Jia: A Novel of North Korea Read Online Free Page A

her, usually including swimming in the pond
for two hours or finding five grasshoppers per person. She
kept silent, and I watched her spoon move up and down. That meant "no." I was persistent. I was such a willful girl,
and my sister never rejected my begging. She was usually
nice to me, but on that day I pinched her arm ceaselessly.
Whenever she tried to take a bite, I tapped her right elbow
and ran away. In a fit of anger, she finally threw her spoon
in my direction, and it smacked me right on the forehead. I
was frightened and cried out for Grandmother. My grandmother was startled by my scream, and by the time she entered the room, a big bump had already swelled up on my
forehead. My sister seized with fear, grabbed niy hand, and
both of us flew outside. I was happy, no matter the bump
on my head; I had won.

    While we walked, she pouted. "I don't feel like going outside today. I had a bad dream: you ran away like Mom did.
You didn't turn around even though I shouted to stop you."
    Maybe she thought the dream meant something would
happen to us. Maybe she intuitively felt that that day might
change our lives.
    As always, we went to the hills, where we liked to play,
but my sister was much stricter than usual; she wouldn't let
me out of her sight. Squatting, she watched me idly as I
played, rolling on the ground and stomping on leaves. Eventually I dragged her to the valley. The water was cold, but I
didn't care. I tried to take off my clothes to swim. She pulled
my arms and warned me, her eyes glaring, "No. Swimming
season is over. From today, we're not going to swim until
next summer."
    We sat in silence. "Didn't you hear something from
over there?" she asked, repeatedly.
    I grew bored because she wouldn't play at all; she insisted
on keeping a sharp lookout. Nothing happened-her worrying seemed useless-and on the way hone I muttered to her, "You are weird today. You screwed up everything. It's
the most boring day I've ever had."

    Still she looked around and spoke under her breath.
"No, Jia. I'm serious. I swear with my ten fingers. I heard
something around us several times."
    The days were growing shorter. By the time we arrived
at the house, it was already dark, but it wasn't any different
from an ordinary night. My sister didn't seem relieved until we finished dinner and played our favorite word game,
where you link the last syllable of one word to a new word.
Grandmother was always on my side; otherwise, there was
no way to beat my sister. She grumbled about Grandmother's help and tried to get Grandfather on her team.
    Just as we were tiring of the game, a low sound came
through the door. Only my sister heard it. She swiftly
glanced toward the door and gave Grandfather a scared
look. "Did you hear, Grandpa?"
    He turned to my sister. "What? Did you hear something? "
    A moment later, the sound reached our ears clearly. We
looked toward the door all at once. Nobody stopped by
our house at that time of night. In fact, we never had any
visitors at all.
    "Who is it?" Grandmother asked Grandfather in a low
voice, a startled look in her eyes. I tried to stand up, but my
sister pressed me down.
    The sound came again. Grandfather turned toward the
door. "Who is it?"
    "Can I come in? Please..." A man's voice, beyond the
door.
    We watched each other's faces. I said to Grandfather,
"Open the door. It's cold out."

    He hesitated for a moment and then opened the door
cautiously.
    There was a man standing in the doorway. He wore an
army uniform.
    "Do you have something to eat?"
    His skinny face was darkly stained, as though he washed
with soot. He clasped his hands in front of his stomach, as
if to show he meant no harm. If we were frightened of a
stranger's unexpected visit, he seemed even more frightened by the encounter.
    "We don't have any food that would satisfy you."
    "It's okay. I can eat anything. I haven't eaten for two
days."
    With that, Grandfather let him in. He looked around