Orchards (10 page)

Koichi and I then assemble

an outside altar

on a post

like a birdhouse

that we cover with greens

and into which Baachan sets

another cup of water

and bowl of rice

for Jiichan

we hang a lantern

under the roof eave

to guide him home

and Baachan sighs

next morning

Baachan makes me light incense

ring the bell

and think a prayer

before the priest comes

to chant sutras

then after the priest departs

to do his rounds

in the village

and the district

up and down

the entire coast

I’m told

I have the day off to do

whatever

I want

so I take the three-speed bike out

of the garage

and Koichi sees me

asks where I’m going

and I say
that way
—

I’ve never been to the cape

and he says

I’ll go with you

finds a bike with deflated tires

that he inflates and tests

and grabs two thermoses

of cold tea

and then we are off

me leading

Koichi following

out of Kohama

we ride through
mikan

and fishing villages

one after another

to the farthest west cape

of hotels and dive shops

where we leave our bikes

walk to a small shrine

then follow a path

out the arm of the cape

that takes us to …

a pond?

          freshwater

          with koi

          crazy close

          to the sea

and gnarled twisted trees

that Koichi says are

treasures over a thousand years old

though I don’t know how

they could have stood for so long

on a narrow strip of land

constantly battered by waves

wind

and typhoons

at the tip of rocky cape

we sit to drink from our thermoses

and gaze across the bay to a stubborn

Mount Fuji

that refuses to budge

from the haze

then from rock to rock

we hop and leap around

waves slapping and crashing

at our feet as we poke through

washed-up trash

Koichi finds a rubber ball

we play catch with

and I find a small bucket

and in it put

smooth round rocks

after we loop back

we stop at a beach hut

and Koichi orders

lemon soda

for me

beer for him

and we listen to divers talk about oxygen tanks

and lessons

and fish

and Koichi asks lots of questions

and I can tell he wants to learn to dive

and I’m thinking I’d like to try that, too

going down into the sea

to find gliding

darting

colors

just

for fun

L
ate afternoon when the sun

has dropped behind the hills

west of Kohama

we light a small welcome fire

by the entrance of the house

to guide the spirits

I think

with all the signs

we have left

there is no way

Jiichan will go astray and

not be able

to find us

we walk past other welcome fires

set along the river, on the bridge, in driveways

and head uphill to the temple and cemetery

where we fill a bucket with water

climb the hillside of graves

full of villagers

and visitors

all with buckets of

sloshing

water

Uncle lights incense

and hands us each some sticks

and I do whatever

Aunt and Koichi and Yurie do

place some incense

in a part of the stone

and pray with other sticks

to my ancestors

even though officially

these ancestors

are no longer mine

my mother being outside of

and no longer part of

this Mano family line

still, outsider or not

I help drizzle water on greens

and into vases

and on the polished stone

I place tiny piles of

rice and minced eggplant

nourishment

for spirits

I think how in New York

all we ever do is take flowers

to the grave of Dad’s mother

and place small stones on the top

of the grave

once a year

maybe twice

that’s all

I think of you, Ruth,

and I think of me

just bringing flowers

and placing stones

and how that shouldn’t

be all I do

for you

here in Kohama we pause

at other Mano graves

greet, visit and chat

with neighbors and relatives

and the many branches

of the Mano family tree

on the hillside

overlooking the bay

at dusk

seeing this I realize

there must be part of my mother

who never wanted to leave

this place

we walk downhill

to the pier

where reflected in

the water are

more welcome fires

torches lit

for all the spirits

to be sure

they find their way

these spirits who must be

hopeless

with directions

N
ext day an aunt arrives

second-eldest sister of my mother

with her husband

and their son Kota,

their other son Yuta

having gone off

with university friends to

an island somewhere

to snorkel and kayak

Kota seems to wish he, too

were on an island

somewhere

anywhere

Baachan issues orders

about serving tea and

squares of fruit
kanten

and a bowl of purple grapes

that I set out on the table

in the receiving room

by the special Obon altar

all decorated

with vegetables

and greens

later I ask Kota why they aren’t visiting his father’s family

and Kota says that his father is third son

and his mother second daughter

they are a new branch family

and no one has died

so they are

free

I’m told to take Kota

to wander the festival stalls

near the village hall but

there is nothing really for us

just booths

for catching goldfish

and yoyos

and a few arcade games

for little kids

so we buy a couple of

dripping cold sodas

and walk out to the pier

past small piles of burned sticks

and ash from the welcome fires

and I tell him I think it would

just be easier to give

the spirits GPS-activated

cell phones

Kota laughs

and we sit down on

an overturned boat

and drink our sodas

but it’s too hot out there

on the pier so we

walk along other docks

following the high-tide line

to where the shore gets wider

and sit down in an arc of shade

made from a rise of sandstone cliff

that climbs behind us

and leans out

over us

precariously

toward the water

Kota pulls a music player

from a pocket

gives me one earbud

and him the other

and we sit there on the rocks by the sea

          which seems to have been stilled

          by this first-day-of-August heat

listening to songs

looking over the water

it’s like there is no opposite

northern shore today

like the bay

is really the Pacific

the haze is so thick

I tell him that Mount Fuji

really is there

right there

and he says

sure

sarcastic

then he says

but summer’s no good for Fuji-san anyway

you have to see it with its snowcap

in winter

which may be true

but I still like it

even blue-gray

faint

and barely there

in summer