Can't I Go Instead by Lee Geum-yi

Author:Lee Geum-yi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

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After ten days in detention, Chaeryeong was released from Angel Island. One gold nugget had been enough to free her, and with the other two, his uncle had paid off his debts, paid the rent in arrears, and lost the rest gambling. Overjoyed that his wife was free, Junpei had no complaints.

On the drive from the immigration center to her new home, Chaeryeong watched the bustling scene beyond the car window and thought of the detention center back on the island. It was a place with mountains and a beautiful view of the sea, but also a prison for the people who were trapped there. In a large room, the bunkbeds had been squeezed next to each other. Lying on the top had made her dizzy, while lying on the bottom had been suffocating—as if the bunk above was pressing down on her—and it had made an irritating noise every time anyone moved. It had also been cold, partially because the blankets were so smelly and damp that she hadn’t even wanted to touch them. The toilet and washroom had been shared—of course—and the meals had been very poor.

The servants of the Gahoe-dong mansion were treated better.

Chaeryeong had kept to herself in the detention center. The camp consisted mostly of Japanese and Chinese immigrants who had come to America at the invitation of their families. The thought that she might have been deported after such humiliating treatment, where she’d been utterly reduced to insignificance the moment she arrived in San Francisco, had made her so angry and resentful that she had been unable to sleep. With each day that had passed, the expectation that Junpei would come to rescue her gradually disappeared, as she had realized that the Japanese—who thought they could command the heavens and the earth—were treated pitifully in the United States.

But unexpectedly, Junpei had kept his promise, and Chaeryeong had been able to leave the hellish island. And now—like it or not—she had no one to rely on but him. And he had not only saved her from that awful place, but he had even come to her with flowers.

She had expected Uncle Jiro to be a stuffy Japanese man, but she was surprised at his lively gestures and tone of voice as he drove the car. Her expectations for life in America began to rise as freedom and romance overflowed from the streets, and the passers-by looked sophisticated like true city dwellers. Chaeryeong vowed to forget her memories of the camp, and set her mind on imagining the beautiful mansion where they’d soon arrive.

Those daydreams were quickly dashed when she found herself faced with a poor neighborhood, a small apartment, and a room with a single bed.

Any thought of staying with Junpei evaporated like the morning mist.

“Terao-san, you’ve worked hard all this time. I’ll tell my appa and he’ll pay you back later, but I’m leaving, so please return my appa’s money. And don’t even think about lying that you didn’t receive it. I know you have money in the bag you’ve been carrying about every day.

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