Red Thread Sisters (9781101591857)

by Carol Antoinette Peacock

  “Miss her greatly,” said Wen.

  “I get it now.” Her voice low, Michelle looked straight at Wen. “I really hope she finds a family.”

  “Thanks, Michelle,” Wen said.

  “Hey, here comes Ms. Beckwith,” Sophie warned.

  As Wen shut down the Web site, Michelle smiled at her for the first time.

  And Wen gave her best half-moon smile back.

  After school, Wen clicked on Worldwide Adoptions for another glimpse of Shu Ling.

  Her photo was gone!

  Was her birthday even earlier than her file had said? Had she already turned fourteen and they’d sent her file back to the orphanage?

  Wen called Jenny Peters right away. “Where’s Shu Ling?” Wen asked.

  “Let me find out,” said Jenny Peters.

  Wen felt dizzy, like she might faint.

  “It says here that a family has locked Shu Ling’s file for seventy-two hours.”

  “What is this locked?” Something important had happened and Wen didn’t understand.

  “They have seventy-two hours to consider Shu Ling, have a doctor go over her medical records, and then decide if they’ll adopt her.”

  “They might pick Shu Ling?” Wen repeated. Could this be possible?

  “Yes. It’s great news, Wen!” Jenny said. “They’re a wonderful family. And I have to say, they called me three or four times, ever since they read what you wrote about Shu Ling. It was the way you described her, Wen, that convinced them to consider her. You should feel really proud.”

  Wen felt her chest expand. “Thank you,” she said. “Where this family live?”

  “They’ve got three adopted children from China and they live in Florida.”

  “I talk to them, maybe? Tell them more about how Shu Ling make nice daughter?” Wen suggested.

  “No. That would go against agency policy. But don’t worry, I’ll call you as soon as I know.”

  Wen hung up the phone.

  “Hey!” Wen shrieked so loud for her mother, her own ears tingled. “Shu Ling might have a family! Almost. Seventy-two hours. Family is thinking about adopting Shu Ling!”

  “That’s wonderful!” her mother said, coming into the room.

  “Then she live in Florida village,” said Wen. “Where is this Florida? We can visit?”

  “Florida isn’t that close. But we could use credit card miles or something. We’ll find a way, Wen.”

  “What is it like, the Florida place?” Wen asked.

  “Florida? Well, right now, Florida is hot. While we’re freezing up here in the north, Florida is very, very hot! And the trees have long leaves on them. Palm trees.”

  Her mother waved her arms in the air, like branches swaying.

  Wen closed her eyes and envisioned herself sitting beside Shu Ling in the hot sun of Florida with leafy trees behind them.

  It’s so hot, mei mei, Shu Ling would say. She would have pinned her thick braid around her head to keep her neck cool.

  Way too hot, Wen would agree, fanning herself with her hand.

  They would grin at each other, not minding the heat one bit.

  After dinner, Wen and her family lined up their chairs by the computer and waited for Shu Ling’s photo to reappear on the Worldwide Adoptions Web site.

  “You’re sure this will tell us something, Wen?” her father asked.

  “Jenny Peters say as soon as family pick Shu Ling, picture go back on Web site with big golden flag, say ‘Matched with Family.’”

  “I’m getting bored,” Emily whined. “Nothing’s happening. Can I go play?”

  “Sure, sweetie,” said their mother.

  “Keep me posted.” Wen’s father got up too. “I’ve got to study some for my interview tomorrow.”

  “Interview of the telephone?” Wen asked.

  “No. Second, real-live interview.” Her father beamed a little. “Call me if you see anything.”

  Wen and her mother sat side by side at the computer, staring at the other children on the Worldwide Web site.

  “Little bit like watching a movie,” said Wen. “But maybe nothing happen for a while. Maybe not for another two days!”

  “How about we come back in half an hour?” her mother suggested.

  At seven thirty, still no photo of Shu Ling had appeared. Wen reached for her cell phone.

  Hi Hannah, Shu Ling might have family! Family is thinking about it. Photo go off Web site until family decides. Check to see if photo come back, Matched with Family flag across bottom, for good news.

  At eight thirty, still no Shu Ling. Wen’s phone beeped.

  Awesome, Shu Ling might have a family! I’m on her site too. No photo yet but I bet it’s coming! :-)

  Finally, toward eleven o’clock when still no photo had appeared, Wen and her mother turned off the computer, and Wen went to bed.

  The next morning, Wen opened up the Worldwide Adoptions site. Shu Ling’s photo was still gone.

  “Mom made me turn off my computer around nine last night. Any Shu Ling with flag yet?” Hannah asked Wen as they walked into their classroom together.

  “The family still thinking,” Wen mumbled. She was so tired, she could hardly talk.

  “What’s happening with your friend?” Michelle looked up from putting on her lip gloss before class started.

  “Nothing yet,” Wen said.

  The next day, with twenty-four of the seventy-two hours remaining, Wen opened the computer, her fingers heavy with dread. And there, at the top left, was Shu Ling’s face. Below her picture, Wen saw a bright yellow banner, drawn with ripples, as if it were waving in some sort of procession. The flag proclaimed “Matched with Family!”

  “Hey! Everybody! Whole family!” Wen screamed. “Come quick!” She jumped up and down.

  Her mother came running downstairs, Emily raced in, and her father strode in from his office. They all gathered around Wen at the computer.

  “Matched with Family! Whooo-eee!” Emily hooted.

  Her father put his arm around Wen and gave her a thumbs-up sign.

  “Oh, Wen, I’m so glad,” her mother said.

  The Matched with Family banner seemed to Wen to be streaming right in their kitchen. Suddenly Wen felt so light, she thought she might float off the floor and fly, just like that banner.

  Shu Ling had a family at last!

  twenty-six

  On Saturday Wen clicked the Worldwide Adoptions Web site to rejoice once more at the bright yellow Matched with Family flag under Shu Ling’s photo.

  But when the page finally opened, Wen gasped.

  Shu Ling’s photo was gone again!

  What had happened? Shu Ling wouldn’t be taken off the Web site just because she was matched. Once a waiting child got matched, Wen knew Worldwide Adoptions left that picture with the banner flying on their Web site for a long time, so people could feel glad that some kid had been picked by a nice family, happy ending.

  The advocacy blogs went crazy when a kid got a family. “Children Who Wait” put the words “Joined a Family,” flashing like a traffic light. “Take Me Home” had a whole section called, “Guess Who Found a Family?” with rows of beaming children, all chosen.

  Wen reached for her phone to call Jenny Peters and then remembered it was the weekend.

  The missing photo could mean only one thing. Shu Ling’s new family had given her back, before they even met her. Wen’s words hadn’t been completely convincing after all.

  There weren’t enough days left. Who would pick Shu Ling in the next four days? Shu Ling’s chance for a family was gone for good.

  Wen rested her head against the computer monitor and began to sob.

  Her mother came to her side. “Wen, what is it?”

  “Shu Ling gone.” Wen
felt waves of sadness gather inside her, churning. If she didn’t do something, she would explode.

  “Oh no!” her mother wailed. “What happened? Maybe it’s just a mistake, sweetie.”

  “Think family changed its mind.” Wen blinked hard.

  “We don’t know, Wen. Jenny Peters can tell us on Monday.” Her mother stroked Wen’s hand.

  “Hey.” Wen couldn’t sit any longer. “I go on short bike ride. Very short.”

  “A bike ride?” her mother asked. “Wen, you’re very upset. Shouldn’t you wait a while?”

  “Need to do something, not stand around,” Wen said. “I come back. I promise.”

  Wen zipped up her parka and hopped on her bike. She pedaled hard, as if to push down the blank photo space and all the losing. The houses whizzed by her as she pumped, her chest straining. Her lungs began to make short, throaty rasps.

  She imagined Shu Ling, waiting for a family that had already given her back before they even met her. She saw Shu Ling without hope, limping off to the hill, lost for good.

  Finally, when her legs ached too much to pedal, Wen steered for home. She left her bike by the garage and clung to the porch railing. Wen began to gag. She bolted into the bathroom, crouched over the toilet, and threw up. Just when she thought she was done, she retched and threw up again.

  Wen’s mother pulled open the door and raised her from the cold tiles.

  “Come.” She guided Wen to her bed and tucked a comforter around her.

  Wen’s mother sat beside her. “I am so sorry about Shu Ling.”

  “I sorry too,” Wen said.

  They didn’t speak anymore because there was nothing else to say.

  That afternoon, after Wen had slept, Hannah came over with her jewelry kit.

  As she led Hannah to her room, all Wen could think about was her promise to Shu Ling, broken forever, like a shattered water jug.

  “Wen, what’s up?” Hannah asked. “What’s wrong?”

  “Shu Ling’s family changed their mind. Gave her back,” Wen told her. “Her photo fly off Web site.”

  “No ‘Matched with Family’ anymore?” Hannah asked. “Oh, Wen!”

  Wen could only nod.

  “It really stinks, Wen,” Hannah said.

  Wen wanted to say, Yes it does, and how will I go on? But she was so empty inside, no words came.

  “I guess you don’t want to talk about it, right?” Hannah asked.

  “I cannot.”

  “OK, then.” Hannah settled herself on Wen’s bed and spread out her plastic boxes of beads. “You like the shiny ones best, right?”

  Wen nodded absently. You broke your promise, she admonished herself.

  Wen gathered the sparkly beads in her lap. Only now the sparkle was gone and the beads were just little balls of cheap colored glass.

  After half an hour of silence, Hannah said, “Well, it’s not like you asked but just so you know, I spent the day with my father yesterday.”

  “Oh.” Wen had only half heard Hannah. She was far away, missing Shu Ling. The ache had set in so deeply, she now felt bone pain.

  “I have things going on in my life too,” Hannah said. “You could say, ‘Oh, how was it with your dad?’ Something like that. Even if you had your own stuff to deal with.”

  Wen raised her eyes from the beads to gaze at Hannah. “Sorry, Hannah. How was it with your dad?”

  “Bad. He has a new girlfriend and I hate her.” Hannah stopped stringing beads.

  “You met her?” Wen asked. “Yesterday?”

  “Yeah. She took us out to dinner. She and my dad were holding hands the whole time. It made me sick!” Hannah blurted.

  “They should not have held hands, not with you there. And your father should not be with this weird new lady,” Wen said.

  “I couldn’t stand it,” Hannah said as she jiggled the beads in the palm of her hand. “I get so mad!”

  “It’s not fair,” Wen said, rubbing Hannah’s back.

  “Thanks. Here, Wen, I made you a surprise.” From her tote, Hannah handed Wen a box. Wen opened it and pulled out a crystal beaded chain. Dangling from the chain was a half-heart charm, jagged on one edge. Across the shiny surface, Wen read the word “Special.”

  “It’s a friendship necklace,” Hannah explained. “I made the chain with those tiny beads, and I picked out the charms myself. See, I have a necklace too, with the other half of the heart, with the word ‘Friends.’ Your half fits into mine. So when we put them together”—she took her necklace from her neck and placed it beside the half in Wen’s palm—“the words say ‘Special Friends.’”

  Wen stared at the joined hearts nestling in her hand.

  “Because that’s what we are, right?” Hannah asked. “Special Friends.”

  Wen paused. Nobody could ever replace Shu Ling, not even Hannah. She’d broken her promise to Shu Ling. How could she just turn around and become special friends with somebody else?

  Briefly she admired the necklaces, intertwined, and brushed the engraving with her fingertips.

  “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to be special friends, Wen?” asked Hannah, her voice wavering.

  “Of course.” Wen forced a small, tentative smile.

  “But you’re not sure. I can tell. And all along I thought we were getting to be such good friends.”

  Wen saw that Hannah was blinking hard.

  “Beautiful necklace, Hannah,” she said.

  “But you’ll never wear it. You don’t want to.” Hannah scooped all the beads back into their boxes. Her hands were trembling. “I have to go, Wen.” This time Hannah didn’t hug her.

  Wen held the half-heart necklace in her hand and watched Hannah leave.

  twenty-seven

  “Hey, what you doing?” Wen asked when she came downstairs on Sunday and saw her mother at the computer, eyes fixed on the blank square where Shu Ling’s photo used to be. “Just sitting there?” Wen noticed her mother was holding a tissue, as if she’d been crying.

  “I was just peeking.” Her mother moved to make space for Wen. “I got to thinking maybe they just took her picture off for repairs or something.”

  Wen gazed at her mother, her blue eyes now red-rimmed and swollen. She knows, Wen thought. She really gets how much I love Shu Ling.

  Her mother understood because Wen had talked to her about Shu Ling. Wen was certain that if people just knew Shu Ling like she did, they would love Shu Ling too. Maybe she had to talk to people face-to-face, so they could really hear what made Shu Ling so special. She could go door to door, like Halloween. She even had a stack of leftover flyers in her room.

  Then Wen reminded herself about what had happened after she’d gone to McDonald’s last fall. Her parents warned her never to go off like that again.

  “Hey,” Wen said, “I go on little walk, give out more flyers.”

  “What?” Her mother pushed her glasses onto her head.

  “Door to door, like Halloween,” said Wen. “Tell people about Shu Ling myself.”

  Wen’s mother sighed. “Oh, honey, I know you’re trying everything, but do you really think—” She paused, then said gently, “Besides, Wen, Shu Ling is off the Web site altogether.”

  “Have to do everything possible,” Wen nearly begged. “Maybe Jenny took photo off because no more time left, but if person call Jenny and ask about Shu Ling, would still be possible.”

  “Today’s Sunday. Can you do it tomorrow, after school? You seem so tired today, Wen, and you haven’t eaten a thing.”

  “After today, only two days left.” Wen gestured toward the calendar.

  “Well, OK. If it will make you feel better, go ahead, Wen. But just around the block, do you understand? Stay nearby.”

  Wen nodded as she stuffed some flyers into her pa
rka.

  “Remember this,” her mother called, holding up Wen’s phone. “It gets dark early in January, Wen. Don’t be gone long.”

  “I come back soon.”

  Wen walked around the block, ringing doorbells. But nobody was home. She crossed the street. Soon she noticed the buildings had changed from low brick houses to taller ones. She stopped in front of a brown house surrounded by leafless shrubs. Thick curtains covered all the windows.

  Wen wanted to go back. She couldn’t ring the doorbells of these big houses where strangers lived. Then she thought of Shu Ling, chilled in her bed, as she waited for Auntie Lan Lan to say, “It’s your lucky day; Wen has found you a family.”

  Wen strode up the walk and pushed a button, just the way she and the others had done on Halloween. She heard a chime inside. Wen shifted her weight and rehearsed her line. Suppose when she opened her mouth, she couldn’t remember any English?

  “Yes?” A tall man in a jogging suit towered over her.

  “I—” Wen stammered. Her mouth had gone so dry she couldn’t move her tongue.

  “Sorry, not today. We give to so many causes already.” The man kept his hand on the doorknob.

  “This is not about money.” Her fingers shaking, Wen fumbled with the flyer.

  But he’d already shut the door.

  She’d been too slow. She hadn’t talked quick enough. She should have said, “Do you want to adopt a nice girl?” fast, before the person closed the door. She’d do better at the next stop. Wen strode to a house as big as a castle. She pushed a pearl button, which she decided must be the doorbell.

  “Yes?” said a woman wearing a fuzzy brown sweater. She appraised Wen. “We signed the global-warming paper yesterday.”

  “This not—” Wen began. She extended the flyer to the woman carefully, as if she were giving her a precious document. “My friend, Shu Ling. She needs—”

  The woman studied the sketch. “So you don’t want money, you want us to adopt this girl?” The woman’s voice was gentle now.