Finally Seen

Lina and Finn meet up in the library to discuss the books they recommended to each other. Lina tells Finn in English about Lao Lao, and Finn has the idea for Lina to write and draw a graphic novel to send her. Finn asks Lina to go with him to recommend New Kid and Flea Shop to Mrs. Carter for read-aloud time. Lina is scared but goes along.

Lina tries to tell Mrs. Carter about Flea Shop and why she likes it so much; the words seem on the tip of her tongue in English, but other students enter the room, and she loses her nerve. Still, Lina is pleased with the number of people she is feeling more comfortable with speaking in English.

Lina tells Lao Lao excitedly that she has a new friend who loves books, but when Lao Lao hears it is a boy, she is so concerned about impropriety she demands to talk to Mom. Lina is devastated—and worried; she does not want to give up her only school friend. She pretends that the reception is faulty and hangs up.

At the farm the next day, Carla reassures Lina that she is allowed to be friends with a boy. Carla loved Pie in the Sky and tells Lina how she dreamed of her father baking croissants with her. Carla shares that they could not afford the medication he needed to treat his cancer. Lina hugs Carla, grateful to have new friends. Mom says Pete will be giving them the advance once the 99 Ranch picks up the produce.

Lina gives Millie a “shower” of Mrs. Hollins’s packing peanuts (which Lina asked to take instead of throwing away) in Carla’s outdoor gravity shower. After the peanuts rain down, Carla and Lina hop in the “tub” and bathe too. Later, at bedtime, Mom apologizes for their lack of a real tub. Lina tells her, “There’s no set timeline for anything in life” (167), like Mrs. Ortiz told her. Lina asks why Mom left China, and Mom reveals that Panda Amusement Park purposely overlooked her talents once she had Millie. She wanted the girls to thrive in a country where their imaginations would be free. As Mom leaves, Lina whispers that she loves her, but Mom does not hear; Millie hears and responds in kind.

Mr. Beezley, the landlord, phones to remind Mom and Dad that rent is due in four weeks. Mom and Dad send Millie and Lina outside, but the girls can still hear them fighting. Millie says their “free” home prompted more fighting at Pete’s; also, he did not allow them to speak Chinese. Pete still pays Dad only $1,500 a month.

Although Dad says they just have to rely on the advance and patience, Mom takes the girls to the public library to research rent relief. Lina finds a book called Fumble. She overhears an argument between Jessica and Jessica’s mother. Jessica wants to check out a graphic novel, Drama, but her mother says those are not real books and that Jessica must study for the Secondary School Admission Test. Her mother wants Jessica to attend an elite private school. Jessica leaves Drama behind.

Mrs. Ortiz teaches Lina that the ui in words is usually pronounced oo (juice, suit), but not in squished or guilt. The word guilt makes Lina tear up, and they discuss Lina’s guilt for leaving Lao Lao. Mrs. Ortiz says immigrants must never forget the “i” in guilt; each person is important enough to warrant tough choices, even leaving behind family.

At lunch, Finn takes a nacho from Lina, saying his parents fight about the junk food issue. Lina says hers fight about money, and Finn says his do too. His father is taking him to see a football game in Las Vegas next weekend; Finn does not like football, but he is eager to spend time with his father. Lina asks, in English, if Finn can help her to begin a graphic novel. Lina wants the book to show Lao Lao her experiences, so she begins telling them to Finn.

Finn is so shocked to hear what Jessica wrote on the stall that he places his hand on her arm and offers to accompany her to tell someone. Two other boys, Nate and Preston, see his gesture and rudely say, “Tell us you’re not hiding in here with the foreign exchange student!” (187). Lina flees to the staff bathroom.

Lina claims she is unwell, and Mom picks her up. They go to the farm, and Lina shares the incident with Carla. She coaches Lina to remember that people are individuals and to give Finn a chance. Lina feels better. They hear Lina’s mom arguing with Pete who now says he will not pay the advance since Mom got only one sale, not a contract. Livid, Mom tells Dad that Pete is changing the terms. Pete demands they not talk in Chinese. Lina speaks up: “Why?” Pete says he deserves to know everything discussed on his farm. Carla tells Lina this is how Pete treats others all the time.

Mom and Lina return to the school to pick up Millie. Lina hides from Finn’s searching gaze in the pickup lane. Lina tries to tell Mom what Carla said about Pete, but Mom does not respond. Millie focuses on how Hazel’s group, the Starbursts, has 8,000 TikTok views for a dance they did. Finn messages Lina on her Chromebook and says he is not friends with the two boys who accosted them in the library. Lina is relieved.

Dad brings home $700 in cash—the advance. When Mom learns he got it only by renewing his contract at the same pay rate, she is upset. She says they should go to Pete’s lawyer about the green card; Dad says it would use all the cash they have since lawyers charge so much.

The next morning Dad does the school drop off so Mom can fetch supplies for bath bombs. Dad tells Lina that Pete has their best interests in mind, though he is cheap. He teaches Lina a fist bump to add to their high five before she goes to school. Preston demands to learn how to say “I’m so fine” in Chinese. Lina teaches him “I am a stinky tofu” instead, which he then goes around saying to girls. Finn and Lina laugh.

Mrs. Carter chooses Flea Shop for read-aloud, but Lina misses the beginning when she goes to her session with Mrs. Ortiz. Mrs. Ortiz and Lina play a pretend game to practice language skills. One question prompts Lina to say what she would bring to a “dessert” (not deserted) island. She lists people she would bring. She mentions there would be no invisible thread there; she explains how she and everyone had to watch their words in China. Mrs. Ortiz encourages Lina to start her graphic novel.

After school, Mom picks up Lina and Millie, then Carla. They make bath bombs all afternoon and evening. Carla says she and her mother both loved Pie in the Sky and it helped them talk a little about Carla’s father. Lina looks forward to when her graphic novel might help heal the hole in her heart left by leaving Lao Lao.

Lina shows Finn and Mrs. Hollins her graphic novel so far, the story of her arrival and assimilation in the US. Lina frets about whether to include a panel about the bathroom stall. Millie arranges a sale of $200 in bath bombs directly to Hazel for her spa party weekend without revealing it is she, Lina, and Mom who make them. Millie says she does not care whether she gets invited to the spa weekend.

They create the bath bombs for Hazel, but after Millie mixes and molds her five bombs, she cannot find the paper with Hazel’s address. Mom decides they must redo the five in case the paper fell in Millie’s mixing tub, and Lina asks to keep the bombs. Mom gets the idea to put small surprise toys inside the bombs intentionally.

When they drop off Carla at the farm, Mrs. Muñoz shows Carla that she bought ingredients to make raspberry croissants like Carla’s dad used to. She offers to cook dinner for Pete to gain the use of the kitchen. Mom and Millie help Dad finish. Lina finds two more books by Virginia Burton with loving inscriptions.