Curt, a college professor, lives with his lover of several years, a pediatrician of Chinese descent named Lee. Eager to write, he receives a grant to take the summer off and work on a novel. Then Lee's mother calls -- she wants to visit. Curt is eager to meet her but Lee isn't so sure ... she's of a different generation, a different culture even, and doesn’t speak much English. Still, Curt insists.<br><br>But when Mrs. Gui arrives, Curt finds himself struggling with writer’s block. He feels like an outsider in his own home when Lee and his mother converse in Cantonese, leaving him out of the conversation, and even his sex life suffers with her in the bedroom next to theirs. Can Curt and Mrs. Gui move past their cultural differences to see that they both love Lee and have his best interests at heart?

Just What the Doctor Ordered

She felt warm and frail, as if her bones were hollow like a bird’s. Her gaze dropped to my hand and her frown was back, slight this time, unsure. Aware that the bus would be leaving in a minute or so, I said quickly, “I called Lee, right after you left. I thought maybe you had asked him for directions or something. That’s how I knew you didn’t talk to him.” I paused, waiting until she looked at me again. “He said if you want to wait, we can all go to the market once he gets off.”


“I don’t want to wait,” she said. No,I thought,of course not.She started to stand and I let my hand fall from her arm, releasing her. “He works too much. If he lived with me, I would not allow it. I don’t know how you do.”


I stood beside her and shrugged. “It’s not so bad when classes are in,” I mumbled. 


Chapter 30