The People of the Night

New Year's Eve dinner was already on the table, but Yue'e was still in the kitchen slicing ginger. In a small European city by the river, generations of Chinese immigrants have made a living through restaurants. The owner calculates wages and the cost of machines, the chef tends the flames, and the children speak to the voices in their headphones. Machines begin cooking, taking orders, and watching over the elderly at night. Yue'e's hands move from the cutting board to a bed in a care home, where the number of minutes a person should spend at each bed each night becomes a subject of debate in the council. Some are forced to return to their hometowns, some start families in foreign lands, and some don't get a home of their own until old age. The restaurant changes hands, the children grow up, and the bridge back home is rebuilt. They make a living, start families, and grow old far from home. The calls they never answered, the voice messages they never heard, and the old knife left hanging on the wall hold all the words they never got to say.