Preparation For The Next Life

The narration shifts to Zou Lei’s first-person point of view. She states that people should thank the military for everything that they do because, without them, there would be no goods or services. She discusses incidents in which soldiers needlessly died in accidents or because the government refused to spend the money it would take to save them.

The story then shifts back to the third-person point of view as Skinner and Zou Lei look at pictures on Skinner’s phone. The photos are initially light-hearted—there are photos of Zou Lei and Skinner together—but they quickly become more intense; Zou Lei begins to look at photos from Skinner’s deployment, and he becomes silent. The photos show events in reverse order; they begin as disjointed and frantic images and slowly become more organized and calm as she looks through them. The final picture is a photo of Skinner right at the beginning of his first tour in Iraq. Skinner is almost unrecognizable and looks very happy and healthy; Zou Lei mistakes the photo for a picture of his cousin until he corrects her.

Zou Lei begins to look for another job. She decides to take the subway to the noodle shop where she works, despite the racial profiling she faces from the subway police, as this allows her to make extra money through various forms of work before the noodle shop opens. First, she works selling pirated DVDs to people on the street and in a Wendy’s. Next, she looks through trash to find recyclables and turns them in for cash. As Zou Lei walks around outside, she sees several police officers, but she is not anxious or worried; she feels that her relationship with Skinner—an American war hero—offers her protection against the police. She fantasizes about taking out a loan to buy a truck that she and Skinner would use to live on the road together, traveling from city to city.

Later, Skinner tells Zou Lei about his upbringing in Shayler, a small, conservative town in West Virginia. His family had little money, and while 9/11 was a big part of his choice to enlist, he claims that he would’ve done so anyway since he wanted to get away to “just do something” (125). After hearing about Skinner’s popularity growing up, Zou Lei tells Skinner that she is surprised that he likes her since she is an immigrant. She contemplates telling him about her time in jail. The next day, Zou Lei trains in a park using the exercises that Ms. Fitness does in Skinner’s Ironman magazines.

On the radio, Zou Lei hears an advertisement for a job in the Flushing Mall. She makes her way to the mall and approaches the man in charge. At first, he agrees to hire her for minimum wage—Zou Lei lies about her ability to speak and understand Cantonese—but when he discovers that she is an undocumented immigrant, he reduces her pay because of the “risk” he will be taking employing her. Zou Lei reluctantly accepts the reduced pay.

On her first day at work, Zou Lei’s supervisor impatiently shows her around and tells her that she must purchase her own uniform. After she has purchased her uniform, Zou Lei begins to work. She describes the different people she works with—two immigrants who are documented, a woman named Sassoon, and a cook named Rambo. All the other workers are undocumented immigrants, and Zou Lei notices that those who are documented seem to stay in one group away from the others. One day, one of the women begins to speak about the different ethnic groups in China, expressing disdain and making racist remarks about the Uighurs. The woman makes stereotypical comments and claims that the Uighurs are “backward people.” When Zou Lei vehemently denies these claims, the woman realizes that Zou Lei is Uighur and makes Zou Lei explain about the Uighurs since she is “an expert.” Zou Lei tries to explain that she is Han Chinese as well as Uighur, but the women refuse to believe her.

Zou Lei continues to work hard despite struggling to understand the Cantonese being spoken around her. She notices that her shoes are beginning to fall apart, and she buys a cheap replacement pair from the 99-cent store; the shoes give her blisters and hurt her feet, but she continues to wear them. At work, Polo—the man in charge—talks to Sassoon about how he can make his business more profitable. Later, Sassoon pulls Zou Lei to the side and begins to yell at her, saying that she is not learning quickly enough and threatening to fire her.

An exhausted Zou Lei goes to Skinner’s house after work, and she immediately falls asleep on his bed. Skinner undresses her and places his poncho liner over her. However, both are startled by the sounds of arguing and yelling upstairs. Erin, Mrs. Murphy's daughter, is fighting with a man. Skinner and Zou Lei hear Erin run out of the house as Mrs. Murphy continues to yell at the man.

The narrator states that Skinner will become prone to episodes of crying in the near future. These episodes will often be triggered by Zou Lei’s love for Skinner. He does not understand what is happening to him or why his mental health is declining; as he does not understand the severity of his downward trajectory, he does not seek any help from the VA.

When Skinner moves into his new room in the Murphy’s house, Skinner unpacks his bag and tries to ignore the pistol hidden there. Skinner becomes unable to sit still, listening intently to the voices and footsteps coming from upstairs. He grabs his pistol and disengages the safety. He points the gun at a wall in his room and considers firing. Instead, he pretends to fire the gun, but immediately feels guilty upon doing so and puts the safety back on.