American Translation
June tells of last year's Chinese New Year. She talks about how her and her mother went to the store and bought eleven crabs, one with a broken leg, and how the neighbors and their cat annoyed her mother. Suyuan prepares the food for her family and the Jong's. The guests took all of the best crabs until there were two left; Suyuan received the one with the broken leg, smelled it, and threw it away. She gave Jing-mei the jade pendant that was her life importance. She has not taken off the necklace since her mother died.
June is now cooking for her father. "My father hasn't eaten well since my mother died" (209). She fixed her father's favorite dish. The grief of June's father has caused him not to eat well, so she is trying to help him by helping him remain healthy.
"Above me, I hear the old pipes shake into action with a thunk!" The word thunk is an onomatopoeia. It is not a true word but the way one says it suggests its imitation of the sound.
June also finds the neighbors cat in the window and is relieved that the cat had not previously disappeared because her mother had killed it.
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