“Did Mei call you today?” Long asked directly suspiciously, without even calling my name as he’d normally do. Like an annoying midge in my ear, he talked to me as though it was the fi rst time since becoming an adult. He seemed to be shocked by something terrible, even double-shocked by something disastrous. And he sounded as if he was in the aftershock.
“Yes, why?” I blurted carelessly.