When You Trap a Tiger

Question 1

I can turn invisible.

Answer 1

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 2

I had plans this summer - not that you care.

Answer 2

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 3

None of us like the idea of driving in this weather, not after Dad died.

Answer 3

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 4

Why else would it be lying out here in the rain?

Answer 4

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 5

My pulse is a wild beast as I scan the road, searching for horrors I don’t want to see.

Answer 5

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 6

That story always felt special, like there was a secret shimmering beneath the words.

Answer 6

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 7

It’s a small cottage, at the edge of town, at the top of a hill, across the street from the library and surrounded by woods.

Answer 7

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 8

She taps the side of the pane, runs her hand over the sill, then thumps a fist right below the glass.

Answer 8

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 9

I bet she did that all the time as a teenager.

Answer 9

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 10

But now, in front of the basement door, there’s a tower of engraved Korean chests and cardboard boxes, stacked like a barricade.

Answer 10

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 11

You’re being a QAG.

Answer 11

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 12

Her colorful silk tunic and white pants hang looser than usual.

Answer 12

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 13

Like I was saying, they are wet because we had to stand outside in the rain.

Answer 13

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 14

The basement flood, so the stuff come up.

Answer 14

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 15

We lay out food for the spirits and the ancestors and let them feast before we do.

Answer 15

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 16

I steal something that belong to them - long, long ago, when I little like you- and now they want it back.

Answer 16

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 17

So the older sister became the sun, and the younger sister became the moon.

Answer 17

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 18

And inside the bathroom - I see a shadow beast, a mess of black scales, hunched over and heaving.

Answer 18

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 19

The wrinkles around her eyes and lips are deeper than usual, but she looks healthy enough.

Answer 19

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 20

She flushes the toilet and stands up, stepping forward, into the moonlight.

Answer 20

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 21

Also on her nightstand, new: a row of tiny orange pill bottles.

Answer 21

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 22

The stars are made of stories?

Answer 22

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 23

And then I get to work, grabbing the stars - the bad stories - in my fists, stuffing them into jars.

Answer 23

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 24

She grabs a mug from its new home and starts making a cup of tea, even though I don’t really want one.

Answer 24

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 25

Some people, friends just stick to them.

Answer 25

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 26

There are different versions of certain fairy tales rom all over the world - even in places that don't overlap.

Answer 26

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 27

With one hand, I pat the mugwort in my pocket.

Answer 27

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 28

It's like she has a secret life.

Answer 28

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 29

She's telling him, I see you and I see the way you could be.

Answer 29

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 30

I don't know why she never talks to me about this stuff.

Answer 30

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 31

It did start raining, and because of my cereal disaster, we're caught in it.

Answer 31

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 32

I can't believe you made those guys help, and then you lectured them like that!

Answer 32

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 33

Little sisters get scared, and then big sisters comfort them and say, It's okay, I'll be the moon.

Answer 33

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 34

Above us, the first few stars peek out of the evening sky, and I ask them a silent question: What do I do?

Answer 34

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 35

I can't stand feeling helpless - like I have to fix it, but I don't know how.

Answer 35

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 36

If they stay locked away, they will make her sick.

Answer 36

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 37

Her stripes blur into blackness, and she's gone.

Answer 37

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 38

Not sure how much money that would actually raise, but it does seem like a good way to get the community engaged.

Answer 38

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 39

I read so many comic books, and plus, I've probably inherited knowledge from my great-grandpa.

Answer 39

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 40

Why are you wearing that hat and why are you holding a pile of rope?

Answer 40

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 41

It's not his fault he doesn't know the bigger picture, and if he wants to talk about comics or hats or anything, I should just let him.

Answer 41

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 42

I'm not getting tutored because I'm stupid.

Answer 42

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 43

Well, it's hypothetical, so...we won't do that, I say.

Answer 43

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 44

I take the star jars up to the attic room and hide them under my bed.

Answer 44

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 45

But looking at these jars, I realize: I've found my bait.

Answer 45

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 46

I force myself to stare into those glowing yellow eyes, those pupils like pools of black ink.

Answer 46

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 47

We've only just begun, and there are consequences to telling the truth.

Answer 47

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 48

The next afternoon, I announce, I need to make rice cakes.

Answer 48

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 49

You know she made your poor father eat mud.

Answer 49

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 50

Aside from the baby, the whole restaurant is silent as people watch, pretending this isn't the worst moment of all time.

Answer 50

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 51

I Google a recipe on my phone, and we start throwing stuff together - mochi flour and brown sugar and coconut milk.

Answer 51

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 52

Even if things aren't perfect, they can still be good.

Answer 52

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 53

The granddaughter twisted, trying to escape, and when she did, her black hair caught in the moonlight, which lit up a stripe of bright white.

Answer 53

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 54

I lift my foot and realize it's rice - uncooked grains, scattered across the steps.

Answer 54

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 55

Without an answer, she picks up a piece of kimchi with two fingers and holds it out to me.

Answer 55

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 56

And the thing I've learned is that stories aren't about order and organization.

Answer 56

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 57

Chocolate pudding is the fourth most delicious food.

Answer 57

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 58

But as I stand there, staring at the pudding, that thought settles in my stomach, thick and heavy as mud.

Answer 58

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 59

I make things better, and I don't trick people, making them wait for the end while bad things happen.

Answer 59

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 60

But the embarrassment was never ever as strong as the pride I felt, because she's pretty incredible, isn't she?

Answer 60

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 61

Absentmindedly, I fiddle with the mugwort in my pocket, letting the crinkle and crunch soothe me.

Answer 61

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 62

It's hall-moe-knee, not harmony.

Answer 62

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 63

Suddenly, his self-sabotage over the language arts test and the tutoring makes sense.

Answer 63

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 64

You do new, brave things, and you find out who you is in not-you situations.

Answer 64

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 65

I lift the tall, thin jar - and I throw it against the wall, watching with relief as that one shatters, too.

Answer 65

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 66

Maybe it's scary to tell stories and share their truths - but I'd rather face them than run.

Answer 66

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 67

As she walks, the rain lessens behind her.

Answer 67

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 68

Take your history, understand where you came from and who you are - then find your own story.

Answer 68

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 69

She makes a grasping motion, as if she's plucking a star from the sky and holds it out to me.

Answer 69

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 70

The mistake was creating a world where she had to hide - where she was afraid to be everything at once, fierce and kind, soft and strong.

Answer 70

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 71

When Halmoni finally does go, I know she's ready.

Answer 71

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 72

I am a girl who sees invisible things, but I am not invisible.

Answer 72

When You Trap a Tiger

Question 73

But somewhere along the way, I'd started dividing my blood into parts.

Answer 73

When You Trap a Tiger - Author's Note

Question 74

I worked like this, alternating between writing and research, treating these coincidences as clues, as if I were piecing together a story that had already been told long, long ago and I only had to bridge the gaps.

Answer 74

When You Trap a Tiger - Author's Note