For months, Mrs. Chen had been nagging her husband to go
with her to the seance parlor of
Madame Roza. "Li, she's a real gypsy, and she brings the voices
of the dead from the other
world. We all talk to them! Last week I talked with my mother,
may she rest in peace. Li,
for twenty dollars you can talk to your grandpa Shin who you
miss so much!"

Li Chen could not resist her appeal. At the very next seance at
Madam Roza's Seance Parlor,
Li sat under the colored light at the green table, holding hands
with the person on each
side. All were humming, "Oooom, oooom, tonka tooom."

Madame Roza, her eyes lost in trance, was making passes over a
crystal ball. "My
medium...Vashtri," she called. "Come in. Who is that with you?
Who? Mr. Chen? Li Chen's
gandpa Shin?"

Li swallowed the lump in his throad and called, "Grampa? Shin?"

"Ah, Li?" a thin voice quavered.

"Yes! Yes!" cried Li. "This is your Li! Shin, are you happy in
the other world?"

"Li, I am in bliss. With your granma together, we laugh, we
sing. We gaze upon the shining
face of the Lord!"

A dozen more questions did Li ask of his gandpa, and each
question did his Shin answer,
until "So now, Li, I have to go. The angels are calling. Just
one more question I can
answer. Ask. Ask."

"Shin," sighed Li, "when did you learn to speak English?"