Huong wasn’t surprised then, when many years after that dinner party he was overthrown. Once American involvement was withdrawn, the country’s economy faltered. A five-hundred-dollar bill eventually became worthless, used as toilet paper by some. Huong thought, not even a fool would use a coin to wipe his ass.

Huong was pocketing the coin when Michelle returned from the bathroom. “Come on,” she said, “let’s go.”

“I thought you said I could play.”

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“But why?”

Huong didn’t respond. On the way out, she saw the sign with its official red lettering that said, No adults allowed unaccompanied by a child.

Michelle kept tugging at her and asking, Why? Why? Why?

Huong said, “Do you want what happened to your brother to happen to your sister? Just so you can play?”

Michelle didn’t utter another peep.

Back at home, Huong ran up the stairs and rushed into the apartment without a word to Viet. She checked Elle’s temperature, making sure her husband had enough sense to keep a cool cloth on the girl’s forehead.

“She slept mostly,” said Viet, who’d been sitting at the girl’s bedside. He put on his glasses and took the opportunity to get up and use the bathroom. “I think she’ll be fine, some rest is what’s needed.”

Huong swept Elle’s bangs off her forehead and felt her temperature. She opened her mouth to say something but Huong shushed her quiet saying, “Save your strength. Go back to sleep. I’ll get everything ready for you,” and tiptoed out the room.

In the kitchen, Huong angled the blinds to protect her herbs from the glare. She poured the leaves from the pink plastic bag inside a pot. She added baby ginger and slices of lemongrass too. The broth boiled until it steamed up the room. The smells of the room swept her back to the tropical humidity and orange groves of her youth.

Elle’s legs buckled when she tried to get out of bed. She blamed it on her foot being asleep. But Huong didn’t believe her. She panicked. She marched straight to the living room to find Viet. “Your daughter’s close to dying and what do you do?”

He was absorbed in a game of chess with Michelle. “Did something happen? Is Elle okay?”

“What do you think happened? She can barely take a few steps to the kitchen.”

“Stop exaggerating.” He kept his voice low. “You scare everyone to death. It’s bad luck, your being so pessimistic all the time.”

Huong amplified her words not caring who heard. “Everyone would be dead if it weren’t for me. Nobody else around here cares enough to worry. My God, to think to play games at a time like this.”

Huong made Viet carry the girl from her bed into the kitchen. They placed her over the boiling pot with a towel draped on her head. Elle complained it was too hot.

Huong held the girl’s hair out of her face. “Lean on me,” she said. “We have to steam out the toxins before we can extract the wind.” She enticed Elle into standing longer by encanting the list of dishes she would make for her over the week’s course.