Petals from the Sky. Mingmei Yip

      

Petals from the Sky

      ALSO BY MINGMEI YIP

      Peach Blossom Pavilion

      Petals from the Sky

      Mingmei Yip

      KENSINGTON BOOKS

       www.kensingtonbooks.com

      To Geoffrey, loving husband and precious treasure

      A thousand miles apart, yet the same moon shines over us all.

      —Su Dongpo (1036–1101), Song dynasty poet

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      In writing a novel, between the first word and the last one, there is a long, head-scratching, and pencil-biting process of filling in the hundreds of pages in between.

      This daunting task, seemingly solitary, could not have been completed without the help and support of many others.

      First and foremost, I owe each of these 338 pages of Petals from the Sky to my husband, Geoffrey Redmond, an endocrinologist specializing in women’s hormones, himself an excellent writer with six books to his credit. Geoffrey is always my first reader, friendly critic, and trusted adviser, literary and otherwise.

      I owe my ability to cheerfully complete my work to the great support and contagious enthusiasm of my agent, Susan Crawford, and my editor, Audrey LaFehr, whose appreciation and kindness would be any writer’s elixir.

      I also want to give special thanks to my other Kensington supporters: Karen Auerbach, Maureen Cuddy, and Martin Biro, whose hard work and generosity contributed to the success of my first novel, Peach Blossom Pavilion.

      I must mention some of the many other writers and writing instructors who helped me along a writer’s arduous, yet wonderful, path:

      Neal Chandler, director of Cleveland State University’s Imagination Workshop, and a writing teacher par excellence.

      Lewis Frumkes, director of Marymount Manhattan College’s Writing Center, who graciously invited me to many of Marymount’s literary events, where I was privileged to meet some of the great authors of our time.

      Max Byrd, author of historical novels and workshop director of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.

      Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times best-selling author of The Jane Austin Book Club, and instructor at the Imagination Workshop.

      Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog, an Oprah’s Book Club selection, and instructor at the Imagination Workshop.

      Ray Strait, instructor, Palm Springs Writers’ Conference.

      Kitty Griffin, my German “sister,” fellow children’s book writer, and coauthor of The Foot-Stomping Adventures of Clementine Sweet, whose generosity and kindness are rarely matched.

      Lee Kochenderfer, author of young adult fiction—though our encounter was brief, her support for me has been more than generous.

      Ellen Scordato, instructor and virtuoso grammarian, New School University, who patiently and generously answered my questions and solved my many puzzles of grammar that have no equivalent in my native Chinese.

      Victor Turks, gracious host during my event at the City College of San Francisco.

      My writer friends Sheila Weinstein, Esta Fischer, Chun Yu, Kathleen Spiveck, Baixi Su, and Shobhan Bantwal, for their generous help and delightful friendship.

      Hannelore Hahn, founder and executive director—and her daughter Elizabeth Julia Stoumen—of the International Women’s Writing Guild (IWWG), for their untiring efforts to help make many women writers’ dreams come true.

      And others to whom I am connected through happy karma in this Thousand-Miles-Rest Dust:

      Teryle Ciaccia, close friend of two decades and fellow Tai Chi instructor, who never ceases to send me good qi, whether by phone or in person.

      Elsbeth Reimann, fellow IWWG participant, who always keeps me cheerful at the IWWG’s annual conference at Skidmore.

      Eugenia Oi Yan Yau, my one-time student, now distinguished professor of music and vocalist, upon whom I have always been able to rely. And, of course, her husband, Jose Santos.

      In Chinese fashion, I must also acknowledge the overwhelming debt of a daughter to her parents. Without my parents’ vision and selfless support, I would not be who I am today: a happy woman whose dreams have come true.

      For my other friends and readers, wherever in this world or another, the same moon shines over us all.

      Contents

      Part One

      1. The Retreat

      2. The Fall

      3. To Accumulate More Merit

      4. The Scarred Nun

      5. Depending on Emptiness

      6. The Fire

      7. One Day When We Were Young

      8. The Same Moon Shines Over Us All

      9. The Peak

      10. Decadent Pleasure

      11. The Proposal

      12. The Nun and the Prostitute

      13. The Non-Nun Nun

      14. Under the Paris Sun

      Part Two

      15. New York, New York

      16. The Fortune-Teller

      17. The Teenage Orphan

      18. Reception at the Met

      19. Beauty with a Limp

      20. Philip Noble

      21. Why Don’t You Try It with a Woman?

      22. The Dying Kitten

      23. Vegetable Root Zen Center

      24. Men Are Nothing but Trouble

      25. The Funeral

      Part Three

      26. Form Is Emptiness

      27. The Golden Body

      28. The Private Retreat

      29. Wedding Pictures

      30. A Trip to China

      31. Great Protector of the Dharma

      32. The Elevator

      33. The Peach Blossom Garden

      34. The Car Accident

      35. The Hospital

      36. The Missing Temple

      Part Four

      37. Bad Karma

      38. Confessions

      39. Ten Thousand Miles of Red Dust

      Epilogue

      A Reading Group Guide

      Discussion Questions

PART ONE

      1

      The Retreat

      Mother choked and spilled her tea. “Ai-ya, what evil person has planted this crazy idea into your head?”

      I was twenty and had just told her my wish to become a Buddhist nun.

      She stooped to wipe the stain from the floor, her waist disappearing into the fold of flesh around her middle.