Never having gone to sleep, I watched the sunrise, continuing to ponder my place here and what Reba had said to me last night. Breakfast has passed and I make my way downstairs, not having changed since the night before. As I enter the main room, I find the two young girls on the couch watching the TV. Kiara and Reba are at the table, looking over a list.

Kiara notices me and smiles. “Are you ready to go?”

I simply nod. 

A knock on the door alerts everyone’s attention and Reba answers it. At the doorway stands an older man with a graying beard and glasses, smiling with bright eyes.

“Hank, good morning,” she says, letting him in.

“Mornin’, McRae’s!” he says loudly as he steps in, shutting the door behind him.

“Hank!” the twins shout in unison, running over to him.

He reaches into the front pocket of his overalls, pulling out a couple lollipops. “Here ya go, kiddos. You both keeping that stinky brother of yours in line?”

“Uh-huh!” Jade exclaims.

He ruffles their hair, chuckling. “Good, good. Now, you said you broke a window?” he asks, turning to Reba.

She places her hand on her cheek, laughing. “Oh, you know how it goes. Let the kids play baseball by themselves and something is bound to break.” Why is she lying?

“Oh, dear. It wasn’t one of you now, was it?” he asks, looking at the girls who are already devouring their lollipops.

“No, it was Shyba,” Jade says with her mouth full of lollipop, pointing to me.

My heart begins to race. His eyes inspect me closely, and I quickly bow my head, hoping he didn’t see my eyes. “Bah, I don’t believe it! I’ll bet it was Jeremiah,” the man says and laughs boisterously .

When I glance at Reba, she looks visibly relieved. “Anyway, I’ll show you to the room. Jeremiah said he would help you with anything once he gets the horses tended to,” she says.

“Sounds great,” he replies, and Reba leads him toward the stairway. He stops before me and reaches into his pocket. “Here ya go, son. Life’s too short not to enjoy some candy once in a while.”

He holds out a lollipop and I hesitantly take it, not sure what else to do. I stare after him for a moment as he leaves before looking at the candy in my hand. Unsure what to do with it, I put it in my pocket. What a strange man.

Kiara comes over to me. “Sorry about Jade. She doesn’t know any better,” she says.

“It is fine,” I say. I still do not quite understand why Reba did not just tell him the truth.

For the car ride, I remain silent as I watch the scenery blur by. The two of them talk back and forth, but I do not pay much attention. Every so often through a break in the trees I catch glimpses of the ocean and as we get closer to the town more and more houses appear. On the left side of the road I notice what looks to be a memorial surrounded by flowers, though I only get a glimpse of it.

Soon we arrive at the town and I am taken aback by how small it is. There is not even a building over six stories tall and the amount of people is so much less than what I am used to. We pass by several modest shops before stopping in a car lot near a park. I follow their lead as they get out of the car and glance around. My chest tightens, remembering I do not have my hood or sunglasses anymore. This was a bad idea. What if someone recognizes me?

Reba leads us into a building, which appears to be a market. There are fruits and vegetables on display on one end, and on the other side there are racks of clothing. My heart only seems to pound harder, and I keep my head down as I follow their feet, pulling my hair in front of my eyes. As we walk, they gather some things in a large cart, stopping occasionally to greet people. How many people do they know?

Out of the corner of my eye I notice a rack of sunglasses. I make a beeline to the rack, grabbing the first pair I can get my hands on. Once they are on my face, I relax a bit. 

I faintly hear Kiara’s voice behind me, trying to locate me in the store. 

“Oh, there you are! What are you doing?”

As she and Reba approach, my heart starts pounding again. I do not have a way to pay for these. I could have easily walked out with them if they had not noticed me here.

But nothing gets past Reba. “Pick whichever one you want, sweetie,” she says with a reassuring smile. 

Kiara reaches past me, taking another pair off the rack. “Here, these would look cooler, I think,” she says, handing them to me. “But if you’re into zebra stripes, that’s okay too,” she says with a giggle. 

I remove the sunglasses from my face. In my haste, I didn’t realize how much they stood out. I set them back on the rack then try on the pair from Kiara. Reba hands her some money.

“Go show him around. I’ll call you when I’m at the car,” she says.

Reba then heads off to continue shopping. Once we leave the store after paying for the sunglasses, we walk down the street as she gives me a breakdown of what is in each building we pass. For some of them, she divulges the town gossip of stores changing hands, scandals corrupting businesses, and other small-town news that honestly I don’t find much interest in. I am too distracted keeping an eye on the people around me.

It has been a while since I had been out in public, and I cannot take the risk of someone reporting me. As people pass by, I reflexively stare downward, following Kiara’s sandals. She is greeted by a few people who seem to know her and when asked about me, introduces me as her friend. She is way too trusting to be calling me her friend so soon. 

Before long, we arrive back at the park where we had left the car. She goes over to sit at a bench nearby. Though I follow, I stand idly by. I watch people passing, seemingly normal. They do not pay much attention to me. Then I notice just how quiet it is compared to Tokyo. The air even feels lighter.

“Charming, isn’t it? I love this town. Of course, I would like to visit other places,” Kiara says, breaking me out of my concentration. “Speaking of, you said you lived in Tokyo, right?”

“In Shinjuku,” I tell her. I mentally kick myself for revealing that to her. The more I tell her, the more ammo she and her family has to use against me. I have to be careful what I share. 

“So, Shinjuku is in Tokyo?” she asks.

“Yes.”

Her eyes are bright and questioning. “What is it like there?”

What would satisfy her curiosity to make her stop questioning me? “It is crowded…”

She leans in with undivided attention, so I continue, “The buildings are tall and… crowded.”

“What about the food?” she asks.

This girl’s got food on the brain.  “Ah… There is ramen, soba, yakitori...” I mutter, trying to think of something to tell her. “Onigiri.” Being that I have spent most of my recent years eating out of styrofoam cups, I am not sure what would be interesting enough to mention. 

“Onigiri?” she asks.

“It is a ball of rice,” I tell her.

“Oh, I love rice,” she says. “Is that all it is? Does it have something with it, like a sauce?”

 It has been so long since I have had an onigiri, I have to take a moment to remember. “There are things inside,” I say. “Fish… chicken and umeboshi.” 

“What’s u-ume… umeboshi?” she fumbles.

“I do not know the English word,” I mutter.

“That’s okay. Could you teach me how to make them?”

No one has ever asked me to teach them something, especially not… rice balls. “I have not made them,” I mutter.

“Why don’t we learn together then?” she asks before quickly looking away, fidgeting. “I mean… if you want to.”

I am astounded with her desire to learn how to make the food from my country. It reminds me of Reba researching kintsugi to relate with me. I am so lost for words that I probably took too long to reply, and she quickly gets up. 

“I’m going to the restroom, so do you mind waiting here for me?” she rambles off quickly.

“Okay,” I mutter.

She marches off quickly to a small building at the other end of a pathway snaking through the park. I settle into the bench and continue watching the passersby going about their business. Everything feels so calm here. I find myself actually enjoying the serenity of this place, breathing in the salt air, feeling the wind brush up against my cheek, hearing songbirds call to each other. This feels like a luxurious vacation. Waking up in this new country seems to have been a turn of luck for me. Can I get used to this?

Translations:

“Umeboshi” = Pickled plums commonly used in rice balls (onigiri)