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between the bed and the closet,
     was a makeshift cot covered with a comforter folded in half like a sleeping bag.
    “The bed is too soft on my poor back,”her father said. He pressed his hand against his spine and winced. “This way is more
     comfortable.”
    Agnes sat down on the thin cot, which bounced lightly. “So this is how she treats you,”she said. “She won’t even let you into
     her bed.”
    “Her sleep isn’t good.”Her father cleared his throat, setting the newspaper down on his desk. “She often wakes up in the middle
     of the night.”He didn’t look at her as he fiddled with the pages, then folded the paper back together. Agnes felt an involuntary
     stirring in her chest. She had avoided him all this time, not wanting to know about his marriage because she had not wanted
     to know of his happiness. But she should have known Lily was the kind of person who took care only of herself.
    “How else is she behaving?” she asked. “Is she mistreating you in any way?”
    “No, no,”her father said hurriedly, shaking his head.
    “Is she a wife to you?” There was a pause as he looked at her. “You know what I mean,”she said.
    “She suffers a pain,”he offered hesitantly. “In her ovaries.”
    Agnes laughed. She got up and strode across the room, flinging the door open.
    “Don’t say anything,”her father said, following after her. “Don’t let her know what I’ve told you.”
    In the living room, the mahjong ladies were laughing and knocking over their walls, and Agnes had to raise her voice above
     theirs. “I’d like to talk to you,”she said to Lily.
    For a moment, Lily pretended not to hear, continuing her conversation with the white-haired lady beside her. Then she glanced
     over at Agnes, her face a mask of porcelain elegance except for one delicately lifted eyebrow. “What is it?”
    “Why aren’t you sleeping with my father?”
    The ladies’ voices fell to a murmur, their hands slowing down as they massaged the tiles along the tablecloth. They looked
     at Lily, who said nothing, though her smile seemed to be sewn on her lips.
    Her father clutched Agnes’s arm, but she refused to be silent. “You married him, didn’t you? He pays for your clothes and
     your hairdo and this roof over your head. He deserves something in return!”
    Her father laughed out loud and immediately put his hand over his mouth.
    Lily stood up, but the mahjong ladies remained in their seats as if drunk, their eyes glazed with the thrill of the unexpected.
     “Perhaps we can resume our games later,”Lily said. The one with the horn-rimmed glasses stood up slowly from the table, prompting
     the other two to rise. They looked as if they had been shaken out of a dream.
    “Oh, my heavens!” the one with the eyebrows exclaimed as Agnes shut the door on them.
    “Now,”Agnes said, turning toward Lily and waiting for her to speak.
    “I have an illness ...”Lily began. “A gynecological disorder that prevents me ...”Her gaze wandered to Agnes’s father, who
     hovered near the bedroom door. “Well, in truth, he’s an old man,”she said, her expression hardening. “His breath stinks like
     an open sewer. I can’t stand to smell his breath!” She snatched her scarf from the closet and wrapped it quickly around her
     head.
    “If you don’t sleep with him,”Agnes said, “I’ll send a letterto the immigration office. I’ll tell them that you only married
     him to get a green card!”
    Lily’s hands trembled as she put on her coat. “Do as you like,”she said, walking out the door.
    Her father looked deeply pained.
    “She won’t refuse you now,”Agnes told him.
    “What has happened?” her father said, his voice shaking. “Who are you? You’ve become someone ... someone completely without
     shame!”
    “I should open up a brothel,”Agnes declared. “That is exactly what I should do.”
    In February, her father called to tell her he wasn’t sure whether or not his nose was broken.