The Eyes Are the Best Part

by Monika Kim

Swearing on your mother’s life is something so American, so white, that neither of us can truly understand it. In our culture, swearing on your mother’s life is probably one of the worst sins you can commit. What is there that’s more important than your mother, your father, or your grandparents? It doesn’t sound like George has ever heard of filial piety.

I’m lost in the crypt that contains our family’s memories.

She’s as light as a feather. Lighter than air. I rest my arms around her shoulders so that she doesn’t float away.

“Didn’t Mom ever tell you that if you cry and then laugh right after, a bunch of hair will grow out of your butthole?”

I feel sorry for her, and even sorrier when I study her features and see Ji-hyun and myself in them, all the pieces of us weaving in and out of her. We’re tangled together in this ball of yarn, my mother, Ji-hyun, and me.

Hope is a terrible thing.