#30 Fur Bag

grass to pretty them up. They were so colourful. She ate them, then threw the boat down, like she was told. It broke.

Repairing pottery/Embracing the Imperfect-Kintsugi was the name of, the next, and last workshop she took. He provided the glue, paintbrush, and gold colored powder; participants provided the broken pottery. Everybody’s was different. It wasn’t full, like the sushi one, because most people wouldn’t break their china, but not her; she had total faith in him. She trusted that he would give her something she could take on her travels. She could tell by the name of the workshop. He taught that they normally used real gold, and that cracks were how the light got in. It was a metaphor for life. She only had three pieces to put together, whereas other people had more. She mixed the gold dust with the glue, using a paint brush, applied it, and sanded it by hand, after patiently waiting for it to dry. She thought about Sophia and her husbands the whole time.

When China disembarked in California, her brother picked her up, then brought her back to his and his wife’s place. He looked even younger, and more like her in real life. She hit it off with the wife. The other brothers decided to veer off to Mexico for a day, so wouldn’t get there until a day later than they said they would. She got the extra bedroom, so she unpacked, made herself at home, and had a nap. In the afternoon, she had tea with the wife. Liz told her that the sisters were bitches, were each divorced at least once, remarried, and lived in California. That’s how she found out that the oldest sister split everything with the youngest sister. There was a significant bank account; Sophia had been saving for quite some time. They needed an ally to win, and they thought it through. Two ways was better than three, or five, or even six. Although they all talked to each other, it was generally the girls against the boys. That part didn’t include China. As far as the sisters were concerned, China was an outsider.

China told them she was a vegetarian, so they made Tofu Swedish Meatballs for her, and Sweet Buttered Peas. The rest had regular Swedish Meatballs. It was all delicious. That night, they played Crazy Eights, and went to bed early. China missed the train, and she missed work, so it took her long time to fall asleep. In the morning, she woke to the pervasive smell of bacon. It was gross. For her, they offered tofu bacon, and for everybody else, there was regular bacon. Everybody had eggs. Toast was made and served with butter and strawberry jam. Then they drove to Disneyland, walked around, and went on some rides in California Adventure park. China stayed away from the roller-coasters. There were giant cartoons running around bothering people; she recognized Micky, Mini, and Snow White. The rest, she didn’t know who they were, maybe from television too, but she didn’t watch much. One tried to hug her, but she told it to back off, and called it a ‘fur bag’, and when they laughed at her, she said she was not a ‘fur bag hugger.’

China didn’t really like Disneyland, but pretended she did, because they paid for everything, even all the rides, but she liked the restaurant they took her to; it was salty, greasy goodness, and all-you-can-drink pop. She ordered a vegetarian cheese burger, fries, and a cola. They did too, only it was a meat cheese burger. She had never had a burger before. It had all the trimmings; lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, mustard, relish, mayonnaise, and ketchup. She even put some of her fries on it. It was fat and greasy; she loved it. She ate every bit, ordered another pop, drank every drop, and fell asleep on the way back. When she got back to Al