Ting-Yan scurried back to that place beneath the bridge where she’d met Granny Kwok just a week ago. When she got there, she saw two other grannies working, one of whom she recognized as Granny Chan. The other, she’d never seen before.

“Is Granny Kwok still working here?” she asked Granny Chan.

“Not anymore,” Granny Chan said.

“You mean not anymore today, or not anymore ever?”

“She’s gone,” said Granny Chan.

“Do you know where I can find her? I really need to talk to her.”

“Gone,” Granny Chan repeated.

The other granny joined in. “Went back to China.”

“That’s right,” Granny Chan said. “She went back to her home village.”

The other granny said, “Her son and his wife are having their first baby. So she went back for good.”

“I really need to see her,” Ting-Yan said.

“You have to go to China then,” said Granny Chan. “Unless you trust me or Granny Liu here to do your curses for you.”

“I don’t want to do any more curses,” Ting-Yan said.

“We can do blessings too, if you want,” said Granny Liu.

“I want to undo the curses I asked of Granny Kwok.”

“Undo a curse?” said Granny Chan. She began to laugh. Granny Liu joined her. They giggled, then cackled, then howled with mirth.

Ting-Yan’s face fell flat.

But the grannies couldn’t stop. They hooted, then shrieked, possessed by laughter.

“Please,” said Ting-Yan. “I made a terrible mistake.”

“She made a terrible mistake,” wailed Granny Liu.

“All curses are terrible mistakes,” howled Granny Chan. “Oh my, what a mess.”

“Are you sure the curses can’t be undone?”

The grannies got hold of themselves. They coughed and choked their laughter back.

“They really can’t be,” said Granny Chan. “That’s why Granny Kwok asked you if you were sure.”

“Now all parties concerned just have to live it out,” said Granny Liu.

“Oh my, oh dear,” said Granny Chan. “I’d help you if I could.”

“So would I,” said Granny Liu. “But it’s too late now.”

“Either of us would be happy to take your money,” said Granny Chan. “But that would be real dishonesty.”

“We do serious work here,” Granny Liu said. “There’s no overturning a curse. Oh my. Oh dear.”

“Oh dear,” said Granny Chan. “You’d best do what you can to make it up to the parties concerned. But there’s no escape now. Oh my.”

“Okay,” Ting-Yan said. “All right.” She turned to head back to the tram stop. The minute she did, the grannies began to giggle again. She deserved it, no doubt, which did not make her feel any better.