Jia: A Novel of North Korea by Hyejin Kim Read Free Book Online Page A

cook.
    As the car departed, I watched the gray buildings of the
orphanage I thought I might never leave grow smaller. I
had been stuck in those dismal buildings for ten years. I still
remembered the day I arrived-it was as clear as yesterday
in my mind.
    Following our arrival in Pyongyang, the soldiers took me
directly to the orphanage. When the army cars pulled up in
front of the high building, Uncle Shin helped me out of the
car, and I saw a middle-aged woman with a round face, round
glasses, and a round belly bounce toward us. Several people
followed her out while, with flushed cheeks, she talked to the bushy-eyebrow soldier. Eventually she nodded her head
and approached me, reaching her moist hand out to mine.
"Come here, baby," she said. "We'll take care of you."

    Saying farewell to the soldiers, I broke into tears, grabbed
Uncle Shin's pants, and plopped down on the ground. He
looked embarrassed.
    The other soldiers made fun of him. "That kid has already grown fond of you just take her as your daughter."
    Before he got back in the car, he hugged me and whispered softly, "They'll take you to your grandparents'
house-this is the biggest orphanage in Pyongyang. Don't
worry, Jia. Forget everything you remember about the
mountain. You'll have a new life here." He squeezed my
hands tightly and looked into my eyes. "Jia, you'll have a
good life." He promised he would stop by the orphanage
soon, but that was the last time I saw Uncle Shin.
    Nightmares haunted me at the orphanage. I saw my
grandparents and my sister in our house. My sister massaged my grandfather's back and shoulders with her feet.
My grandmother sewed worn-out clothes, frowning and
complaining that her eyes were getting worse. They all
seemed so peaceful despite my absence. I was in a rage,
and I scolded them for abandoning me because I was such a
troublemaker. They ignored my crying and turned off the
light to go to bed. In the darkness, I sobbed alone.
    In another dream, they looked horrible and wore sad
faces. My sister wouldn't even look at me. She stood with
her back to me, holding Grandmother's hand, and I called
her again and again, but she wouldn't turn around. Finally,
my grandmother took her up in her arms and they left together. My midnight shrieking made me a problem child; I
woke up the other orphans.

    The director asked me to give her the pictures I had
brought. I was reluctant to hand all of them over, but she
said it was possible to find my grandparents with them,
though it might take some time. I was certain that within
a few days I would leave that place and be rescued by my
grandparents.
    I slept with 25 other kids-all my age-boys and girls
mixed in one big dormitory that was little more than a cold
floor. When I entered the room the first time, a boy made
fun of me, saying, "Didn't you run away from home? Your
stepmom picked on you every day, right? Didn't they feed
you? Poor you. How easily you were caught by those scary
soldiers! Your parents will come here and beat you soon."
    I didn't care about him. I was sure I wouldn't be there
for long anyway. Unlike the boys, the girls were nice; they
asked me how old I was and invited me to play jump rope
and jacks, games I had played with my sister every day.
I was good at jump rope, while my sister was much better at jacks. We tied one side of the rope around a skinny
tree, and one of us held the other side at the same height.
Then we'd skip over the rope from ankle height, then knee
height, hip, waist, shoulder, neck, and up to the crown of
the holder's head. I loved that game. We sang as we skipped.
When we felt bored with the same songs we composed our
own. We even made up arm gestures to make the game
more complicated. We took our jump-rope games so seriously that we frequently got into big arguments.
    One day, when it had been raining since early morning,
some of the kids were playing jacks inside, while others
took a nap. I was