The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

U Ba runs an errand, leaving Julia to walk to the house where her father grew up by herself. She immediately recognizes the shack as well as the once opulent main house behind it; the shack would fit inside her living room in New York City. She also recognizes many of the landmarks from U Ba’s story. Julia wonders if her father and Mi Mi live in the main house. U Ba catches up to her and says, “Mi Mi and your father don’t live here” (243). They sit beneath an avocado tree, eat fruit, and drink tea.

U Ba resumes the story. Tin wakes in his bedroom at his uncle’s house, an unfamiliar place. He longs for Mi Mi and Su Kyi. He eats some breakfast and explores his room on his hands and knees. His uncle, U Saw, is a wealthy merchant who decided to bring him to Rangoon on the advice of an astrologer, who warned him that he would face financial misfortune should he not do good by a relative. U Saw expected Tin to be immobile and is astonished at his height, confidence, and manners.