Mei’s Life
The narrator is a young Chinese-American girl living and working with her father in a logging camp as a camp. And this was a time way before everything was sold pre-packaged at a grocery store within five miles of every house. As a result, Mei’s life is the only thing pre-packaged for her:
“I don’t pray anymore. I inhale incense smoke and think of all things I have to do. Make the breakfasts. Assemble the lunch bags. Make dough. Peel potatoes. Make pie.”
Mei’s Future
The package deal that is Mei’s life is not limited to just the present. Her future is also already mapped out for her well ahead of time. Or, at least, that is the assumption among the white male membership of the cam as personified by the most outspoken among them:
“No one cares who Mei marries. Isn’t that right, Mei? She’s not like, Bee. Mei doesn’t have a real future.”
A Future for Mei and Bee
Imagery conveys one potential future for Mei—and her best friend Bee—that the male speaker of the previous quote assuredly never even once considered. And if he ever does, it is a certainty that he would not consider it any sort of “real” future for either one of the girls. Mei tells Bee she doesn’t want to get married because she “doesn’t like boys” and Bee responds with thinly veiled imagery that is subtly implying more than it seems:
“Well, you’ll move in with me and you’ll write stories and poems under a man’s name and sell them to the paper. I’ll illustrated them for you.”
To which Mei tellingly replies with everything not explicitly being said lying hidden in the ellipse:
“That…sounds very nice, actually.”
Trans-Possibilities
One scene in particular lends the story an undertone suggesting that Mei may possibly be dealing with gender dysphoria. This possibility is not beaten with a stick as the author is confident enough to present it as one possibility conveyed through the subtle artistry of imagery. Mei is shown wearing pants and a man’s shirt while traipsing through the forest in search of firewood. Her thoughts turn to a recent encounter with Bee and how she was:
"just confiding in me about normal girl things. And I should like that. I don’t like it!”
