Chapter 27: For You

By nine on the ninth morning, Fong's Paper & Incense had sold one dead uncle three shirts, two cartons of paper cigarettes, and a pair of shoes his niece thought too fashionable for him. "He wore loafers," the niece told Winnie. "He wore loafers in 1986," her mother replied. "People change." "He is dead." "Then he has had time." Winnie put both pairs beside the register. "Buy one. Other customers also have relatives." The bell rang before the argument ended. Two women came in for candles. A man carrying a grocery bag wanted gold paper and objected to the price before Winnie had named it. Behind him, Mrs. Ng and Mrs. Sze sat at the folding table turning square sheets into ingots with the speed of people who had done this together for years and disagreed throughout. Sau-lin occupied the third chair. Winnie had placed a stack before her and…