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    Falling into the Dragon's Mouth

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    out on bicycles

      and we are definitely

      the only ones

      out on the road

      by the beach

      where the wind

      slams us

      full force

      wobbling

      our bikes

      we pedal down

      the coast road sidewalk

      but I hadn’t counted on

      rain lashing us

      so hard it hurts

      at the crossing light

      we fight against gusts

      walking our bikes across the road

      to the landing of concrete stairs

      that lead down to the beach

      and there, high above sand

      and waves that we can barely see

      we hold our handlebars

      in the punching

      howling wind

      below us, surf

      pounds the beach

      so hard it’s like being

      inside thunder

      salt spray

      tropical wind

      and rain

      slap us

      and just

      standing there

      or trying to

      we’re nearly

      drowning

      Cora shouts, but I can’t hear

      so we turn our bikes around

      on that beach stair landing

      and there

      by the crossing light

      in an oversized

      clear plastic raincoat

      is a kid

      he’s wearing flip flops

      and his raincoat

      flaps and snaps wildly

      and under the raincoat

      he’s wearing shorts

      a sweatshirt

      and I think

      binoculars

      he presses the crossing button

      and when the light changes

      the wind

      thrusts us all

      fast across the road

      we don’t ride

      just push our bikes

      to escape that beach

      the gusting salt

      rain and sand

      and when we turn inland

      to the main street

      between buildings

      I shout to Cora

      you okay?

      she nods

      but she’s frowning

      and her eyes say

      this is so NOT

      a good adventure

      the boy steps around us

      shouts above the wind this way!

      and beyond a noodle shop

      he leads us off the road

      to a streetcar crossing

      that doesn’t have a gate

      we’re so wet and nearly drowned

      that we follow, watching

      and listening for trains

      as I carry my bike

      and the kid carries Cora’s bike

      over the streetcar rails

      he motions for us to

      lean them against a wall

      then beckons for us to follow

      through a tile-roofed gate

      and suddenly we are in a garden

      and the big gate door

      is latching behind us

      Chapter 21

      HOT TEA

      before us is an old house

      palms bending in the wind

      and a tall stone lantern

      beside a pebble path

      the kid leads us up the path

      past a huge pottery urn

      catching plopping rain

      and into a stone-floored entryway

      we are so soaking wet

      even inside our rain suits

      that not even Cora

      hesitates to step inside

      the kid leaves us there

      dripping puddles

      onto the floor

      returns with towels

      and tells us to take off our shoes

      and rain suits

      so we towel off

      then he motions for us

      to step up into the house

      which we almost do

      but I stop

      because I realize

      now that he’s out of his raincoat

      the kid is actually older than me

      maybe much older

      and I don’t think

      anyone else is here

      in this quiet house

      but Cora steps up

      follows him into the kitchen

      where he turns on a burner

      starts heating water

      and spoons tea

      into a teapot

      do you go to the middle school?

      I ask from the doorway

      he tilts his head

      points to a chair

      for me to sit in

      says no, nothing more

      high school? I ask

      no

      well what school DO you go to?

      Cora asks

      I don’t he says

      but if I did I’d be

      third year middle school

      the kid mutters about

      searching for rice crackers

      why don’t you go to school? Cora asks

      he shrugs and says

      I study at home …

      do you like hōjicha?

      any tea’s fine I say

      so, do you? Cora asks the kid

      what? make hōjicha? he says

      no, study! do you study at home?

      he thinks a minute then says

      mostly no

      and we all laugh

      he moves aside his wet binoculars

      and pours the tea into cups

      as Cora and I sit down at the table

      I’m Cora Cora says

      pronouncing it the Japanese way

      so it sounds like “cola”

      and this is my brother Jason

      but most people call him J

      the kid nods, that’s all

      till Cora sticks her head out

      like a bird, expectant

      and finally he gets the hint

      and says

      I’m Daiki

      Nakano Daiki

      like he’s out of practice

      saying his own name

      we sit without talking awhile

      just sipping hot tea, then he says

      I watched you going to the beach

      I wanted to make sure you didn’t

      go down the stairs to the water

      people do that sometimes

      check out the waves and try surfing

      even in weather like this

      people drown, you know

      I say

      we were just looking

      he nods

      not believing

      like he knows everything

      like I could have been one of those people

      going too close to the waves

      and Cora is looking at him

      like he’s her big hero

      really I say

      we were just looking

      but Daiki continues

      last year after I quit school

      I started watching the water

      when the weather’s rough

      one time

      like today

      before a typhoon

      I watched a surfer go out

      but he got tossed all over

      and disappeared

      so I called emergency

      by the time firefighters

      arrived with rescue stuff

      he’d been under too long

      and they couldn’t revive him

      he died? Cora says, and Daiki nods

      didn’t you call 119? Cora asks

      of course he says

      and they couldn’t help him? Cora whispers

      and this Daiki guy says coldly

      no, they can’t do everything, you know

      and I’m thinking it’s time to leave

      but Cora goes cold right back at him

      changes the topic, and says

      I think you should return to scho
    ol

      Daiki snorts

      not that school

      and he jerks his head

      and by the direction and his eyes

      I know he’s talking about

      the local middle school

      the one I’ll go to

      if we can’t afford

      international school

      why? I say

      see this? he says

      and shows me a scar

      on his forehead

      near his hairline

      that’s from when they tried

      to shove me into the toilet

      head first

      so what happened? I ask

      what do you mean? he says

      were those kids punished?

      they made them apologize Daiki says

      made them clean bathrooms

      so then it got better? I say

      no he says

      it got worse

      after tea

      before Cora and I leave

      Daiki and I

      trade cell phone numbers

      so, maybe see you again?

      Daiki says

      and Cora and I both say

      yeah, see you again

      Chapter 22

      TYPHOON DAY

      the next day there is no school

      because the typhoon moves toward us

      faster than expected, and there are

      flood warnings

      landslide warnings

      and the wind is blowing

      garden furniture

      branches

      shutters

      signs

      and I guess the principal

      figures it’s a good idea

      not to have any accidents

      at least not from natural causes

      Mom’s and Dad’s

      classes are canceled

      aikido’s canceled

      so we are all home

      with rain shutters closed

      and even though it’s

      midday in October

      it’s like a hot summer night

      inside our house

      the bell cricket

      drives us crazy

      singing rin rin rin

      from the kitchen table

      where we set the cage to keep it

      from drowning on the balcony

      and throughout the day

      we find inside the house

      escaping the rain

      one lizard

      one huge spider

      one gecko

      and two big cockroaches

      that I chase and—thwap!

      Mom puts on a Tora-san DVD

      from a collection Dad got for her birthday

      and first it’s just her watching

      then Cora and her

      then Cora, me, and her

      then Cora, me, Dad, and her

      all the Tora-san films are similar—

      this weird guy Tora-san

      sells trinkets and stuff

      in different parts of Japan

      and wants a girlfriend

      but doesn’t get one

      Mom says Tora-san

      is good for her Japanese

      and even though the films

      are kind of old and dumb

      whenever she puts one on

      I can’t help but watch

      in this episode

      Tora-san takes his first flight

      all the way to Okinawa

      to see his girlfriend who’s sick

      he helps her get well

      but doesn’t stay

      and at the end of the movie

      all of us decide we, too

      want to take a flight

      to the southern islands

      and Cora asks

      if that’s possible

      or if we could take a train

      all the way to Kyūshū

      then take a ferry

      to that tropical island

      where they sing

      and eat outside

      and where the beach sand

      is perfect and clean

      Mom’s happy face turns serious again

      maybe—IF I get a full-time position she says

      and Dad says

      well, probably not a train

      but maybe we could drive

      then he pulls out his phone

      and looks up drive time

      from Tōkyō to Kagoshima

      and says it would take us

      eighteen hours each way

      and the gas and tolls

      would cost a fortune

      and I know right away

      this trip won’t happen

      not with their schedules

      and the cost of our visits

      to the States each summer

      and everyone knows

      we can’t afford the trip anyway

      but no one says why—that

      we’re saving money for me

      to change schools

      we still don’t have the money

      for international school, do we I say

      and Mom says to be patient

      that we’ll have it soon

      that since she’s teaching

      the Wednesday classes

      on top of her other classes

      all different days of the week

      we’ll have the tuition

      for the fall

      fall? I say

      but elementary school graduation

      is in March!

      they look at each other and Dad says

      that actually, because Japanese school

      ends in March and starts in April

      yet the international school year

      ends in June and starts in late August

      that means from April until the start

      of the international school year

      I might be homeschooled or something

      or something? I say

      you mean, like

      go to the local middle school?

      no way!

      why can’t I just start

      international school in April?

      Jason Mom says all soft and quiet

      like I’m being unreasonable

      besides tuition you have to pay

      a big registration fee

      and given the cost

      we think that rather than start

      at the end of their school year

      it makes more sense to start

      at the start of their school year

      with all the other new students

      and suddenly I think of Daiki—

      how he doesn’t go to school

      and I ask

      how old do you have to be to quit school?

      my parents look at me funny

      then Cora opens her big mouth and says

      yeah! that boy we met yesterday

      at the beach

      he doesn’t go to school

      that’s illegal isn’t it!

      the beach?

      Mom and Dad both say

      and Cora clamps

      both her hands

      over her mouth

      too late

      Chapter 23

      WHITE DEER

      that night we’re

      lying in our beds

      and I’m not talking to Cora

      but she’s yakking and yakking

      at me

      I already had to listen to

      a lecture about water

      a lecture about my responsibilities

      a lecture about strangers

      a lecture about thinking about Cora

      and I’m tired of thinking about Cora

      so I don’t answer

      she’s jabbering on and on

      and I’m not listening and

      shove my head under my pillow

      but she climbs the ladder to my bunk

      she lifts the pillow

      money! she says

      I’m talking about money

      so listen

      she tells me her business plan

      for us to take pictures


      of the beach and Mount Fuji

      of temples and shrines

      with her stuffed squirrel

      named Gray in each photo

      get it? she says

      it’s like Gray

      is a tourist

      visiting Japan

      taking a trip around Kamakura

      and this whole area

      I lift the pillow

      all the way off my head

      and stare at her

      and what exactly will we

      do with these pictures of Gray?

      sell them!

      make postcards!

      make folders!

      I groan

      how? and why?

      and WHO would want pictures

      of a stuffed squirrel? I say

      I don’t know!

      YOU think of that—

      I thought up the product

      YOU do the marketing

      right I tell her

      and finally

      she climbs down the ladder

      and leaves me alone

      the typhoon wakes us both

      in the middle of the night

      with wind that screams and

      gusts that hit with such force

      they make the house shudder

      in between gusts

      there’s a steady roar

      which I finally realize

      is the ocean

      way down the hill

      as loud as if it’s

      outside our door

      Cora comes up to my bunk

      and in the typhoon night

      things rattle, crash

      smash, slam

      and groan

      finally we take our pillows

      into Mom and Dad’s room

      and wriggle into their futons

      then we all give up sleeping

      go down to the living room

      and watch TV news of the storm

      until the power cuts off

      then we’re in the dark

      pointing our flashlights

      setting up the camping lantern

      opening the sofa bed

      that we bought when we moved here

      for visitors from the States

      who never seem to visit

      and we squish in together

      and in the lantern light

      we listen to Dad tell a story

      a story he learned

      in Massachusetts

      when he was a boy

      Dad’s story

      which he says may

      or may not be true

      is about a white deer

      considered sacred to Mohicans

      a deer that came in the early morning

      and at dusk to drink from a lake

      and a French fur trader

      who wanted very badly

      the skin of that white deer

      but the tribal leaders wouldn’t

      give it up and guarded the deer

      and its fawn which was

      also white

      until one night

      one member of the tribe betrayed them

      took the white deer to the Frenchman

     

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