When We Were Orphans

Akira soon returns from Japan, and after a while, Christopher realizes his friend never wants to go back there, and he is afraid that if he is not obedient enough, his parents might send him back. Akira’s experience in Japan was terrible because everybody rejected his “foreignness.” He is afraid his parents might decide to move there permanently as a family.

Akira’s family has an old servant, Ling Tien, who frightens Akira, and the boy claims the old Chinese servant keeps severed hands in his room and turns them into spiders. The room holds a terrifying fascination for both boys, and during Christopher’s last year in Shanghai, they decide to enter the room in secret. Even though by then they do not believe the story about spider hands, they both maintain the fantasy, and Akira steals a bottle of lotion he claims is Ling Tien's secret ingredient. The next day, he reveals this to his older sister, Etsuko, who is horrified at their behavior. The boys understand they should return the bottle, and Akira is so terrified his parents will find out that he begins to cry. Christopher persuades him to summon up the courage to return the bottle together.