Before his death, my grandfather would repeat the story of the first time his grandfather, or my great-great-grandfather, met a white man. It was a story from the time when my family was still living in Manchuria before coming back to Korea. My great-great-grandfather’s name was Ugyeong. Ugyeong was the eldest son of Jinseong, and…

Sarah folds the dead student’s poems and carries them back to the creek the student had often written about. She holds them in her hands and then burns them and drops the flaming last corner into the water. Sometimes there really is nothing left. The few ashes extinguish when they hit the water. What once…

Talia grabbed my hand, tugging me toward her backyard. Her slap bracelet rubbed against my wrist like a secret code. Sarah skipped alongside, as excited as her sister, singing a song she was clearly making up. Something about the sun, surprises, and me. I was among the few on the block who could tell the…

He woke up to find he was eighty-five, but that was impossible, because he was only seven, and he had just turned fifteen, and he was thirty-one, but also fifty-two. His parents were young, and his parents were middle-aged, and his parents were aging. He was at their funeral. That was so long ago. Sometimes…