At the Heart of the Universe by Samuel Shem Page B

world—and is still smiling!
    For the first time in her life she goes down on her knees to an image of a divinity. She places her hands palm to palm under her chin and touches her forehead to the wood, and says out loud:
    â€œThank you, goddess. Please help me to be an instrument of your compassion and your—”
    â€œMom, what are you doing ?”
    Clio lifts her head off the wood and turns.
    Katie, standing there beside Pep.
    Rhett too.
    Pep is raising his Olympus.
    â€œDon’t! Pep, don’t!” He lowers it. Clio rises and turns to Katie. “I was offering a prayer to Kwan Yin. You remember, the goddess of compassion.”
    â€œYeah. What did you pray?”
    â€œI asked for her help in being... kind to other people, being compassionate. And I thanked her for helping me, these ten years, to be a mother to you. Right from that first moment, at home in the kitchen ten years ago, when we got the phone call from the adoption agency, telling us that you were ours.”
    â€œNow that ,” Pep says, “was an amazing !”
    â€œI kinda remember,” Katie says, puzzled. “Some thingee with a card?”
    â€œYes,” Clio says. “We were scheduled to be in the first group of eight couples to go to China to adopt, but we were too late with our documents, so instead of us, some friends went first. We decided to buy them a card to congratulate them when they came home. We found a card from the I Ching , an ancient Chinese book of fortune telling. It was Hexagram Three, ‘New Beginnings,’ with a Chinese character on it. And below it was a poem. I memorized it:
    Times of birth and growth start unseen, below the surface.
    Everything is dark and still unformed, yet teeming with motion.
    Difficulties and chaos loom.
    Despite this struggle, energy and resources are collected,
    and form begins to take shape.
    The young plant takes root, rises above the ground, and is brought to light.
    â€œBut we liked it so much,” she goes on, “the ‘New Beginnings,’ that we kept it for ourselves—and got them another card. We even made a big poster of it, and kept it by our bed.”
    â€œSo I would be your like new beginning?”
    â€œYes, dear,” Clio says, “our young plant, brought to light.”
    â€œAnd then,” Pep says, “a few weeks later, we’re in the kitchen and the phone rings, and I pick it up. It’s the lady from the adoption agency. She says she has good news. I say, ‘Hold on while I put you on speaker.’ She says that the orphanage has a baby for us, and that the only two things she knows about our baby are her date of birth—June 25, 1991—and her name. And her name is... Chun ! The same name on the card! It means ‘Spring’ or ‘New Beginnings.’”
    Katie’s mouth is open in amazement. “Wow.”
    â€œYeah!” Pep says. “Out of all the thousands and thousands of Chinese characters, ‘Chun’ was the one we picked out. And it turned out to be you .”
    â€œAnd then what happened?”
    â€œDad and I started to cry, and I fell down on the floor.”
    â€œYou really fell down?”
    â€œOn the floor, yes. I fell down and I was so happy I cried. It was a miracle.”
    â€œWe knew then...” Pep says, choking up, so he has to catch his breath. “We knew that you were the baby meant for us.”
    â€œAnd that you were meant for me too, right?”
    Clio nods.
    Pep throws big arms around the two of them, and squeezes.
    Katie, released, laughs and says, “It is an amazing, yeah! Hey, I’ve got an idea—let’s light a stick of incense to it, to the Chun, and to the goddess too?”
    They do. Clio says, “Thank you, goddess, for your loving-kindness and your wisdom, for this wonderful girl and wonderful dad and wonderful trip back to you.”
    Another hug, and they walk down to the van.
    With a final