Orchards (7 page)

S
unday morning early

Asuka picks me up

and her father drives us

and her friends Rika and Ai

to the nearest train station

from where we ride a few stops

switch to an express and we are

zooming

off the peninsula

away from the

farms

          orchards

                 villages

                        ancestors

we play cards on the way

plan our day

share salty snacks

sweet snacks

take pictures

trade listens on music players

of favorite singers and bands

talk and talk and

then we are there

Tokyo

Ai leads the way as we change trains

then switch to subway

and get off by a temple

with a giant lantern

and stalls of crafts and paper goods

and
ningyoyaki
cakes shaped

like pigeons and pagodas

then Rika, anime freak

drags us to the place for manga

and crowds of geeky gamers

and electronics

and blasting advertisements

and cosplayers

but Asuka rescues us

gets us on another

subway that takes us across town

to a ritzy treelined street of

designer shops

at the end of which is

Harajuku with tiny shops

for jewelry, hair stuff, bags and clothes

that we try on and on

though none

none

fit right

on me

we eat cheap

convenience store

rice triangles, noodles,

take a too-long walk

through woods

to a somber shrine

where we toss money in the box

and pray or

act like we’re praying

then look at

amulets for sale

I buy one for Emi

that’s good for success at school

then Ai speaks up

and reaches over our heads to buy

five tiny golden pouches

that guard good fortune

happiness

luck

one for each

of us

and Emi, too

leaving the shrine

and the woods

we get on a train

and just one stop later

get off the train

then head into people

and a crossing

with crowds so thick I

           panic

hold Asuka’s hand

and Rika holds mine

and Ai hers

as we try to reach

Shibuya 109

where because of speakers

blasting different songs

and shouting

and crazy shoving

and reaching through racks of clothes

we start to fade

leave the shops

find a curry restaurant

then a café

for cake

we end with Tokyo Tower

where Asuka

treats us to an extra ticket

for the elevator up

          to the highest level

for sunset—

soft, rose-gray

subdued

by haze

dusk drops

over the city

below us

soon with lights

everywhere

ablaze

on the train back

we talk

compare photos

take more

talk more

exchange email addresses

doze

Uncle meets us at the station in Koichi’s car

delivers Asuka and her friends

to homes in different villages

spread out along the quiet coast

so dark

and silent

after pulsing Tokyo

I thank him

there in the truck

as we wind our way

along the shore

the only lights

the bright lights

of squid boats

offshore

bowing deeply

my head thumps

the dashboard

as I tell him it was

a great day

yokatta
I say

honto ni yokatta

really, truly great

and Uncle smiles for me

on the night of the first day

since before it all happened

that I did not

think of you

K
oichi went to agriculture school

but specialized in

mechanical technology

loves to work on the tractor

for uprooting old trees

fix the grass trimmers

putter with his car

invent new tools, do carpentry …

for him
mikan
are just an excuse for

machines, equipment, vehicles

he gets it when I mention physics

uses the Japanese terms

I’m picking up from manga

to talk about laws of motion

forces and acceleration

body A

interacting with

body B

he quizzes me

makes me explain

till he’s sure

I get it in English and

in Japanese

one day when it rains off and on

and Uncle says
can’t go up there

meaning the groves

I help Koichi repair a storage shed

in a flat lower grove

that was a paddy

when Baachan was young

when the village had

fewer
mikan
trees

and grew its own rice

we remove rotted planking

nail in “new” lumber

recycled from a tear-down

and patch the roof

then he gives me

a problem to solve—

how to brace

the leaning rear wall

he says to design a plan

so with a stick

in the dirt

I draw a rock foundation

supporting an extension

of floor beams

joined by a board

to make an L

into a triangle

if it fails it’s your fault

he says, grinning

but he follows my plan

exactly

with Koichi

working on the shed

solving a building problem

I’m here in Kohama

just here

in the zone

of a project

but when the weather clears

and we return to the trees

          thinning

          snipping

          pruning

my hand a machine

on automatic

my mind wanders

and I see you again

and I’m back in those days

right after

the day after the morning

you were found

school was open as usual

but with special homeroom meetings

where anyone who hadn’t heard

through the grapevine

or the school website

learned the news

and where counselors told us

no one was to blame

but in less than a week

as the investigation began

and talk traveled

and letters to editors were printed

and gossip spread

in supermarkets and banks

we could tell

that people around town

and beyond our town

blamed

us eighth-grade girls

our sadness for you

turned then, Ruth,

our hurting changed to anger

for doing what you did

they were just words, Ruth,

what Lisa said

you didn’t have to listen

to words

four words

hurled in

jealousy

to get you out of my head

I ask Koichi for other challenges

and after the success of the shed

he finds more problems for me to solve—

how to distribute sacks of fertilizer

over a mountain grove of

          eight terraces

          twelve trees long

          two trees deep in places

          one in others

how best to bundle, transport and store pruned wood

how to repair a bridge across a washout

improve air circulation in storehouses

repair sorting bins

enlarge the rooftop laundry deck …

when I’m busy

when I think and plan and talk

calculate and estimate

and use my hands

to work the different tools

then I can keep

thoughts of you

at bay

and I’m okay

being here

at the end of July

on this farm

in my old clothes

O
n the phone one night

when my mother calls

Aunt tells her I’ve been no trouble

Yurie says I’m a good roommate

Koichi praises my work

and after he hands the phone to me

and I explain projects he’s mentioned

my mother sounds surprised

by my enthusiasm

since I never was enthused

at home helping

at Sachi’s Farm

I didn’t know you were a farmer
she jokes

I hope you did your schoolwork properly
she says

I hope you aren’t being a bother
she frets

I tell her I’m done with school

I like the grove work just fine

then I try to turn the questions

on her

and her summer helpers

and blueberry and raspberry yields

Emi rescues me

takes the phone

and chatters

till she’s out of

Mom’s hearing

then whispers

daijobu?
—you okay?

don’t you do it, too!