You ask her if she’s ever scared of the dead. She laughs, a real laugh, not her theatrical one.

She pulled out two sticks of almond tofu from her sleeve (don't ask how it wasn't melted). We ate in silence as the first hint of dawn turned the sea gold.

“Do you ever get lonely?” I asked. “Walking between worlds, I mean.”

Hu Tao, the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, does not walk through the streets—she prances.