The Latehomecomer

Yang opens the chapter by saying, “I had been preparing for my grandma’s death for a long time” (232). Yang is a senior at Carleton, and she dreams of her grandma watching her walk down the aisle. However, every time Yang visits her grandma, she tries to subtly prepare Yang for her death—she constantly mentions dreams in which she is dying, or says that she doesn’t want anything when she dies. Yang is so fearful of her grandma’s death that she sneaks into her grandma’s room at night just to make sure she is still breathing. Yang recalls how she had “dark thoughts. Was Grandma O.K.? Was she asleep? Were her dreams taking her far away, to places where I could never reach for her? I felt a need to hear her breathe” (233). 

It is early January 2003, and Yang is nearing the end of her winter break. Her grandma falls at Uncle Sai’s house, and all of Yang’s extended family rushes to be by her side. She says that she is in pain, but Yang must return to school for the start of the winter trimester.

Yang is busy trying to write her graduation thesis when her cousin Lei calls and says their grandma isn’t doing well. Lei tells Yang not to worry, that she should focus on graduating. Lei promises to pick Yang up to visit their grandma soon.

Lei calls a week later and says their grandma is unconscious. Lei picks Yang up from school. Yang’s grandma is in a hospital bed at Uncle Eng’s house. She isn’t eating, she’s struggling for breath, and she is sweaty; the doctor says that her body is shutting down from old age.

For the next three days, Uncle Eng’s house is full of Yang’s relatives flocking to visit her grandma. By the end, they can no longer stand to watch her suffer, so an ambulance comes to take her to the hospital. After receiving an I.V., Yang’s grandma wakes up and recognizes most of her family in the hospital room. But sadly, without money, she is unable to stay in the hospital. She goes back to Uncle Eng’s house, and her family throws her a birthday party with her favorite foods. Yang is comforted by the thought that her grandma’s family is all together under one roof—something she had always wanted.

In the morning, Yang’s father tells her that she must return to school because she has missed too many classes. When Yang leaves, her grandma is again unconscious and barely breathing. Yang intends to visit her grandma the following weekend, but only three days later one of her cousins calls to say that her grandma has passed away. 

Yang’s grandma receives a traditional Hmong funeral, which is led by men who had memorized Hmong traditions from before the war and “were responsible for holding onto Hmong culture” (250). Hmong funerals are food ceremonies, and three elaborate meals are prepared each day, with food available twenty-four hours a day. Nine cows and three hundred chickens are slaughtered for the funeral.

The Hmong funeral ceremony consists of dressing the body in traditional Hmong clothing, guiding the soul to the next life, beating the drum of the dead, and playing the qeej, a “huge bamboo instrument played by men that carried the heart’s wishes for happy weddings, bountiful new years, and words to the dead” (252). A dead chicken is tied to the drum of the dead, so that the chicken can accompany Yang’s grandma on her long journey home.

The man leading the funeral guides Yang’s grandma back home by talking her through all the places she has lived. He starts by telling her to take a plane back to California, and ends by telling her to cross the Friendship Bridge between Thailand and Laos and find the home where she was born. After the man is finished, Uncle Eng gives a speech, and a live video of Yang’s grandma streams across a screen.

The funeral ceremony lasts for three days and is full of food, reminiscing, and reunion. The chapter closes with Yang placing dirt on her grandma’s coffin and promising that she will be her granddaughter again in another life.