Summary

In “A Flawless Silence,” Min receives occasional emails each year from a man she “met twice in her life” (159). In the emails, he updates her on his life and attaches photos. The man is 84 years old and lives “in a retirement facility” outside of Seattle (160).

Min cannot sleep when she receives his most recent email. She considers responding, but decides against it. In the morning, she drives her twins, Emmie and Deanna, to school, glad she did not respond (160). Meanwhile, the twins discuss their classmate Kevin’s love for Trump.

Min has coffee with Kevin’s mother Sandra. Sandra is upset Kevin and her husband Chuck support Trump and recounts her experience of election night to Min. Min does not admit that her husband Rich is also “a Trump supporter” (163). Min shifts the conversation, alluding to the man...