The Gangster We Are All Looking For

The phone rings as her father watches firemen put out wildfires on the television screen. The phone keeps ringing as he watches scenes from a flood. Then he watches two politicians shaking hands. And then a scene of a woman wearing a blue kerchief and standing in a green field emerges. She speaks in a foreign language, points to the ground, and slowly shakes her head. The phone keeps ringing. He waters the potted plants on the stairs and a dog that he rescued from the side of the highway comes running out. The phone stops ringing.

The story abruptly shifts to state that the body of the Girl’s brother was pulled from the South China Sea 20 years ago. The body lies on the beach afterward, surrounded by friends and family. She says the moment is warped and lingers like “summer heat” (127). Her grandfather appears on the beach and picks up her brother. He carries her brother across the courtyard and into the house. That night, the Girl spots the lights on the fishermen’s squid boats as they float at sea, which calm her when she has trouble sleeping.