The Name Jar (4 page)

“Hey!” said the customer, turning around. It was Joey.

“Your name is Un-hee?” he asked her with his eyes open wide.

Unhei looked quickly at Mr. Kim, then turned to Joey. She nodded slowly. “Yes. It’s pronounced Yoon-hye.”

“And it means
grace
,” Mr. Kim added.

“Yoon-hye,” Joey said slowly and this time perfectly. It made Unhei smile.

“I’ll have it ready for you tomorrow,” said Mr. Kim to Joey.

“Thank you, Mr. Kim. See you Monday, Unhei,” Joey said to her.

He left before she could ask him why he was at the store.

On Monday, Unhei came to class early to look at the names one last time.

But the jar wasn’t on her desk. Instead, there was a single piece of paper. Paper with a name on it. Unhei slipped it in her pocket.

“Where’s your name jar?” Ralph asked as soon as he saw it was gone.

“I don’t know,” Unhei said. It wasn’t on Mr. Cocotos’s desk or on any other desk. And it wasn’t on the counters or any of the shelves.

As other kids arrived, they helped look.

Soon, Mr. Cocotos came in and Ralph shouted at him, “The name jar is gone! The jar with all the names in it!”

“Gone?” Mr. Cocotos replied. With a look of concern, he asked Unhei, “Did you get a chance to read all the names?”

Unhei nodded. She took a breath. “I’m ready to introduce myself,” she said.

Unhei wrote her name in both English and Korean on the chalkboard.

“I liked the beautiful names and funny names you thought of for me,” she told the class. “But I realized that I liked my name best, so I chose it again. Korean names mean something. Unhei means
grace
.”

“Grace! Grace In-hye!” shouted Ralph. Everyone tried to say it. “Yn-ha-e. Unh-yee. Unhae.”

Unhei said her name again slowly and clearly. Soon, the kids began to say it better. Even Mr. Cocotos. They applauded Unhei’s choice.

“I was named after a flower,” Rosie whispered to Unhei.

“Lots of American names have meanings, too,” Mr. Cocotos reminded everyone.

When the class was dismissed, Unhei heard her new friends say good-bye.

“Bye, Unhei. See you tomorrow.” “G’bye, Unhei.”

Unhei said good-bye and then looked around for Joey. But he was already gone.

“Unhei! Unhei! Come downstairs!” Mother called up to Unhei. “Your friend is here!”

Unhei rushed down to see who she meant.

There stood Joey. And in his arms was the name jar.

“Where did you find it?” asked Unhei breathlessly.

Joey looked embarrassed. “Um, well, I took it. But only because I wanted you to keep your own name. And you did!” He reached in and pulled out the names. “Do you want to keep them?” he asked.

“Thank you. I’ll keep them as a souvenir,” Unhei said happily. Then she pulled out the piece of paper from her pocket. “Do you want this back?”

Joey grinned. “You can keep it. I’ll return the name jar to the class. Maybe you could put some Korean nicknames in it for us. Names with good meanings.”

“I could do that,” agreed Unhei.

“I’ve already got a Korean nickname,” Joey said. “Mr. Kim helped me choose it.”

Carefully, he pulled a small silver felt pouch from his pocket. Then he took out a dark wooden stamp with beautiful Korean characters carved sharply into it. He pressed it on the ink pad and then on the piece of paper next to her name.

“Chinku,” read Unhei. “That means
friend
!”

And Chinku smiled back.