They had a pair of twins, named Ving and Ling, who were my age. I liked Ving, but his sister Ling was kind of a bitch. Eventually, Ling told me that he hated his name, and he wanted to change it. I asked him, "What do you want to change your name to?" and he said "Lee. You know, like Bruce Lee?" Ling overheard, and chimed in, saying that their father would disown him if he changed his name.
One day, Ving decided he had had enough. He went to town hall, with me in tow. His sister caught wind and decided to come along to talk him out of it.
So we got the name change document, and Ving filled it out and almost turned it in, when he suddenly got choked up and realized that he couldn't go through with the name change. He told the receptionist that he wanted to cancel, and she told him that he could cancel the name change, but he'd need to pay a one-time fee of $20. Ving didn't have any money on him, but his sister did. She was about to hand him $20 when suddenly, a short, elderly Chinese man in an American flag T-shirt, ray-bans and cargo shorts entered the building. Ving stared at him in awe.
"D..Dad?" he stammered, tearfully.
With a huge smile on his face, the man ran up and embraced his son.
I'll never forget what his father said that day:
"Don't stop, be Lee, Ving.
Hold on the that fee, Ling"
