I said yes, welcoming the chance to spend time with them out of the house. I was so thankful not to be living together anymore and so glad they knew nothing about the messiness of my life. IKEA was the newest tourist destination for locals in Beijing—I even brought along my camera. The store was packed. A sign in the bedroom department invited shoppers to try out the beds for at least a few moments, but there was no need for such an invitation. Entire families bounced up and down together on the beds. People sat on all the sofas and picked up and examined every utensil in the model kitchens, as if encountering the relics of a futuristic civilization. We joined in. After a walk through the store, Bobo and Bomu sank down into two recliners. They looked slightly ill at ease and seeing them there reminded me of my very last visit to their big courtyard house, the one that had been demolished the summer before. I had returned to that house one day to find a pert single bed sitting in a corner of the living room, which had been completely cleared of the sagging couches and worn side tables.
