Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All

At the laundromat, Magnolia clears out the supply closet by herself, because Mrs. Wu refuses to help her. When she deliberately dumps a bag of cat litter out onto the closet floor, her mother tells her to stop making a mess, but Magnolia explains that she is doing it for Iris. She tells her mother to leave her alone and accuses her mother of never being present for her. She says that she feels unimportant to her mother. Mrs. Wu is shocked. She says that Magnolia is the most important thing in her life.

Magnolia, frustrated as she tries to lay a towel out on the cat litter, complains that it does not look very much like sand. She feels panicked that her idea may not work. She finally snaps and tells her mother that Iris is mad at her. She’s trying to fix everything, but she feels like she has no support from her parents. They never know how she is feeling because they are too busy with the laundromat. Just then, a customer comes in. Mrs. Wu shocks Magnolia by calling out that they are closed.

Magnolia’s mother spreads the towel out, and she and Magnolia sit down. Magnolia begins to cry, and her mother puts an arm around her. Mrs. Wu tells Magnolia that she understands how upsetting racist remarks and behavior can be, but that she has a secret that allows her to cope with it: because she is in New York with her daughter, she has “already won” and is “the luckiest person in the world” (121). She shares with Magnolia how kind everyone was when she and Magnolia’s father moved into the neighborhood, especially when Magnolia herself was born. She assures Magnolia that both of her parents love her very much and always want to be there for her.

Mrs. Wu helps Magnolia build her beach, even frying up some sausages to represent the corn dogs Iris misses from the California beach. When Iris arrives, she is very touched by the pretend beach, and she confesses to Magnolia that part of the reason they fought is because she was feeling jealous about Jessica and worried about losing Magnolia’s friendship. When Mrs. Wu brings in a sock that Ms. Lam left behind and asks Iris to return it to her, Iris explains what is special about this particular sock. It is a sock puppet that her mother made her after her father’s physically threatening behavior scared her so much that she stopped speaking. Speaking through the puppet—"Mr. Ketchup”—allowed Iris to express her fear and anger and let her mother know that she would be willing to move to New York to get away from her father. Magnolia thanks Mr. Ketchup for helping Iris find her voice, saying that Iris is “the smartest, kindest person [she knows]” and that “New York would be sad without her” (128).

When the two friends finally leave the closet beach, they find Jessica waiting for them in the laundromat. She says that she got permission to be out and is hoping to join them on one of their missions. Iris agrees that this is a good idea. The final lost sock is plain white, and Magnolia has no idea where to start looking for its owner. Jessica suggests smelling it, and they find that it smells like coconut. They go to see Ali, who runs a bodega that sells many coconut-scented items. Ali helpfully lines up many products for them to smell, but nothing smells exactly like the sock.

Luis comes in to buy some floor polish. Magnolia sees that it has palm fronds on the label and smells it—it is a perfect match. When Luis hears about their mission, he asks whether he can come along. Ali’s cat, Pockets, steals the sock and drops it into her water bowl. When the sock gets wet, Magnolia can see a faint bumblebee design. This is their school’s mascot. There is another clue: the letters “J-A-N” (134). They decide to take the sock to their school’s lost and found. As the group walks together, Magnolia is delighted to be “part of a group. A sock squad!” (135).

Outside the school, Mr. Ishioka, the custodian, is repainting a mural that shows children holding hands around a globe. He points out Japan, where he is from, and Magnolia thinks about how brave her mother must have been to travel from China to New York. She points out California and says this is where Iris is from. Luis and Jessica are impressed. When they show Mr. Ishioka the sock, he tells them the sock is his. He gives them his keys, saying that the bronze key will explain why the sock contains letters spelling out “Jan” (138).

Magnolia uses the key to unlock his janitor’s cart. She finds the mate of the sock she’s holding and sees that it says “I-T-O-R” (138). Together, the socks spell out “J-A-N-I-T-O-R” (138). Mr. Ishioka says there’s a reward for finding them. He leads them inside, where Aspen is playing basketball alone. The custodian demonstrates how he cleans the floor by skating gracefully around in his stocking feet through puddles of cleaning spray. The children are astonished at his skill, and all five of them spend the afternoon leaping around outside, pretending to skate like Mr. Ishioka. Before they split up for the evening, Magnolia invites them all to come over for dinner sometime in the next week.

Back at the laundromat, Magnolia hugs her mother and then asks where her father is. She discovers that he is with Alan, in the California closet. Mr. Wu is wearing a pink knitted bikini top. Alan explains that Iris sent a note to him saying “We’re rooting for you,” and it made him confident enough to finally share one of his designs with someone (145).