A Family of Dreamers
- Picture a little plot of grass and a squat house with a low roof. A lot like a hen.
- No, it's not Young Ju's old house in Korea—it's their new house in America.
- Sure it's not much to look at and it's not one of those nice houses on the hill, but it's their own house, which they got without Apa.
- Too bad Young Ju has to leave for college soon since they just started moving in.
- Uhmma and she have to share a bedroom while she's home, but that's no biggie.
- This house has its own dining room—something totally new for Uhmma—and there's even a spot for them to hang a chandelier if they want to.
- They still have their old couch, but they've traded in that old sheet for a new blue sheet over the couch.
- Uhmma wants to save money for a new couch, but right now they're wiped out because of the new house.
- Uhmma's income from working at Gomo's new dry-cleaning business, plus Joon's money from his after-school job at Kinko's, plus Young Ju's money from tutoring all went to go buy this house.
- And they still took out a loan from Gomo and Uncle Tim (which Gomo wanted Uhmma to take because, you know, they're family).
- Good thing Young Ju's got a scholarship to college.
- Now she's thinking about college: what if she can't make it there? What if people think she's like an alien?
- But Young Ju stops herself and tells herself to get to work unpacking.
- While they're unpacking some boxes, Uhmma and Young Ju find a pile of pictures.
- One picture shows a young girl and boy in uniforms; the girl is Uhmma and the boy is her brother Song Won Ju.
- That's news to Young Ju, who never knew Uhmma even had a brother (and she an uncle).
- So that makes Young Ju wonder: how come they never hear about Uhmma's family?
- Uhmma passes another photo to Young Ju, a picture of Uhmma's family.
- Uhmma tells Young Ju that it makes her too sad to talk about her family since it makes her miss Korea.
- Young Ju also figures out from looking at the picture that Uhmma came from a rich family—much richer than Apa's family.
- Then Uhmma pulls out another picture: it's of Young Ju, Apa, and Uhmma at the beach in Korea.
- Uhmma tells Young Ju that that was one of the best days of her life—it was the day that Young Ju learned how to jump into the waves.
- Uhmma gets Young Ju to try and remember that day and who taught her to go into the waves.
- Young Ju tries to remember and guesses Uhmma.
- Nope.
- Halmoni?
- Nope.
- Apa?
- Yep.
- It was Apa who taught her how to go into the waves. Note: this is super-major because now we know who the adult is in Chapter 1.
- Young Ju's kind of stunned by this news because the person who taught her was so nice and encouraging—in other words, so not Apa.
- But Uhmma reminds Young Ju that Apa was a different person back then. He was a dreamer, just like Young Ju—in fact, they come from "a family of dreamers."
- Uhmma tells Young Ju to take that picture to college so that she can remember how she comes from "a family of dreamers."
- The chapter ends the same way the first chapter ends, with this line: "I am a sea bubble floating, floating in a dream. Bhop."