Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All

Magnolia thinks all night about how best to mend things with Iris. In the morning, she decides that a simple, heartfelt apology is best, and she heads for Salty Muscles. Outside the gym, Ms. Lam is cleaning off red spray-painted graffiti: “GO HOME” (111). Magnolia is frightened and sad. Ms. Lam tells her about confronting the man who left the message. She and her whole class ran outside, and the man ran away. Ms. Lam thinks it is funny that they surprised him by not cowering meekly inside the gym. She tells Magnolia that Iris is very upset about the incident.

Inside the gym, Magnolia has a hard time finding the right words to comfort her friend. Both girls have experienced this kind of racism before, but never so directly. Iris is confused by the message—she was born in California and has never even been to Vietnam, where her mother was born. She now does not feel welcome in New York, and she feels as if she has no real home. Magnolia worries about how sad and defeated Iris seems. She thinks of the flamingoes and decides that she will prevent the cruel graffiti message from becoming part of Iris.