Orchards (13 page)

we climb up

rub our eyes

catch our breath

but not for long …

Koichi shoves us off

dives over us

and when we come up for air

says

race!

and we

swim the crawl hard

back to shore

later he hands us masks and snorkels

leads us down the beach

to where there are rocks offshore

we fit our masks

adjust our snorkels

start to swim

but Koichi stops

yells

then Yurie stops

yells

then I stop

yell

as we are stung

by jellyfish

and we
race!

for real

back to shore

at the first-aid tent they say

the jellyfish are early this year

we rub ointment

on our stings

return to our mats

and after eating

Baachan’s
bento
lunches

of all five proper colors

we make sand castles

with moats and turrets

and tunnels

and shell windows

then I treat us all

to heaping bowls of shaved ice

with sweet

azuki

I would have stayed here forever

if not

for the jellyfish

I say

and Yurie says

as she lies back on a mat

and closes her eyes

she might stay forever

anyway

while they doze

I go up to the shops

behind the seawall

and buy postcards

old discolored cards

with shots from different villages

showing Mount Fuji in a different

season with snow on its peak

I address one to Emi anyhow

but instead of words

I draw a picture:

crescent beach

mountains

bluffs

village roofs

me with ballooning shorts

          over my big butt

Koichi and Yurie

          stick figures

sand castle

water

waves

float

and a mammoth jellyfish offshore

T
he
mikan

that we continue to thin

are large as baseballs

in some groves

enough to roll an ankle

if you step wrong

and if you step right

enough to make a juicy mess

tree after tree

row after row

terrace after terrace

we thin

I ask when the fruits

will finally

turn orange

September

they say

soon after you leave

and I’m disappointed

having wanted to see

row after row

terrace after terrace

of orange-spotted trees

the heat is brutal

making us slow and dull

as cicadas whine, drone and click

and do their crazy calls

so loud sometimes

we have to yell

to each other

we take extra water in thermoses

extra breaks in the shade

and after lunch

don’t ever go back up

till after two

when the sun is starting

its slow track down

toward the western

horizon

which means

every day

after lunch cleanup

at the house

I have a full hour free

in Yurie’s room

to nap or email

even chat online

with friends up late

in New York

and to the old atom of friends

humor

starts to return

barely noticeable

at first

like a tide change

summer will end soon

then high school—

private for Erin and Abby

public for the rest of us

bigger school

more activities

more options

more atoms

we make plans

to meet for pizza

the day before classes

the day before the start

of our next four years

and we joke about

what we’ll bring each other

as gifts—

moose turds

rocks

math books

jellyfish salad

I send a separate email to Lisa

still quiet

and ask

how are you?

how’s summer school?

ready for more school?

and she replies

right away

k

btw, jake emailed

I tell this to Baachan

and all afternoon in the hot groves

cutting the no-good fruit down

and pruning twigs

that will scar the rinds

I think

how cool is that

that what

Baachan said

to me

over here

made that

Jake-and-Lisa contact

happen

over there

at night

I think

there must be a way

to go beyond who we were

when what you did froze

the way we were

in everyone’s heads

I think there must be a way

to show you

we’ve grown

and to show you

that maybe now

we know how

we should have been

with you, Ruth,

and that maybe

now we’d know

how to keep you

from walking

up that hill

that night

to the orchard

behind Jake’s house

O
ne day we come down

from the groves for lunch

hot, beat

drenched in sweat

but before I finish my second glass

of cold barley tea

Baachan sends me out

to buy tofu

when I return she hovers

says Yurie called to tell me

the computer

isn’t working

all through lunch she repeats

Yurie said don’t touch it!

don’t even turn it on!

which is weird

because I was the last one to use it

when Yurie went to bed last night

and neither of us had it on

this morning

Koichi is off for the day

dealing with some truck repair

so Baachan tells me to take my after-lunch break

with Uncle on the veranda

and he’ll teach me how to play
shogi

I sit down opposite my uncle

thinking this is different—

he always naps

in this heat

Uncle sets up the board

starts explaining the sides

sente
and
gote

the moves of the king

the gold and silver generals

chariots

knights and dragon horses

and I’m thinking

enough already

let’s play

but the phone rings

Baachan answers

and Aunt hovers

like she caught it from Baachan

and Baachan hands the phone to Aunt

and Aunt disappears into the kitchen

and Baachan orders us

to stop
shogi
immediately

and sends Uncle and me

on an errand to get some …

cucumbers?

Uncle and me?

Uncle never does the vegetable picking and

Baachan never wastes two bodies

on a task that

could be done

by one

but we get the cucumbers

though Baachan didn’t say how many

and some peppers and

eggplants to be safe

but it is way too hot in the gardens

mid-August

midday

we start to walk back

but Uncle gets a call on his cell

says a few words

then ends the call

looks at me

and tells me he needs to talk

with his cousin who runs

the gas station

so we go

all the way there

opposite side of the village

and it’s so hot I’m wishing

I had one of Baachan’s

big

ugly

bonnets

Uncle and gas station man

talk and talk

as I sip cold tea

and watch gas station man’s

wife put gas

in cars

air in tires

wash windshields

make change

between customers she sits with me

tells me about her grown kids

learning to drive