A Thousand Purple Stars (JinJi)

Park Jinyoung

Jinyoung's new apartment wasn't really even an apartment at all.

It was actually just a room on the third floor of Hillside Residences, a convalescent home for the elderly. Being just twenty-two, most people would find it weird for him to live in a home for the elderly, but it was private and affordable and the best Jinyoung could do on short notice and for such a short-term arrangement. It was already furnished, too, and he got it cheap because the owner of the convalescent home was Jackson's mother who, being a hopeless romantic, was sympathetic to his situation.

That, and he also agreed to take on three shifts a week on a volunteer basis. Two weekend morning shifts and one evening shift on Tuesdays.

It was easy work; Jackson's mother didn't even seem all that bothered by his lack of professional medical experience. She was walking through the room, pointing things out. Despite her age, she looked young and curvaceous and her hair was full and dark.

She told Jinyoung that most of his duties would include things like helping the kitchen staff prepare breakfast or helping some of the residents out of their beds and into their chairs or changing bedpans. Mostly, she just needed another strong pair of young arms, and in exchange for discounted rent, Jinyoung was happy to do the job.

"We have a company that comes by and does the linens on Thursdays," Mrs. Wang said, snatching the dusty linen sheet off the twin bed and rolling it up in her arms. Jinyoung stood in the doorway with a box of his things in his arms. Beside him, Jackson was carrying a second box of his belongings.

Jinyoung stepped inside and looked around the room. It was small, much smaller than the bedroom he shared with Mark back on Campus Drive. A twin-sized bed in the corner of the room. A square window in the center of the wall. There was also a bedside table with a vase full of daffodils and a lamp. On the opposite wall, there was a good-sized wardrobe and a desk. Meager, but it would do.

"Just roll up the soiled sheets and leave them outside your door," Mrs. Wang continued. "You got your bed, your desk, a wardrobe here. There's a bathroom down the hall. Breakfast is from 7 to 10, dinner is at 6, lunch for the residents is at 12:30 but you've gotta cover that one on your own. Following?"

"God, life here is like life in a religious order," Jackson said. "Never knew you ran such a tight ship, Ma."

"How do you think I'm putting you through college?" Mrs. Wang said. "Rent is due on the first of the month. If you won't be around, just stick it under the 'welcome' mat in front of the office. And don't forget, you've got two morning shifts and the graveyard shift on Wednesday."

After explaining his living situation further and giving her son a quick scolding about not coming home often enough, Mrs. Wang left the boys to unpack. Jackson made a show of dumping the box onto the desk and then straightening out and rubbing his back. Jinyoung squatted down and put his box down on the floor. Jackson looked around the room and whistled, commenting that Jinyoung had seriously downgraded from the three-bedroom apartment on Campus Drive. Jinyoung didn't answer him.

"Isn't it kind of morbid to call it the 'graveyard' shift?" Jackson asked after another beat of silence.

"What do you mean?" Jinyoung asked, starting to take items out of the box and lay them on the bed. Textbooks and cable wires. A watch and a pair of black leather Oxfords. A box of brand new pens and an amigurumi octopus. Jackson watched the sad way that his friend handled his own belongings.

"I mean... the graveyard is where most of these people are going really soon," Jackson said, trying to sound cheerful. "Seems kind of insensitive to rub it in their faces."

Jinyoung lifted a picture frame with a photo of his family in it and placed it on the bedside table. "Guess so," he said flatly. Jackson pursed his lips.