"I know, Barbie! Your name is Barbie and you talk and sound just likethose teenage cheerleaders do. Got it Barbie?" Like, of course!" She replied soun...ding every bit like the air headedcheerleader.James wanted to point out that not all cheerleaders talked or soundedlike that, but he knew it would be upon deaf ears. She seemed almosthuman now, except the fact they looked just as lifeless and dull asthose of any doll. However he swore he could see something in her eyes."Well our business is done. She was kind of cute. But nah, he frowned, girls like her with their fancy panties didn't have time for poor ex-farm boys like him. He shrugged. The campus mail kiosk was on his route back to his dorm room, so he slipped into it. He always checked for messages, even though he knew it would just be ads.But this time there was a note. Amanda. Her name was Amanda, he mused. Something in the way she signed it struck a chord in him and instead of going back to his room, he slipped into the student. Was just wondering if we could find natto in America.” I missed having fermented soybeans for breakfast.“Well, I am going shopping,” Mother said. “There is an Asian store that imports Japanese and Korean items I'm trying out.”“Minako would love to go with you,” my sister purred, giving me a wicked look. “Right, onee-chan?”There was something in her eyes, an implicit command. “Y-yes, Minako would, okaasan.”“That's wonderful,” Mother said. “I would love to have the company. And what would you be. For the next two days Thangam never referred to the topic. I assumed that having had her say Thangam considered her job over. I was mistaken. Thangam had a plan. On the third day Thangam was leaving to a nearby town nearby for a family wedding. She was giving final instructions to me.”You must help Athai shampoo her hair during her oil bath tomorrow. Her shoulder pain is still there. She can’t take her hand to her head.” Mother back was turned and Thangam smirked and winked a prodigious wink.