The Joy Luck Club Page #5

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and foot powder.

Honey, isn't there

a generic brand of cat food?

I mean, do they know the difference?

For crying out loud, $34.76.

But we still have these

philosophical arguments...

about the gray areas.

Like magazines I subscribe to,

which he reads...

but only because they're there.

And the cat.

Even the goddamn cat's fleas.

You gave her to me

as a birthday gift.

And now you want me to pay

to get rid of her fleas?

Ice cream you don't share.

You don't eat ice cream.

Ever since that time you got sick on

strawberry and chocolate flavor together.

I remember.

Now you must pay for half

of his ice cream?

Why do you do this?

Lena?

Hmm.

Lena, when you buy charcoal,

you have to buy lighter fluid.

Don't you know that yet? Do I

have to remind you every time?

Lena cannot eat ice cream.

What?

What are we talking about?

It's true. I've hated

ice cream all my life.

I don't touch the stuff.

Well, I assumed you were always

trying to diet or something.

Oh, yes, she's lost so much weight

you can't see her anymore.

Hmm.

One million dollars,

and the walls are still crooked.

- It's bad luck.

- Harold wanted to keep it

that way for the effect.

For effect? A person has to lie here

thinking she's in a coffin?

- Oh!

- Careful. It's not too sturdy.

Harold made it back in college.

Why do you keep it?

You put one more thing on top

and everything falls down.

Do you need anything else?

- No.

- Okay.

No. Nothing.

...competition.

- What is a drag race?

- What an idiot!

Regatta, not drag race!

I don't believe this guy!

It's cold.

Excuse me?

I said, would you close

the window, please? It's cold.

That's right for 1,000.

Takes you to an even 6,000.

Oh, there's the bell

for "Final Jeopardy."

You have 30 seconds to come up

with the right question.

Honey, move.

What's goin' on?

I don't think you should get credit

for your ice cream anymore.

Fine. You got it.

End of discussion.

Why do you have to be

so goddamn fair?

Now at 10,400, but you're

still not in the lead. Nancy--

Just what is this

about exactly?

I don't know.

Maybe everything.

The way we account for

everything. What we share, what

we don't share. I'm sick of it.

Adding things up, subtracting. Making it

come out even when it's not. I'm sick of it.

You're the one

who wanted the cat!

- What are you talking about?

- All right.

If you think I'm being unfair,

we'll both pay for the fleas.

This is not about fleas.

That is not the point.

Then, please, tell me.

What is the point?

I-- I just think that we

need to change things.

We need to think about

what this marriage is based on...

- not this balance sheet.

- Well, I know what

our marriage is based upon.

And if you don't,

then you better think about it...

before you start

to change things.

All around this house,

I see the signs.

My daughter looks,

but she does not see.

This is a house that

will break into pieces.

Mom?

It's not too late.

All my pains, my regrets...

I will gather them together.

My daughter will hear me calling,

even though I've said no words.

She will climb the stairs

to find me.

- Mom?

- She will be scared...

because at first

her eyes will see nothing.

- She will feel in her heart...

- Mom?

- this place where she hides her fears.

- Mom?

She will know...

I am waiting

like a tiger in the trees...

now ready to leap out

and cut her spirit loose.

Mom.

Do you know what you want?

I mean, from him.

Respect.

Tenderness.

Then tell him now.

And leave this lopsided house.

Do not come back

until he give you those things.

With both hands open.

I can't..

Losing him does not matter.

It is you who will be found...

and cherished.

So my mom sees this mirror

at the foot of our bed.

And she says, "Ai-ya,

a mirror there is bad luck.

All the romance will hit the mirror,

poom, go back the opposite direction."

- So what'd you do?

- We moved it.

Yeah, put that baby

right on the ceiling.

- Waverly loves it.

- So I've heard.

Yeah, well, this guy

will do anything for her.

- But they're allies. But now

it's getting out of hand...

- Ah.

because after the party,

we're going to Lake Tahoe...

-and he actually asked her to come with us.

-Okay!

- Come on, she'd have a great time!

- What are you, nuts?

Well, choosing between the two of us,

I'd rather I had the great time, okay?

- You'll have a good time.

- Easy, cowboy.

- Oh.

Ah, ah, ah, save some

room for dessert.

My mom's cake is coming out, and I'm

counting on you guys for two slices apiece.

- She'll eat five.

- Ten.

Uh, do I have to use chopsticks?

Because it could take a while.

- Where's Jennifer?

- Oh, her Auntie June

is putting her down for a nap.

- Oh, I'll go check on her.

- Oh, yeah.

And now the woman was old.

And she had a daughter who

grew up speaking only...

English and swallowing

more Coca-Cola than sorrow.

- What's "sorrow"?

- Sadness.

For a long time now, the woman

wanted to give her daughter...

the single swan feather

and tell her--

Is the swan real?

Is there really a swan?

I don't know, baby.

It's my mama's story..

And we can't ask her

'cause she's dead.

And the woman would

tell her daughter...

"This feather

may look worthless...

but it comes from afar and carries with it

all my good intentions."

- What's "intentions"?

- Oh, a good intention means...

- everything your mommy wants for you.

- Oh.

Like blowing out candles

on your birthday cake.

- Like it?

- It's great.

It's gonna be great for June..

I bet the twins

are in China right now...

dreaming about

their little American sister.

Yes, but their mother...h

that's who they waited for

all these years.

- They will be so sad.

- They already know.

Auntie Lindo wrote them.

As a little girl,

I wondered every day.

Worst of all,

I had to wonder in secret.

I had no memory

of my mother...

because she was

kicked out of the house...

when I was four years old.

An Mei.

You are not my daughter.

If you have any self-respect...

you should kill yourself.

Your husband just died...

and you've become

another man's concubine.

- An Mei!

- The scar from the soup...

was all I had left

of my mother.

My grandmother, my uncle

and my aunties...

they taught me to hate her.

They accused her of breaking

her vow as a widow...

and running away

to marry a rich man...

who already had a wife,

two concubines and other children.

Then one day, as my grandmother

was lying in her deathbed...

If you have any dignity,

leave right away.

Let your mother go to heaven

in peace.

You are no longer

her daughter.

I saw my own face

looking back at me.

It was an old tradition.

Only the most

dutiful of daughters...

- would put her own flesh in a soup...

- Ma.

to save her mother's life.

My mother did this

with her whole heart...

even though my grandmother

had disowned her.

- This is how a daughter

honors her mother.

- Ma.

The pain of the flesh

is nothing.

The pain you must forget.

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