May Draft 2
No big changes, just fixed some grammar.
Sendai
The day had finally arrived. Celeste was too worried about what would happen that she could not get to sleep at all. So I sat up with her on the couch in the living room. We had talked for a bit about little things. She brought up memories that she had long since sealed away. She talked about when Kaden was first born, how small he was. About him growing up and his first try at baseball. She told me about her decision to move to Japan and his reaction to it. We even talked about what had happened between the two, about the little facts Karah had filtered to us in the years afterwards. We even tried to predict what he, his wife, and even their daughter would look like.
She cried for a time, but as the sun rose we quieted down. I had given her all the sympathy I could offer. I had said all the things I could think of. I had used all the tissues in the box next to me. There was nothing more for either of us to talk about. So we sat in silence.
-------
I woke up early on that morning. It was going to be a busy day and I wanted to get an early start. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I had turned to head toward the kitchen, but saw something in the corner of my eye. I peeked into the living room and surprisingly found Mom and Dad already up. Well, actually they were rather still awake. They were sitting in the living room cuddled together on the couch, not saying a word. I didn’t want to disturb them, so I turned and continued into the kitchen to start breakfast.
Dad had to leave early to go down and meet Uncle and his family so I knew he would want something to eat before that. I also knew that he was planning to do some shopping in Tokyo before heading to the airport in Narita, but that was a secret. Mom hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon and I doubted she’d eat anything still, but I had to at least try.
Neither of them said anything as they ate. Well, Dad ate. Mom only picked at her food. She wouldn’t even eat the French toast I had made, and she loves that. Dad left right after breakfast and I tried to get Mom to go to bed. She only lasted a half hour before she was downstairs again. So, I set her in front of the TV and handed over a video game she had been wanting, the latest installment of Final Fantasy. A smile appeared for a moment as she put it into the consol and settled down to play.
I stood behind her and watched the pretty opening animation for a moment. When it was finished I left her to her game. The morning was progressing quickly, the sun was already well into the sky. It was time to wake Kazuo up. Just like Mom, he loved to sleep in. I knew he had his alarm set, but it was set so that he wouldn’t have any time for breakfast. It was a bad habit of his to just skip the meal altogether, but I wasn’t about to let him do it on that day.
I went upstairs and opened his door. His room was always so neat. Floor was clean of debris and his books and homework were on his desk in a neat pile. His bed however, was another subject altogether. He was still sound asleep, twisted up into his covers. Several times I had awoken him so suddenly that he tried to jump out of bed, only to find his foot caught in the blankets causing him to fall and me to get away.
I slowly walked into the room calling his name not too loudly, but with no response. So I got up next to his ear and yelled it.
----------
I was having a dream, though I can’t remember what it was since I was brought out of it by someone screaming in my ear.
I threw my pillow at Yoshie’s retreating back, hearing her squeak as it hit. Then I laid in bed for a bit, staring at the ceiling. I could feel myself start to doze so I quickly sat up and swung my feet from under the covers, but half the covers decided to go with my feet and they all ended up on the floor. I untangled myself from the sheets and comforter and then neatly made my bed up.
It was the weekend. I didn’t want to get up, but even I had things to do today. I stretched and quickly got dressed. I had planned to try and keep out of the whole mess with this Uncle of ours, and had been pretty successful thus far. However, the other day I found myself volunteering for this one little thing. As I stood there thinking of the things I had to get done by this evening, I regretted ever agreeing to do it. But then at the thought of the reaction that six year old was going to have I couldn’t help but smile and decide that it was worth the trouble.
I made my way downstairs and heard a familiar melody of a battle won coming from the living room. I poked my head around the corner and found Mother playing at one of her video games. I shook my head and turned the other way.
“I can’t believe she’s in there playing games,” I commented as I entered the kitchen where Yoshie was.
“Could you maybe not judge something before you find out the details?” Yoshie asked as she glared a bit in my direction. “She couldn’t sleep at all last night worrying about today. She needed something to occupy herself with,” Yoshie said as she shoved a dish with a bit of breakfast on it at me. “How long is it going to take you to get your thing done today?”
“Most of the day. I might be a bit late. Depends on what happens,” I replied through a mouthful of food.
“Okay. I was going to see if you’d be able to pick us up on your way, since you have the car, but we can take a taxi.”
“When are you going over?”
“Well, I’m doing most of the preparations here and then finish it up over there so probably 5 or 6. They shouldn’t be arriving until 7 or 8.” Yoshie continued to talk about all the things she had planned on preparing for the day and the next. She knew they would probably be tired by the time they reached the house, so she was planning a light to normal dinner for them when they arrived. She then had their breakfast figured out. She had found a dish that could be refrigerated and then just heated up without losing too much of its original taste. Then she was going to make some sandwiches for lunch, and hopefully they would visit our house for dinner tomorrow night.
As I listened to her, I could only shake my head. She was assuming that this Uncle of ours had forgiven Mother for whatever it had been that she had done. Yoshie hadn’t even considered the possibility that he would still be mad at her and that nothing would get solved with today’s meeting. But I wasn’t about to break her spirits. She was having fun.
As soon as I finished breakfast, I gathered all the paperwork that I needed from my desk for the task. I was just about to walk out the door when I caught sight of Mother sitting on the couch playing her game. I paused for a moment, then quickly took my shoes off, strode into the living room, gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and strode back out again. Yoshie was waiting at the door with a smile on her face and a small lunchbox in her hand. I grabbed the box and left not looking back.
Sendai
The day had finally arrived. Celeste was too worried about what would happen that she could not get to sleep at all. So I sat up with her on the couch in the living room. We had talked for a bit about little things. She brought up memories that she had long since sealed away. She talked about when Kaden was first born, how small he was. About him growing up and his first try at baseball. She told me about her decision to move to Japan and his reaction to it. We even talked about what had happened between the two, about the little facts Karah had filtered to us in the years afterwards. We even tried to predict what he, his wife, and even their daughter would look like.
She cried for a time, but as the sun rose we quieted down. I had given her all the sympathy I could offer. I had said all the things I could think of. I had used all the tissues in the box next to me. There was nothing more for either of us to talk about. So we sat in silence.
-------
I woke up early on that morning. It was going to be a busy day and I wanted to get an early start. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I had turned to head toward the kitchen, but saw something in the corner of my eye. I peeked into the living room and surprisingly found Mom and Dad already up. Well, actually they were rather still awake. They were sitting in the living room cuddled together on the couch, not saying a word. I didn’t want to disturb them, so I turned and continued into the kitchen to start breakfast.
Dad had to leave early to go down and meet Uncle and his family so I knew he would want something to eat before that. I also knew that he was planning to do some shopping in Tokyo before heading to the airport in Narita, but that was a secret. Mom hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon and I doubted she’d eat anything still, but I had to at least try.
Neither of them said anything as they ate. Well, Dad ate. Mom only picked at her food. She wouldn’t even eat the French toast I had made, and she loves that. Dad left right after breakfast and I tried to get Mom to go to bed. She only lasted a half hour before she was downstairs again. So, I set her in front of the TV and handed over a video game she had been wanting, the latest installment of Final Fantasy. A smile appeared for a moment as she put it into the consol and settled down to play.
I stood behind her and watched the pretty opening animation for a moment. When it was finished I left her to her game. The morning was progressing quickly, the sun was already well into the sky. It was time to wake Kazuo up. Just like Mom, he loved to sleep in. I knew he had his alarm set, but it was set so that he wouldn’t have any time for breakfast. It was a bad habit of his to just skip the meal altogether, but I wasn’t about to let him do it on that day.
I went upstairs and opened his door. His room was always so neat. Floor was clean of debris and his books and homework were on his desk in a neat pile. His bed however, was another subject altogether. He was still sound asleep, twisted up into his covers. Several times I had awoken him so suddenly that he tried to jump out of bed, only to find his foot caught in the blankets causing him to fall and me to get away.
I slowly walked into the room calling his name not too loudly, but with no response. So I got up next to his ear and yelled it.
----------
I was having a dream, though I can’t remember what it was since I was brought out of it by someone screaming in my ear.
I threw my pillow at Yoshie’s retreating back, hearing her squeak as it hit. Then I laid in bed for a bit, staring at the ceiling. I could feel myself start to doze so I quickly sat up and swung my feet from under the covers, but half the covers decided to go with my feet and they all ended up on the floor. I untangled myself from the sheets and comforter and then neatly made my bed up.
It was the weekend. I didn’t want to get up, but even I had things to do today. I stretched and quickly got dressed. I had planned to try and keep out of the whole mess with this Uncle of ours, and had been pretty successful thus far. However, the other day I found myself volunteering for this one little thing. As I stood there thinking of the things I had to get done by this evening, I regretted ever agreeing to do it. But then at the thought of the reaction that six year old was going to have I couldn’t help but smile and decide that it was worth the trouble.
I made my way downstairs and heard a familiar melody of a battle won coming from the living room. I poked my head around the corner and found Mother playing at one of her video games. I shook my head and turned the other way.
“I can’t believe she’s in there playing games,” I commented as I entered the kitchen where Yoshie was.
“Could you maybe not judge something before you find out the details?” Yoshie asked as she glared a bit in my direction. “She couldn’t sleep at all last night worrying about today. She needed something to occupy herself with,” Yoshie said as she shoved a dish with a bit of breakfast on it at me. “How long is it going to take you to get your thing done today?”
“Most of the day. I might be a bit late. Depends on what happens,” I replied through a mouthful of food.
“Okay. I was going to see if you’d be able to pick us up on your way, since you have the car, but we can take a taxi.”
“When are you going over?”
“Well, I’m doing most of the preparations here and then finish it up over there so probably 5 or 6. They shouldn’t be arriving until 7 or 8.” Yoshie continued to talk about all the things she had planned on preparing for the day and the next. She knew they would probably be tired by the time they reached the house, so she was planning a light to normal dinner for them when they arrived. She then had their breakfast figured out. She had found a dish that could be refrigerated and then just heated up without losing too much of its original taste. Then she was going to make some sandwiches for lunch, and hopefully they would visit our house for dinner tomorrow night.
As I listened to her, I could only shake my head. She was assuming that this Uncle of ours had forgiven Mother for whatever it had been that she had done. Yoshie hadn’t even considered the possibility that he would still be mad at her and that nothing would get solved with today’s meeting. But I wasn’t about to break her spirits. She was having fun.
As soon as I finished breakfast, I gathered all the paperwork that I needed from my desk for the task. I was just about to walk out the door when I caught sight of Mother sitting on the couch playing her game. I paused for a moment, then quickly took my shoes off, strode into the living room, gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and strode back out again. Yoshie was waiting at the door with a smile on her face and a small lunchbox in her hand. I grabbed the box and left not looking back.