The narrator tells us that he's going to pick her up for dinner. He's worried that her dad isn't home, and he wonders if he'll ever come back to the house again. He realizes that the house is empty, and that no one has lived there for a long time. He wonders if maybe he should come back another day, but he doesn't know how to feel about it. He remembers that his dad bought him a picture book when he first came to the U.S., and the picture book is still there. He also remembers that the sketchbook that his mom told him to draw every day is still in the room. The narrator wonders if his dad will ever like his drawings, but his mom assures him that he will eventually. She also tells the narrator that her uncle gave her the allowance when she had no income, and his uncle thought the allowance was too much, but she insisted on it. There's another person who's been worried about her, and she worries that if her dad didn't love her, she wouldn't be able to show up at their family dinner, and would give rise to all kinds of problems.