"You can't. It's too late. You've sold your apartment. See here. We know his address. He's living in Los Angeles with his second wife, and they have three children. Claim your rights. Those are your children. He's got two sons, You have two sons. You take them away from her. You become their mother."
"Do you really think I can be a mother of sons? Don't you think they'll be loyal to her, since she gave birth to them?"
"The children will go to their true mother—you," said Brave Orchid. "That's the way it is with mothers and children."

This exchange between Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid precedes their trip to Los Angeles to find Moon Orchid's husband, who had come to America thirty years before and left Moon Orchid back in China. Brave Orchid has grand illusions of her sister confronting her estranged husband and being welcomed into his new home. In fact, Brave Orchid has orchestrated it so that Moon Orchid has practically no other choice, as she has sold her apartment and has moved to America for good. Most important, this quotation illustrates the extent of Brave Orchid's delusions about how emigrant Chinese behave in America. She assumes that the old traditions will carry over in the new country and asserts without hesitation the absurd notion that children would renounce their own biological mother. Ironically, Moon Orchid, who is much closer to Chinese traditions than her sister, is the voice of reason in this exchange. She points out what just about everyone else besides Brave Orchid is thinking, foreshadowing the disaster of the eventual confrontation. The fact that Brave Orchid is so misguided raises questions about just how much she misinterprets Chinese traditions. If Brave Orchid can be so wrong in her beliefs, how is Kingston to interpret her talk-stories?