Mona thought of nothing but mirrorboxes on the way back to her apartment.

Ma had called while Mona was out, and Mona returned the call. Ma called every seventeen days now. Mona had heard that cicadas and some other insects always swarmed on prime-numbered cycles: Seven, thirteen, seventeen years. The reason was to minimize the likelihood of coming out at the same time as another prime-number swarmer, since the least common multiple of the two primes was so big. Mona had come to suspect that Ma's calls were governed by a similar law: She called every seventeen days to minimize the chance of competing with Mona's regular schedule.

That, or it was a sacred number of some kind. Ma had joined Falun Gong a few months after Daddy died. She pronounced it jwan fah lwun. The less said, to Mona's mind, about a dumpy Southern materfamilias raised on Baptist gospel and hellfire sermons joining jwan fah lwun, the better.

Ma said she was going to China.

"No, Ma," said Mona, "you're not going to China."

Ma said she was going to China to help out her brothers and sisters who were being persecuted, and she would be back in six weeks.

"Ma, do you speak Chinese?"

Ma said of course she spoke Chinese.

"Speak Chinese to me."

Ma said something that sounded like a raging bigot's imitation of Chinese.

"Is that really Chinese, Ma?"

Ma said yes it was damn Chinese.

"Fine, you speak Chinese. Or what if you got a tank drove over you or something?" Driven, she corrected herself, gritting her teeth.

Ma said that all this aggression was just a way to disguise the imbalance in Mona's life.

"You got me, Ma. My problem is I'm imbalanced—my left arm is longer than my right. Sometimes I walk in circles."

Ma said that Mona's jokes were only hiding her pain, and that would just make it worse in the end.

"The pain isn't in my end, Ma, it's in my arm."

Ma said that that wasn't the pain she was talking about.

"Ma, you joined a cult. Don't tell me how to cope with missing Daddy."

Ma said that if Mona took the time to think about the universe as an interconnected whole, she'd understand that there was no reason to miss Daddy.

"And that worked for you."

Ma said of course it did.

"I gotta go, Ma," said Mona. "Have fun in China."

Ma said some literature was coming in the mail. Mona hung up.