“Come on, lady. We play here all the time. We can switch to singles.”

“This Chink lady can be your partner, Theo,” one guy joked. Two of them laughed and Theo looked horrified.

“I’m willing if you are,” Mother said.

The teenagers were astounded and started laughing, thumping each other on the back. Theo shook his head. “No offence, lady, but we just want to play with each other.”

“Hold up, Theo. This may actually be kind of fun. Let’s make a wager. We each put in five bucks, and if whoever plays with Chink lady wins, he gets the whole pot. If Chink lady loses, we all just take our money back, but Chink lady has to buy us all Slurpees at Woo’s.”

“That is not fair,” Mother said. “I get half the pot if my team wins.”

“All right, Chink lady.”

“Stop calling me that! First rule. And how do I know you aren’t setting me up?”

“You get to choose your partner,” Theo piped up.

Bea looked worried. I was in awe that this negotiation was even happening. It was like someone had changed the channel on the television and I was watching an entirely different show.

“Listen, uh, Chinese lady—your sisters will have to sit this one out. Okay?”

Mother laughed. “You hear that, girls? You have to watch, okay? My name is Swee. Use it.”

Mother made the boys volley and demonstrate their serves before she chose her partner. It was an amusing show where the young men were suddenly trying to impress her. She decided on a guy named Bryan, and it seemed to be a point of pride for him to be chosen. The rules of the game were established and some strategy was discussed in their tiny huddles. Bea and I ran into Woo’s to grab Slurpees and told Auntie Miriam about the upcoming match. She sat on the bleachers with us, retreating to the store whenever a customer came.

The game started out slow. The players danced around, leaning forward on their toes, gingerly dropping the balls within the white lines. Mother broke the stalemate. At five foot six, she was much shorter than any of the boys, but she was swift. She darted back and forth and hovered like a hummingbird. In response to the soft lobs sent her way, she brought her arm up and then down ruthlessly like a diving falcon. Mother’s team racked up four straight points from her wicked smashes. Her opponents tried to avoid passing to her, but Bryan was more than pleased to give her the lead, and it soon looked as if Mother was playing singles. Her slices left her opponents spinning. The other team sent a long, shallow pass over the net as Bryan ran off the side of the court to leave space for Mother, who was hovering at the back line. She backhanded the ball along the sideline to the edge of the back end. In! Bryan and Mother high-fived. The other team got serious and tried to trip Mother up with short volleys, but she hit them back so quickly that it was as if she had two racquets, one in each hand, winning a few points. The other team started to send some cross-court shots, but Mother was small and fast. She ducked and let Bryan take some shots.