back tears.
After the guests left, Suyuan joined her daughter in the
kitchen. Suyuan explained that she did not eat the legless crab
because it had died before she cooked it. She teased Jing-mei for
choosing the worse of the two remaining crabs, because anyone else
would have taken the better one—the “best quality” available. She
remarked that Jing-mei’s way of thinking differed from that of most
people. She gave Jing-mei a jade pendant, telling her that it was
her “life’s importance.” She advised Jing-mei not to listen to Waverly,
whose words always “move sideways” like a crab, and explained that
Jing-mei could and should move in a different direction. Now, at
the time of Jing-mei’s reminiscence, she is cooking dinner for her
father. The upstairs tenants’ tomcat jumps onto the windowsill outside,
and Jing-mei is relieved to see that her mother didn’t kill it—the
cat is alive and well.
