Three Keys

After Mia returns from Jason’s house, she is still angry. Lupe’s father, Jose, tells her about all the difficulties he and his family faced when they first came to the States. He advises her never to give up.

On Saturday, Mia’s father takes her to Monterey Park for a Chinese dessert treat of red bean shaved ice. He says she loved it as a child in Beijing. Mia grimaces at the taste: “I gazed up at his face, and the look that stared back made me want to grab the ice and jam it down my throat. But it was too late” (70). She has become Americanized and prefers ice cream instead. 

Mia intends to bake chocolate chip cookies with Hank on Sunday, but they need to go to the grocery store for ingredients. While there, they see graffiti sprayed on the side of the store that reads, “Go back to your country.” The two are shaken by the disturbing words and later talk about racism. Hank offers the following advice: “You just have to hope that through your small interactions with them, eventually you’ll change their minds” (74).