The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

Faye leaves the makeshift morgue; when she sees the monk she’d spoken to leave as well, she follows him. As she does, she reflects on her life, focusing on the baby girl she gave birth to when she was 14. Faye had fallen in love with an older man who lost interest in her, and she has carried the shame of having his child and giving her up for decades. Her mother, Lai King, always encouraged Faye to worship at Buddhist temples, especially on sacred days; however, Faye has never felt worthy of this. She has also never married or even considered arranged marriages due to her shame.

Seeing the monk enter a Buddhist temple, Faye hesitates but then enters. He introduces himself as Shi, and they talk further about John Garland. She confides that John seemed to know her and wonders how that could be true. Shi does not believe in reincarnation per se, but he suggests that aspects of the self can stretch beyond the bounds of a person’s life and says that she and Garland might be in some way connected: “[Y]ou’re both waves on the same ocean. Of course, you are separate, you crest and you fall as individual waves, but fundamentally you come from the same place” (285).