Larry's Kidney

Just started LARRY'S KIDNEY, by Daniel Asa Rose, "...the true story of how I found myself in China with my black sheep cousin and his mail-order bride, skirting the law to get him a transplant -- and save his life."

I was in bed, reading, and when I got to page 19, I busted out laughing. It seems Daniel is in Tiananmen Square, and he asks his tour guide, Yuh-vonne, if she's aware of what happened there in the late 1980s. This is what transpires:

Yuh-vonne winks lasciviously. "Inside those walls, emperor spend so much time playing with his concubine," she says.

"No, not inside the Forbidden City," I say. "Across the street in the square. In 1989."

Yuh-vonne quickly averts her gaze. "Our elders will not tell us," she says. "Many time we ask them, but they say don't ask."

"Do you know that students were hurt here?"

"A few," she says carefully. "That about it."

I bring her gaze back to me with a hand on her shoulder. "Not a few," I say. "Hundreds. The tanks rolled right over them when they were protesting."

"Ow my God!" she says, sucking in her breath. "I have to go tawlet!"

"Seriously?"

"No, I can wait," she says, but she looks constipated suddenly, buttoned up.

Can't wait to read more!