13
It’s chaos. Big Aunt sees the contents of the cooler and immediately understands. Second Aunt and Ma, blocked from view by me and Big Aunt, flap around us, yelling in such rapid Indonesian that I beg them to stop and switch to English before my head explodes trying to make sense of anything. Meanwhile, Big Aunt is just standing there, eyes wide, rattled for the first time I can remember seeing in my life.
Everything we’ve piled on top of Jake last night—the blankets, the baking supplies—are still inside, but instead of a neat pile hiding his body, they’re now a mess, packs of flour open, white powder and colorful sprinkles all over. And Jake—
I have to look away before I lose my shit. Because Jake—oh god, Jake—
“He not dead last night,” Big Aunt says, her voice coming out all dazed. “When we put him inside cooler, he still alive.”
“What?” Ma and Second Aunt yelp.
Ma pushes me aside and takes a look at Jake, his face now uncovered in what must have been his struggle to try and get out of the cooler, and she shouts too. But what she actually says is: “EH! THAT MY LILY GUY!”
All noise ceases, sucking the entire walk-in fridge into silence. As one, we all stare at Ma, who’s staring at Jake. Jake, who’s in a very different position than what we left him in last night. Jake, whose mouth is frozen open in what must have been a cry for help. Jake, who—
—is being prodded in the head by a carrot-wielding Ma.
“Ma! What are you doing?”
“I just check to see maybe he sleeping, maybe we can wake him up. Eh, Ah Guan, qi lai ah,” she says. “Shi wo, Chan Ah Yi.” She pokes his cheek again with the pointy end of the carrot but gets no response. “Aduh, he really dead this time. Wah, this so bad. So bad!”
My eyes fill with tears. It’s too much, all of it. He was awful, but even he didn’t deserve such a horrible death. “Ma, I’m so sorr—”
“Who am I going to get my lilies from now?”
I stop mid-sentence and stare at her. We all do.
“Why you all just stand like statues? This is big problem! Lily very expensive, you know! Ah Guan, he give me best price, and—” She freezes, a look of horror on her face. Maybe she’s just realized how ridiculous she’s being right now. “Aduuuuh! He suppose to bring in one last batch of lily for wedding!” I guess not. “Now my arrangements all will be lopsided! Aduh, gimana ya? How? How?” She flaps around at us.
Breathe, I tell myself. Fortunately, Ma’s little meltdown seems to have had a calming effect on Big Aunt, who straightens up and brushes her hands down her front like she’s cleaning invisible crumbs off herself.
“Okay, San Mei,” she says. “Hey!” She clicks her fingers sharply, and Ma stops flapping. “Stop that,” she scolds gently. “Is okay. You no need lily, your arrangements still be very pretty.”
Ma smiles and gives an “Aw, shucks!” face. I mean, really now, the woman and her priorities.
“So this boy not Jake?” Big Aunt says.
Ma shakes her head. “This is Ah Guan, my lily supplier. Remember he brought mangoes from Indo for me! I think his English name is . . . Timothy? Tommy? Something like that.”
“But Ma, how—I don’t understand,” I say. “You said you met him online. How come—I don’t even know where to begin. Did you tell Jake—I mean, Ah Guan—about going online to find me a date?”
“Of course I tell him! I tell all my suppliers! Ah Guan, Lin Mei Auntie, Yi Mei Auntie, Rong Na Uncle, they all know. I always tell them my daughter, she so pretty and kind, but she still single, aduh, how she refuse to give me grandchildren. Every time I got good boy to ask her out, she say she don’t want to. You not remember? I try to set you up with Ah Guan but you keep saying no, give me this reason, that reason. Ah Guan ask why. I say I don’t know, but my daughter is torturing me, she never want to go out with boy—”
“Okay, so you’ve been telling everyone about my dating life,” I say, through gritted teeth.
“Lack of dating life,” Second Aunt says, helpfully, from the far corner of the room where she’s—yet again—doing Tai Chi. “Draw Big Watermelon,” she says under her breath, swinging her arms out and up, “and then cut in half . . .”
I ignore her. “And what did Ah Guan say to you?”
“Wah, he so helpful deh,” Ma says, smiling and nodding. “He tell me is okay if you don’t want to get set up with him. He say I should make you go on Internet find boyfriend. I say, aduh, Meddy will not want to do that. He say it’s okay, got very good website for young people. He show me dating website and say, why not create a profile for you, then easier to persuade you to use it.”