the chairs.
One of them stepped close to Mei Lien. He leaned forward and drew in a deep breath.
Mei Lien wanted to slap him away. What was he doing? Why was he smelling her? Then he lifted his head and met her gaze.
His eyes were very dark, like two pools with no end to their depths, and a slow chill spread across her skin. She supposed he was handsome, but his sharp features and cold eyes were disconcerting. Then he snapped his fingers.
The sound was unexpected, and Mei Lien flinched.
A bright flush spread across Auntie’s face. “Take off your dress now.”
Heat prickled Mei Lien’s neck. “What?” Her voice sounded foreign to her ears.
Auntie advanced toward her, her cheeks enflaming. “The man wants to see you without clothes. Take off your robe now so that he will know exactly what he is buying.”
“Jan. 17/94. Tai Choie alias Teen Fook was rescued by Miss Houseworth, Miss Florence Worley and some police officers from her inhuman mistress who lived on Jackson St. near Stockton St. The child had been very cruelly treated—her flesh pinched and twisted till her face was scarred. Another method of torture was to dip lighted candlewicking in oil and burn her arms with it. Teen Fook is a pretty child of about ten years old, rosy cheeked and fair complexion.”
—Margaret Culbertson, director of the mission home,
writing about Tien Fu Wu, 1894
July 1897
“The apples are all gone,” Ah Cheng said, coming into the office where Dolly had been working because Miss Culbertson was still faring poorly.
Dolly rose to her feet, alarm shooting through her. Apples were a delicacy—to have them go missing was no small matter. “What do you mean? Maybe someone moved them? Did you ask any of the girls?”
Ah Cheng folded her hands in that patient way of hers. “I’ve questioned several of the girls, but will you come with me to Bible study and we’ll ask them as a group? I don’t want Miss Culbertson hearing of this and worrying over it.”
“Of course,” Dolly said. The mountains of paperwork would have to wait, as usual. If only she could do one or the other—manage the girls, or do paperwork. The superintendent’s job was overwhelming.
She followed Ah Cheng to the parlor where the girls were gathered for Bible study and singing. Evelyn Browne was volunteering today, and she always had a sweet way with the girls and women.
Evelyn paused when she saw the two women, and Dolly walked to the front of the room. “We need to talk about something important. The apples from the kitchen are missing, and we know that apples are a special treat. It’s not fair if someone keeps them all to herself. Remember how we learned about the Ten Commandments in the Bible, and how stealing is a sin?”
“Lying is a sin too!” Lonnie announced.
“You’re correct,” Dolly said, scanning the faces before her. It was good to see Jiao and her brother, Kang, sitting next to Lonnie—the girl had taken them under her wing like a big sister. Dolly had been able to secure guardianship papers for the children, and as soon as Kang was old enough for school, he would be transferring to a mission home for boys. “After Bible study, I hope that the person who knows what happened to the apples will visit me in the office.” She was just about to find a seat when Tien spoke up.
“I took the apples.”
Dolly froze, then slowly turned her gaze to Tien. At nearly twelve now, her legs and arms had lengthened and her thin face had become more rounded. Dolly couldn’t say she was entirely surprised that Tien had been behind the missing apples, but she was surprised at the public confession. Dolly knew she had to tread carefully. Her relationship with Tien had never warmed, something that she wished she could change. “Why did you take them?”
“So that I wouldn’t be hungry.”
The idea wasn’t logical to Dolly, since they had three meals a day at the mission home. But she had seen enough of what these girls and women went through to know that the fear of starvation didn’t just disappear.
“Don’t you want the others in this room to enjoy the apples too?” Dolly continued.
Tien blinked, then looked at a few of the other girls—girls she had been living with for three years now. When her gaze returned to Dolly, Tien said, “I didn’t want to lie, either, because I want Miss Culbertson to trust me.”
Dolly remembered one of their first