Not For Long

YU-HAN CHAO

Some old women sit around the corner of the pavilion, leaning against one another in the shade, whispering gossip about the neighbors. They wear jade necklaces, bracelets, and real flowers. They know whose son was seen with a strange woman yesterday, whose daughter had gotten pregnant and become secretly un-pregnant again. They know that Mrs. Shen’s daughter, whom she always bragged about, flunked out of medical school and will never become a doctor now. They know that the crippled man down the street bought himself a mail order bride from Vietnam, and that Mr. Lee next door to the cripple is sleeping with his Filipino maid behind Mrs. Lee’s back—but not for long.