Jack

Jack is our driver. Every morning the garage door creaks open at eight o'clock and he comes in to help get Natlie ready for the day. He is devoted to Portia and Natlie and stays all day every day with them and their car. He leaves at 7:30 pm every night after Natlie goes to bed.

Jack knows everything about Shanghai. He knows where to find the cheapest phones and movies and clothes. He knows the streets like the back of his hand. He knows he knows everything.

Here are some things I have noticed about Jack: He wears red socks because according to the zodiac calendar he needs to wear something special in order to have good luck. On rainy days he wears a black corduroy jacket. Jack also has really well-manicured fingernails. His thumb and little finger nails are all really long. I think he uses them as tools, but they're scary-looking. There's also a jade stone Buddha face on Jack's belt strap. He wears it every day.

Jack doesn't talk that much. We have one inside-joke. One time I woke him up when I opened the car door to go somewhere. He yawned. I wanted to show off my new vocabulary. "Jiou shun hiao." That's "Good Morning". Now he uses it all the time. It's not that funny but I'm glad we have a joke. Most of the time he reads the paper in his down time. He listens to talk radio too. Sometimes he comes inside and sits at the dining room table focused hard on Natlie's rubix cube or he plays with Natlie and me as the Big Bad Wolf.

I love watching the driver because he's just so different. And I wanted you all to meet one of the people who has become part of my everyday life.