The Name Jar (3 page)

“Ha-ee, ma nem id Shoozhy,” she said to the mirror with her mouth full of toothpaste.

The next morning, when Unhei arrived at school, she found a glass jar on her desk with some pieces of paper in it. Unhei took one out and read it aloud. “Daisy.”

“That’s my baby sister’s nickname, but she said you can use it if you want,” said Cindy, who sat next to her.

Unhei took out the rest of the paper.

“Tamela,” she read.

“I got it from a storybook,” said Nate. “She was smart and brave.”

Unhei nodded and unfolded another piece. “Wensdy?”

“Yeah. You came here on a Wednesday,” said Ralph.

“Thank you … for your help.” A smile spread over Unhei’s face.

Ralph quickly said, “We’ll put more names in. You can pick whatever you like—or pick them all, and you’ll have the longest name in history!”

At three o’clock, the bell rang for the end of the school day. Unhei looked out the window and saw it was sprinkling.
It’s the same rain
, she thought,
but in a different place
. She watched other kids leaving in groups.

“Hey!” a familiar voice called out to her.

Unhei turned around to see the curly-haired boy again.

“I’m Joey,” he said. “And you? Don’t you have
any
name?”

Unhei thought for a moment. “Well … I can
show
you,” she said, and took out the small red pouch. She pressed the wooden block on the ink pad and then stamped it on a piece of paper.

“This is my name stamp,” she said. “My grandma gave it to me. In Korea, I can use it as a signature when I open a bank account or write a letter. And whenever I miss my grandma, I use it to fill a piece of paper. Want to try it?” She offered the stamp to Joey, and he carefully inked the stamp and pressed it hard on the paper. The red characters gleamed against the whiteness.

“Wow. That’s beautiful,” Joey said. “Can I keep the paper?”

“Sure,” Unhei said. And then the two of them shared her umbrella as they walked to the school bus.

Every day, the jar got fuller with more names, and Unhei read them all. She found a few names she liked—Miranda. Stella. Avery. They sounded interesting.

“I hope you choose the name I put in,” Marco told her at snack time.

“I’ve put in three more,” said Ralph. “Madison, Park, and Lex. They’re my favorite street names.”

“Maybe you should close your eyes and draw a name,” Rosie suggested.

Ralph frowned. “That’s silly. What if she doesn’t like the name she draws?”

“Well, we didn’t get to choose
our
names when we were born, did we?” Rosie argued.

Everyone thought about this.

When Unhei got home from school that day, her little brother ran to give her a letter. It was from her grandma.

She opened it quickly. It said,

Unhei took out her wooden stamp and filled a paper with it. She thought for a long time in front of the bathroom mirror.

On Saturday, Unhei walked to Mr. Kim’s store. Mr. Kim was helping a customer, but he looked up and greeted her.

“Hi, Unhei!”

“Hello, Mr. Kim,” Unhei replied. She felt as if she was back in her old neighborhood in Korea.