The Great Canadian American Chinese Jewish Novel

by Wendy Zierler Published in Issue #12

DiasporaMarriage

Welcome to the Hotel Furama Kempinski, Hong Kong!

470 rooms and 43 suites

Non-smoking and handicapped rooms
Individual thermostat control
Television with satellite channels, bill review and pay-movies
IDD – International Direct Dial
Voice mail

Dedicated data communications line
In-room fax machine (on request)
Electronic safe
Hairdryer
Umbrella
Shoe polishing service
Mini-bar, coffee and tea making facility
24 hour room service
Daily turn-down service
24 hour security patrols
Smoke detectors
Sprinkler system
Electricity: 220V/50 cycles (transformers and adaptors available) Check-in time: 2:00p.m.
Check-out time: 12:00 noon

It’s 4:13 a.m. Hong Kong, 4:13 p.m. New York, and here I am, on jet lag patrol, playing peek-a-boo with 9-month-old Dina on the floor of our “Superior” room. For now, until our shipment arrives and we move into our “flat,” this – wood paneled room with its mauve velvet headboard and matching mauve velvet curtains is home. Everything we need is tucked into closets or corners. Books, toys, clothes, cosmetics, a small fridge stacked with drinks. The staples of portable life. Dina’s exersaucer and high chair sit in one corner of the room, her port-a-crib, in the other, the TV, the vertex of an acute angle. David, who has to work tomorrow, is snoring across the room. I’m cranky and tired and tempted when I pull my hand away from my face to flash Dina an expression that more accurately reflects my mood. But when I peer through my open fingers, I see her two-teeth smile and smile back.

Dina’s now onto these stacking cubes that she likes to heap into a tower and then knock down. Whenever they fall, she giggles, and as a first-time mom, I worry what this says about her character. While she’s busy, I...

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