His new wife would be her slave, and she would claim this woman’s sons for her own. She insisted that her sister confront her husband and claim her rightful place as his First Wife.

She was also the one who had worked out her niece’s citizenship by finding her a “tyrant” of a Chinese-American husband. Brave Orchid was the one who arranged Moon Orchid’s trip to America. He had been there so long that his daughter had no memory of him. He did not know that she had come to America. She sat Moon Orchid down to discuss what to do about her husband. Brave Orchid also quickly remembered how impractical and easily distracted her sister was. They did not appreciate the gifts Moon Orchid brought or how monumental her arrival was. Moon Orchid’s arrival made Brave Orchid realize even more how unappreciative her children were of Chinese customs.

This surprise was ironic because, the narrator says, they were almost identical, “with faces like mirrors.” When the sisters finally met, each could not believe how old the other had become. Once the plane arrived, they waited four hours for Moon Orchid to appear. She used her concentration to help keep her sister’s plane in the air, just as she did to keep her son’s ship afloat in Vietnam. She brought Moon Orchid’s daughter and two of her own children with her. Brave Orchid arrived at the airport nine hours ahead of time. The narrator describes how at age sixty-eight, her mother, Brave Orchid, reunited with her sister, Moon Orchid, after thirty years.

Sister mother warrior book