Middle of Everywhere - Mary Bray Pipher [63]
February 4, 2000
It was a gray, cold day, the kind of day that induces epidemic seasonal affective disorder. I was glad I had these kids to cheer me up. But this morning no one jumped up, as they sometimes did to shout, "Miss Mary, sit by me."
Grace looked tired. She had a bad cold and had been at the school every night with conferences. Fortunately, the class was getting ready to celebrate Tet. As students filed in, I filled red-and-gold paper envelopes with money and notes. Then I sat by Mai and Fatima and we looked at a book filled with pictures of flowers and butterflies, a good book for February.
Almost all the kids were talking; only Ly and Trinh's table was quiet. Ly was drawing ballerinas and Trinh quietly stared into space. Deena brought over Uno cards and she and Trinh began a game. Fatima still had her cast on and all the kids had written or drawn on it. By now I could recognize Ly's and Khoa's excellent art.
Mai told me her father's factory was having layoffs. As she chatted with me, I realized that we had a friendship of sorts. I liked and understood this tiny, angry girl, and she liked me, a gray-haired psychologist. It was a proud moment.
Grace read a story about Vietnam called The Lotus Seed. The kids listened, but afterward, they wouldn't do their seatwork. Usually, this class liked group work; they were a collective culture and floundered when they were left on their own. I wondered how they would change as they moved into the American system.
Abdul poked Walat and generally disrupted the class until, with a sigh, Grace wrote his name on the board. However, when I asked Abdul about his job, he said that he had earlier looked at the heater in the school's basement. Mr. Trvdy had asked him to carry the crescent wrench because he was so strong. As he told me this, he calmed down.
Ly wandered around the room, first to the bathroom, then to sharpen her pencil, and then to check on Sunny. Ignazio tilted his chair so far back that he fell over backward. Khoa laughed uproariously. Ignazio, who wasn't hurt, smiled sheepishly. Pavel farted loudly and the laughter started up again. Deena asked to go to the school nurse. Grace looked as if she would prefer to be home in bed. It was not this class's finest hour.
When all else failed, Grace encouraged stories. Khoa said, "When we flew to America we came across a great ocean." Abdul told how his family had been airlifted by helicopter from a place in the desert. Deena said they had dinner on the plane. "Very delicious. Ice and noodles."
Khoa told of Tet in Vietnam at his grandmother's house. He had burned incense sticks on a shrine to his relatives. He showed us some incense sticks. Almost all these kids carried totems of their former countries. Mai had her mother's picture. Ignazio wore a leather belt made by his uncle, and Pavel still had his favorite toys from Russia. Fatima carried a twig with one green leaf that her grandmother sent her from Iraq. Walat spoke of the Turkish delight that his family saved for special days. Deena's grandmother sent her spinach gum that she passed around.
I asked about the future. Walat announced he would be an engineer. Fatima said she would like to be a bride in a beautiful white American dress. Ly said she would be a doctor in Vietnam. Khoa said he would be a criminal, but when nobody laughed, he changed his future career to fireman.
Grace and Walat pulled the shades, turned off the lights, and turned on the video. We got to see a movie of The Lotus Seed, which began with a poem.
Nothing that grows in a pond
Surpasses the beauty of a lotus flower,
With its green leaves and silky yellow styles
Amidst milky white petals.
Though mired in mud, its silky yellow styles,
Its milky white petals and green leaves
Do not smell of mud.
—ANONYMOUS
In the film, women in traditional gowns sell flowers along the Perfume