Paper Wife

by Laila Ibrahim

  “They believed you,” she replied.

  Kai Li nodded. “Connections matter in every country. Governor Pardee and Mr. Johnson spoke on my behalf,” he replied. “They testified that I’m a good man and could not possibly murder someone. It was the truth. I’m glad that I had no cause to lie to them about that.”

  Kai Li stared at her. Mei Ling nodded, steeled for his condemnation.

  “Thank you,” he said. “For your courage and strength.”

  She studied him, looking deep into his eyes for any sign of rejection, but only saw love and respect. A chill flowed through her whole body.

  Is it really over? Mei Ling asked the ghost of Siew’s mother. Is our daughter really safe?

  Yes! came a loud and clear reply.

  Mei Ling knew it was true: they had saved their precious Siew, the kind and resourceful little girl who slipped her way into Mei Ling’s life as they journeyed across a vast ocean.

  Thank you. Be well.

  The ghost slipped away. Goodbye.

  Mei Ling’s soul opened up in gratitude, and her heart sang with the possibilities.

  EPILOGUE

  Berkeley

  August 1936

  Kai Li and I never spoke of what I had done again, though he alluded to it on the day we brought Siew to the University of California in Berkeley. We went with her to see the campus on the first day of classes. Kai Li hardly hid his pride. More than once on the Key System train from Oakland to Berkeley, I saw him wipe his eyes.

  I fussed with Siew’s clothes as we rode the elevator up the Campanile: Joy, Bo, Siew, Kai Li, and I. There must have been other people on that ride, but I only remember my family.

  “Can we visit every week?” Joy asked in English. She was twelve, on the cusp of womanhood. I already missed my child even though she was standing right in front of me.

  I tsked, shook my head, and replied in Cantonese, “You may come here when you are admitted. For now, Siew needs to study, not be distracted by little girls.”

  Joy’s lip pushed out in a pout.

  I relented with a small smile. “We can’t come every week, but I suppose once each semester wouldn’t be too much.”

  The elevator came to a jerky stop. The doors opened slowly. We stepped into a small hallway and climbed the stairs to the viewing platform. People, mostly White, but not all, stood at the open archways, looking out.

  We turned left and walked to a vacant spot. Kai Li sucked in his breath as he peered out at the beautiful sparkling, clear day. He’d never been up here before or seen such a sight, a breathtaking view even grander than the one from the park in Hong Kong.

  Bo, taller than both of us, scanned the horizon. Hidden in this smart and handsome sixteen-year-old young man was the little boy who had clutched a wooden rabbit in that tiny hovel in Guangzhou. He stopped carrying it years ago, but it still sits on his altar.

  Bo pointed and said, “The Tribune Tower.”

  Kai Li nodded and added, “There’s Alameda—and our house is between them.” He looked right at me and smiled. I leaned my head on his shoulder, my love for him so deep.

  “Where’s our restaurant?” Joy asked.

  “Ummm.” Kai Li puzzled out the streets and then pointed. “Rabbit Moon is . . . somewhere over there.”

  I looked to where he pointed. It wasn’t visible, hidden from view by other buildings, but I pictured the restaurant with its bright-red door.

  We moved to the right and saw the new Bay Bridge and the nearly complete Golden Gate Bridge. The bay sparkled in the sun.

  “Alcatraz!” Joy pointed.

  “And Angel Island,” Siew said quietly.

  I asked, “Do you remember being there?”

  She nodded. “I remember when we went on a walk and we looked out . . . at this tower.” Siew’s voice got high as she choked back tears. “You promised we would visit one day.”

  Intense feelings flooded my heart.

  Siew cleared her throat. “That gave me so much strength.” She looked right at me, like young Americans do, her beautiful brown eyes moist. “You have no idea how much those words meant to me. It kept me going when I was afraid and lonely. You kept that promise . . . and then gave me so much more.”

  My heart welled up with love and pride.

  Siew looked at Kai Li, then at me again. “Bah-ba, Mah-ma, thank you,” she said quietly. “For your hard work and . . . well, for everything. For all the sacrifices you made for me.”

  She didn’t say anything else. Instead she bowed deeply and held it to show respect and appreciation to us, her parents, tears glistening in all of our eyes. Kai Li looked at me, and I suspected we were both thinking of the night I destroyed a life to save hers.

  Kai Li leaned in so close I could feel his breath in my ear as he whispered only to me, “Thank you for your strength and courage, wife. She is worthy of your greatest sacrifice.”

  “Yes, she is,” I agreed.

  I remembered myself at Siew’s age: forced to leave home to start a new life with a stranger in a foreign land. It was a leap I didn’t know I could make. As my mother instructed, I took the first step, though I didn’t believe I could do it. But once I took one step I knew that I could do the second. One stride at a time, I walked into a new life with strangers as my companions, strangers who became my world.

  I looked at them, my strong and solid family, and saw no trace of our flimsy paper start. Each of these kind and hardworking children came to me in a different way, but they are all mine. I sent out a blessing to Bo’s and Siew’s first mothers: Wong Lew She, whose name I still carry, and the nameless woman I know nothing about—except that she must have loved our daughter well. Those two women bore precious children that I had the honor of raising. Thank you.

  And my dear Kai Li, the kindest man I have ever met, who manages to love a Dragon like me. Why was I so blessed? Every day I thank the ancestors for all that has been and all that will be, for the miraculous and ordinary circumstances that are my life.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I am deeply grateful to:

  Michelle Ma for hooking me up with Brendan Jiu. And for the resources that Brendan trusted me with—most especially a copy of his ancestors’ interviews at Angel Island.

  Hannah, Tim, and Lola May. Because a puppy! And love.

  Kyle Fisher. Because I forgot you in Mustard Seed and our Scrabble games are a highlight of my days.

  Wes Cordez. Thanks for the information and culture at ChineseAmericanFamily.com.

  Kelli, Karen, and, most especially, Dorothy Eng. Dorothy’s casual mention that she was in her mother’s uterus on Angel Island got this story in motion.

  Woolseyville Compound, my solid foundation.

  Rinda, Maya, Kalin, and Wynnie—for laughter, encouragement, and not letting me take myself too seriously.

  Ori Tsveli for the challenge to insert Tong Len into my novels, and my life, however I can.

  Sheri Prud’homme for productive writing retreats at Hearthstone.

  UU Oakland for reminding me to seek out faith—especially when it’s hard to find.

  Carmen, Bojan, and Nikola for the joy of sharing in the beginning of a new life.

  Tiffany Yates Martin, Jodi Warshaw, Danielle Marshall, Gabriel Dumpit, Nicole Pomeroy, Rebecca Brinbury, Michael Townley, and those on the Lake Union team whose names I don’t know. I’m deeply grateful for your work to bring this story into the world.

  Terry Goodman. You have my never-ending gratitude for finding my needle in the self-published haystack.

  Readers: Gogi Hodder, Sheri Prud’homme, Margie Biblin, Darlanne Mulmat, Rinda Bartley, Linda O’Roke, Kayla Haun, Mimi Tsang, Claudine Tong, Daisy Quan, Lynna Tsou, Kathy Post, Kelli Eng, and Dorothy Eng. Your kind and honest feedback has made this a better story.

  Trente Moran and Tom Haw for the characters Pasha and Miss Haw, respectively.

  Judy Yung. Your work to uncover buried voices is a gift to me and the world.

  RESOURCES

 
These resources were so valuable for my research:

  Angel Island State Park

  San Francisco Chinese Historical Society

  Oakland Chinese Historical Society

  Making Waves, edited by Asian Women United of California

  Making More Waves, edited by Elaine H. Kim, Lilia V. Villanueva, and Asian Women United of California

  Unbound Voices by Judy Yung

  Unbound Feet by Judy Yung

  Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America by Erika Lee and Judy Yung

  Island, edited by Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung

  Hometown Chinatown: The History of Oakland’s Chinese Community by L. Eve Armentrout Ma

  Fierce Compassion by Kristin and Kathryn Wong

  Oakland’s Chinatown by William Wong

  “Becoming American: The Chinese Experience,” a Bill Moyers special

  Bittersweet Roots: The Chinese in California’s Heartland

  Chinese Village Cookbook: A Practical Guide to Cantonese Country Cooking by Rhoda Yee

  The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America by Beth Lew-Williams

  BOOK DISCUSSION

  1. What frustrated, surprised, moved, or upset you about Paper Wife?

  2. What did you like most about this book? Least?

  3. Why did Mei Ling go along with her parents’ plans for her to marry Kai Li and move to California?

  4. Trust is an ongoing theme in the novel. Were you surprised, or not, by any of the various deceptions?

  5. Do you think Kai Li and Mei Ling can be forgiven for lying to each other? For lying to the immigration officers?

  6. The doctor on Angel Island asks Mei Ling if she is who she says she is. Do you think he could tell if she had ever been pregnant, or was he just venturing a guess to take advantage of the situation? Were you surprised when he sent her extra food?

  7. Do you or your family have one or more immigration or migration stories? If so, what do you know about them? How do they compare to Mei Ling’s story?

  8. Did you learn anything new about US history from Paper Wife?

  9. Which character did you identify with the most and why?

  10. Which character do you dislike the most and why?

  11. Do you believe he was lying when Mr. Young told Mei Ling that her work was no longer valuable to him?

  12. Laila Ibrahim left unanswered questions about Siew’s and Kai Li’s pasts. Was that frustrating to you? Believable?

  13. Do you believe the ghost was something internal to Mei Ling or an external representation of her internal state?

  14. How do you think Mei Ling’s childhood religion shaped her thinking? Do you see similarities or differences with how your beliefs shape you?

  15. Were there any plot points that were left unresolved or not resolved to your satisfaction?

  16. What ideas do you think Laila Ibrahim wanted to get across in this novel? Did she succeed?

  17. What did you think of the ending? Could you imagine making the same choice as Mei Ling?

  GLOSSARY

  Angel Island Immigration Detention Center

  Beginning in 1910, immigrants were detained and interrogated at this island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay to determine if they should be turned away or allowed to land in San Francisco. During the island’s Immigration Station period, the island saw nearly one million immigrants from more than eighty countries. The majority were from China (70 percent), Japan, India, Mexico, and the Philippines. European and first-class passengers were inspected onboard the ship and rarely detained.

  Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese immigrants received the most scrutiny. Most were detained for a few weeks, though many were on the island for ninety days, and the record was two years. Many expressed their dismay at the hopeless conditions through poetry carved into the walls.

  The immigration detention center was closed in 1940.

  Asiatic Barred Zone

  The immigration act of 1917 stated “the following classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission to the US . . . persons who are natives of islands not possessed by the United States adjacent to the Continent of Asia, situate south of the twentieth parallel latitude north, west of the one hundred and sixtieth meridian of longitude east from Greenwich, and north of the tenth parallel of latitude south, or who are natives of any country, province, or dependency situate on the Continent of Asia west of the one hundred and tenth meridian of longitude east from Greenwich and . . . south of the fiftieth parallel of latitude north . . .” This act did not apply to people from the Philippines, as a United States “possession,” and Japan—though an informal agreement with Japan severely reduced immigration from that Asian nation.

  Benevolent Family Associations

  During the gold rush in California, these organizations began to provide social and financial support to Chinese immigrants living in hostile environments. Later, they served to make residency and citizenship easier for immigrants and acted as informal chambers of commerce for Chinese businesspeople. They continue to be an important social support for many people.

  Burlingame Treaty

  Passed in 1868, it guaranteed the right of free immigration and travel within the United States for Chinese people. American business leaders worked for and celebrated this treaty as a means to a plentiful source of cheap labor.

  Chinese Calendar

  As a lunisolar calendar it uses a combination of solar and lunar phenomena to determine dates. The new year begins on the second new moon after the winter solstice, which occurs in late January or the first few weeks of February.

  Chinese Dialects

  There are seven major dialect groups in China with hundreds of subdialects. Some of the dialects are more closely related than others.

  Chinese Exclusion Act

  Passed in 1882, this act reversed the agreements of the Burlingame Treaty. It is the only law passed by the US Congress that suspended immigration for a specific nationality. Senator John Miller, a Republican from California, introduced this ten-year moratorium on Chinese immigration to the United States Senate.

  The Geary Act made Chinese exclusion permanent in 1902. Subsequent amendments to the law prevented Chinese laborers who had left the United States from returning. It was repealed by the Magnuson Act in 1943.

  The passage of the act represented the outcome of years of racial hostility and anti-immigrant sentiment by many White American citizens and politicians. It set the precedent for later restrictions against immigration of other nationalities and started a new era in which the United States changed from a country that welcomed almost all immigrants to a gatekeeping one.

  Chinese Zodiac

  A classification scheme that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. There are predicted compatibilities between potential spouses and other relationships. In order, the zodiac signs are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

  Coaching Books

  Applicants of Chinese descent had detailed interrogations at Angel Island Immigration Center before being landed in the United States or returned to China. Testimony about family history, the layout of their ancestral village, and details about their dwelling had to match with the actual or paper family member they were joining. Any discrepancies in their testimonies could mean deportation. Chinese immigrants prepared for these interviews by studying coaching books purchased from immigration brokers.

  Coolies

  A dated term, now generally considered offensive, for Chinese men who did physical labor.

  Donaldina Cameron

  A Presbyterian missionary from New Zealand. She was assigned to the mission in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She rescued more than three thousand Chinese immigrant girls and women from indentured servitude and forced prostitution. She was known as the “Angry Angel of Chinatown.”

  Golden Gate

  The Golden Gate is the
opening between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. One side is on the San Francisco Peninsula and the other on the Marin Peninsula. Since 1937, it has been spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge.

  Johnson-Reed Act of 1924

  The purpose of the act was to preserve the (perceived) ideal of American homogeneity. The law banned the immigration of Arabs and Asians to the United States and aimed to severely limit the immigration of Africans. In addition it limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2 percent of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States as of the 1890 census, down from the 3 percent cap set by the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which used the Census of 1910. It severely restricted immigration of Southern Europeans and Eastern Europeans. It set no limits on immigration from other countries of North and South America. Congressional opposition was minimal. This act put an end to a period in which the United States essentially had open borders.

  Kowtow

  A custom of kneeling and touching the ground with the forehead in worship or submission.

  Kuomintang

  A major political party in China. They advocated the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China. They ruled parts of mainland China between 1928 and 1949. They subsequently ruled Taiwan. Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek were leaders of the party in the 1920s.

  Matchmaker

  A woman who arranges marriages as a formal occupation.

  Missionaries

  A member of a religious organization, sent into an area to proselytize or convert local residents to their faith.