He nodded. “Good point. I’ll just look around.”
I told him I’d stay there, standing closer to the children now that I had reinforcements. A few seconds later a white woman walked out of the store, met my eyes, and headed straight for the stroller without hesitation. “Your kids?” I asked. She didn’t reply and wheeled the stroller, with the little boy trailing, away so fast no one would have heard the children protest.
I could have left, but I waited for the man. What might he think if he walked out and saw all of us gone? When he finally exited the store, I toldhim the mother had come and taken the kids with her. He shook his head, mirroring how I felt. Oh well, that was that. We went our separate ways.
I was still thinking about those kids when I reached my apartment. It was a rectangular studio with the bedroom and living area divided by a bookcase. I wished it were at least an L-shape. I didn’t dare hope for a one-bedroom in Manhattan on my teacher’s salary. My upstairs neighbor was dragging something across the floor. That dull heavy sound coming from the ceiling made me go into my tiny bathroom, sit on the toilet seat cover, and phone my cousin Channing.
We were the same age, born hours apart, and today we turned thirty years old.
“Hey, happy birthday!” I said as soon as she answered. “Did you eat noodles yet?”
Noodles signified long life in Korean culture, I was told. In addition to noodles, Channing grew up eating miyeok guk on her birthday. My parents didn’t follow that tradition. I had lived in rural areas of the States where it had been impossible to find ingredients for this soup.
“Happy birthday, Dahee!” she replied. “I’ll have jjajangmyeon delivered later. You?”
“Same,” I replied.
“Good.” She paused. “I was about to call you. How’s your day going?” Over the years, Channing and I had tried to spend our birthday together, but this year, she was babysitting two boys in East End for the month of August while their parents were away in Europe. She was halfway through the job now.
“You won’t believe someone left two kids alone on the sidewalk—” I said.
“Dahee, was it really that bad?” she said.
“Anything could have happened. It was rush hour. Those kids were scared, I could tell.” This last bit was added for emphasis. Those children hadn’t seemed frightened to me, not visibly anyway. But I knew you couldn’t always tell how stressed a child might be on the inside. I offered her proof I wasn’t the only one concerned. “A man stopped to help. He agreed they shouldn’t have been left alone like that,” I said.
“Parents also need a break, just a few minutes without those kids—”
“Have you done that? Left Edison and Austin by themselves?” Those were the names of the children in her care.
“No, I’m talking about their parents. They needed a break, which is why they hired me.”
“Okay, but you do know you can’t leave those boys alone somewhere, right?” I had to ask because Channing had never had a job like this before, had never been responsible for children.
“How can you even say that?” she said. “You teach little kids at school, but at the end of the day you get to leave. I’m here with them twenty-four seven.” Her voice dropped. “Anyway, I need to talk to you about someone. Let me close the door.”
I waited and then she was back. “I’m having problems with a guy here. I don’t know what to do.”
Channing got approached by men a lot and usually handled them with ease. I was surprised at how rattled she sounded by this one.
“What happened?” I said now.
“Yesterday this man let himself in and was drinking coffee in the kitchen at eight o’clock in the morning.”
“Wait, what?” The palms of my hands tingled.
“The night before, he was in the living room.”
“I don’t understand. Did you leave the door unlocked?”
“No—yes, it’s more complicated than that.”
“Wait, are you going on dates while you’re babysitting the boys?” I asked.
“What? No!”
“Then he’s a random stranger? Did you call the police?”
“That’s the thing, I can’t. He’s close with the boys’ parents. He’s their friend. They gave him the code to the door for emergencies. Everyone knows him; he works for the mayor,” she said.
