Page 5 of Perfect Happiness
Jiyoo’s mother only stared back at her.This meant yes.It also meant not to come back down until she gave Jiyoo permission.In other words, she wouldn’t be going to the Half Moon Marsh today.Jiyoo wanted to go, even if she had to go by herself.She wanted to know why the loons had been so noisy last night.
“All day?”
“You can handle it, can’t you?”Mother asked.
Good daughters never say no to their mother.That was Mother’s Rule Number One.
“Yes,” Jiyoo replied.
“Do you have anything else you want to ask?”
Jiyoo could hear a voice in her ear saying,It’s better not to.So Jiyoo said no.
“Good.Then you know what you need to do now, right?”
“Go upstairs, get dressed, wash my face, and make my bed.”
Jiyoo gave an answer she knew her mother would like.
“Good.I will bring you breakfast in thirty.”
Breakfast?In my room?Jiyoo was about to ask Mother before shutting her mouth.Mother had never brought breakfast up to Jiyoo’s room before.Jiyoo thought this strange, but she tried not to let it bother her.All she wanted to do right now was escape Mother’s gaze as soon as possible.
“Okay.I’ll finish everything before you come upstairs.”
Jiyoo turned toward the living room door.Mother bent over and picked up the hair dryer that had dropped to the floor.The whirring started up again.When Jiyoo reached the threshold, her toe hit something.It was the nozzle to the hair dryer.
Jiyoo ever so slightly turned her chin to look back over her shoulder.The hair dryer was by itself blowing hot air across the floor.Mother, on the other hand, was on her knees, apparently looking for something underneath the sofa.Jiyoo slid the hair dryer nozzle across the floor, which might have been the thing Mother was looking for.But Jiyoo didn’t slide it toward Mother.She slid it toward the kitchen table.The nozzle slid under the table like a speeding bullet.It let out a scratching sound as it skidded across the floor, but it seemed like Mother hadn’t heard it.If she had, she would have asked about it.
Jiyoo left the living room.She tiptoed up the stairs like a ballerina and then disappeared into her room.
*
That day was unbearably long.Jiyoo felt like she was trapped, not on the second floor, but in time.Only after eating, going to the bathroom, perching on the windowsill and staring down at the wetlands, reading all ofFrozen II:A New Destinywhich Stepfather had bought for her, and glancing at her Snow White clock more than one hundred times did the sun finally set.Even though she couldn’t make out the hands of the clock in the dark room, she knew it had just turned ten because the train of dwarves inside the clock made ten passes.
Jiyoo sat up in her bed.She leaned up against the headboard and listened to the sounds of night coming in through the window—branches from the maple tree in the front yard bumping up against one another, a faint breeze caressing the reeds, the barking of the dog from the neighbors down the road.The night was placid, boring, and bright.
Lying on the moonlit windowsill was a tray with a bowl of goulash on rice, silverware, and a cup of water.Mother had brought it up an hour ago.It felt like she had barely remembered Jiyoo’s dinner.
When she brought the food, Jiyoo was lying on her bed pretending to be asleep.Without turning on the lights, Mother came into the room, laid down the tray, and then left.Jiyoo didn’t touch the goulash.But it wasn’t because it tasted bad.
Mother was as good at making goulash as she was making duck feed.And Jiyoo knew exactly how she made it.Mother would stir-fry large chunks of beef with onion, add water and bring it to a boil, add goulash seasoning, paprika powder, and potatoes, then boil it all down until the meat was tender.One pot was enough to last days.Just like seaweed soup, the longer you boiled it, the richer the flavor.At least, that’s what Mother said.
Apparently, Mother learned how to make goulash from her Hungarian roommate while studying in Russia.Stepfather’s opinion was that, of the dishes Mother cooked, this was one of the “acceptable” ones.
Jiyoo agreed with her stepfather.But she didn’t want to eat any more of Mother’s goulash.It wasn’t that she was being picky.No one would want goulash three meals in a row, especially after being locked in their room all day.Unfortunately, because Mother cooked a full pot of goulash last night, it might be on the menu for the rest of their stay.
Downstairs was now quiet.The whirring of the vacuum cleaner and the grinder had ceased.And Jiyoo hadn’t heard a sound out of Mother since she brought up dinner.It seemed like she went to sleep as soon as she went back downstairs.But that was understandable.She had spent all day tirelessly doing “chores”—Who wouldn’t be tired?And if Mother was really asleep, she wasn’t going to wake up suddenly and bring Jiyoo another bowl of goulash.
Jiyoo looked over at the bedroom door.
You want to go to the attic, don’t you?
Jiyoo could hear a voice in her head.Mother had named the voice “Mischievous Mouse.”
When Jiyoo didn’t answer, the mouse in her head goaded her on.
Go if you want.You can play up there if you clean up and don’t leaveany traces.
