The next morning, Mr Krass meets with Rosie in his office. “It was a cleaner who emptied the contents of the box,” he tells her. “Apparently there was a note on the box that said ‘THROW AWAY’ so the cleaner did what he thought he was supposed to do.”
“Who wrote that on the box?” Rosie asks, trying to stay calm.
“It’s hard to say, Rosie,” Mr Krass answers. “We don’t know if the words were written recently or a while ago. They could have already been on the box before the votes were collected. You know how we reuse and recycle stuff around here. I’m not sure that we can ever find out the truth.”
“I see,” Rosie says. “Thanks for your help, Mr Krass. This election has been an eye-opening experience.” Noticing the concern in the teacher’s expression, she adds, “Not to worry, I’m really okay with Sharon winning and becoming president. But she might not be so lucky next year.”
Mr Krass relaxes when he sees Rosie’s grin. “I’m looking forward to it,” he replies.
On Saturday morning, everyone is up early to watch Mom on TV.
Holding a heaping bowl of corn flakes, Alex plops down on the couch and turns to his mom. “When are you going to be on? I want to watch my cartoons,” he says.
“Relax, Alex, Mom will be on TV any second now,” Rosie says, as she eats her cereal.
After the cooking show was taped two days earlier, Rosie’s mom came home to tell her family about her thrilling encounter with Sammy Lee and what it was like to be on the show. Mom had called Grandma, Uncle Amos and Auntie Jen, and all of her friends to tell them to watch the show this morning.
“My wife is now a famous chef!” Dad told his friends, which made Mom really pleased.
“Shh...shh...shh, everyone, the show is starting,” Mom says, sitting on the edge of the couch.
“Hello, everyone, hello to all of you here in our studio audience and all of you at home,” Sammy Lee greets warmly. “Today we have a special guest on our show. We have the winner of the contest here with us. Her name is Tracey Smith. Say hello, Tracey! Don’t be nervous, there are only about 100 pairs of eyes on you at the moment in the studio, and probably 100,000 more pairs of eyes at home.”
“Mom is on TV!” Alex exclaims.
“Shh, Alex,” Rosie chides. “Let’s hear what Mom is saying.”
On TV, Mom is nodding her head and smiling at Sammy Lee—a lot. In fact, it looks like that’s mostly what she’s doing, besides answering “yes” to everything that Sammy says.
“So you are from Singapore, but you lived for many years in New York, is that right?” Sammy asks.
“Yes,” Mom answers.
“What local dish did you miss most?”
“Yes,” Mom repeats.
“Okay, yes, laksa it is,” Sammy announces, beaming at the audience. “Tracey is going to show us how to make her special laksa.”
“Yes.”
When the camera focuses on Mom during the show, she seems to be afraid to move even a muscle, only managing to smile rigidly. Dad and Rosie exchange looks and Rosie shrugs.
Thankfully, Mom seems to relax a little once she’s chopping and stirring as she makes the laksa dish. But she still says “yes” whenever Sammy talks to her.
When the show is over, Mom turns to everyone and asks nervously, “So, what did you think?”
“You were great, Mom,” Alex declares. “Now can I watch cartoons?”
“Well, Mom, you just seemed to—” Rosie starts to say, but Dad quickly cuts in. “You were great, honey, simply amazing!”
“Really?” Mom asks, and gives Dad a hug. “I couldn’t have done it without you, without all of you. Thank you for putting up with all my mistakes and experiments in the kitchen! I think I’m getting the hang of cooking local food, though.”
“Of course you are, dear! You are going to be the best!” Dad agrees cheerily, then looks somewhat relieved when the phone rings. It’s Grandma calling to congratulate her daughter.
Rosie nudges her dad. “What’s going on, Dad?” she whispers. “All Mom managed to say on TV was yes, yes, yes to everything. Even when Sammy Lee asked her what her favourite dish was, she said ‘yes’.”
“Rosie, sometimes you just have to offer lots of encouragement,” Dad explains. “You have to make those you love feel strong and confident, even when they make mistakes, so that when you make mistakes, they are there to make you feel strong and make you feel better.”
Rosie smiles. “I get it, Dad,” she says, just as Mom hangs up the phone.
“What did you guys think?” Mom asks.
“You were awesome, Mom,” Rosie tells her. “Were you a little nervous?”
“Yes,” Mom answers. “Could you tell?”
Rosie looks at Dad and Alex and they all shout, “Yes!” at the same time.
Mom is a little taken aback at first but starts to laugh. “I did say ‘yes’ a lot, didn’t I?”
They all exchange looks and once again shout out, “Yes!” then everyone cracks up. Rosie is still giggling when Pink knocks on the front door.
“Hi, Auntie Tracey, you were terrific on TV,” Pink says when she comes in. She smiles at the sight of Rosie’s family wiping tears of laughter from their eyes.
“Oh, thank you, Pink,” Rosie’s mom says. “My family thinks I did a great job too, don’t you guys?”
Rosie, Alex and their dad are only too pleased to once again yell out, “Yes!”
Pink laughs along with them, then goes with Rosie to her room. “We’ve had so much excitement in the last few weeks, right, Rosie?”
Rosie grins. “Yes,” she says. “It’s been a wild ride, from joining water polo to not joining and running for student council and losing to Sharon to winning the talent show with you to Mom being on TV. Whew!”
“Yes, crazy,” Pink agrees. “Crazy but fun. Rosie, I know you miss New York, but I’m really glad you came to Singapore, you know?”
“Me too, Pink,” Rosie answers. “So glad you’re my BFF.”
“So what’s next for Rosie Smith?” Pink asks.
“Who knows? Today, Singapore, tomorrow, the world?” Rosie replies with a laugh. “All I know is I can’t wait to go to the water park!”
