When the Cherry Blossoms Fell (13 page)

“Goodbye tea set,” she whispered. Her father's boss, Mr. Riley had given her the set of china cups and saucers with tiny pink floral sprays for Christmas. There were four cups, four saucers and a teapot with a lid. The cream and sugar bowls had little legs, and there were four bright aluminum spoons for each of the saucers. Each cup had “Made in Japan” stamped on the bottom.

Michiko said goodbye to her desk, her crayons, her pencils and even her library card. She lay in her bed thinking of the large room of books with a huge island of a desk in the centre. The large planked floor of polished oak gleamed in the sunlight that streamed from the deep
set windows. “Goodbye, library,” she whispered. “I don't think I will be back.” Finally, she fell back to sleep.

The smell of toast drew her to the kitchen. Michiko climbed on to her father's lap.

“Did you bring me a present?” she asked Ted before she yawned widely.

He reached over and tugged one of her braids. “As a matter of fact, I did.” Ted put his hand into his shirt pocket and drew out a long rectangular silver package.

Michiko gasped and put both hands over her heart. It was a bar of chocolate.

“I haven't seen chocolate for months,” Sadie murmured.

“There was a time when I tired of the smell of chocolate,” Sam commented. “What I would give to be selling it again.”

Ted opened the foil and broke the bar into six pieces. “Wet your finger,” he instructed Michiko. Then he took hold of it and rubbed it back and forth over one of the squares. Michiko raised her finger to her mouth and sucked it. She smiled. Her finger remained in her mouth even after the chocolate was gone. “If you eat it that way, it will last forever,” Ted told her.

“If you eat it this way,” said Sadie, popping a square into her mouth, “it's gone.”

“If you eat any more,” Eiko said, entering the room with Hiro, “you'll spoil your breakfast.” Then, to everyone's surprise, she leaned over, picked up a square of chocolate and popped it into her mouth.

Michiko lifted the foil paper and offered a square to her grandfather. He shook his head.

“I'll save it for Clarence,” she told him, and he nodded in agreement.

“Who is Clarence?” Sam asked.

Michiko's story of her red-headed friend tumbled out. Her father patted Ted on the shoulders when he heard about the boat and the fishing expeditions. He smiled and nodded at how they'd picked every apple in the orchard and stored them in the root cellar.

Ted got up and pulled on his cap. “I think I'll walk you into town,” he told Sadie. He turned to Michiko. “Why don't you come too?” he suggested. “We can visit at the drug store.”

Michiko tugged her coat from the wooden peg under the stairs. It had been a dream of hers for some time to visit the drug store. Clarence had told her about the soda fountain.

Despite the drabness of the countryside, Michiko spotted odd bits of colour along the way. The sky was getting bluer, and red tips of the dogwood stood out against the white snow. Michiko smashed the melting ice in the road ruts with her heel as she walked, listening to the conversation.

“How long do you think we will have to stay here?” Sadie asked with a sigh.

“There's nothing wrong with this town,” Ted said as they trudged. “The fishing is good.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

Sadie left them at the tiny church flanked by tall pines. A small sign on the front line read “Teachers Wanted”.

Michiko and her uncle walked to the drug store.
Through the window, Michiko could see the glow of the Orange Crush machine fizzing a fountain of golden soda. The five shiny red stools that faced the counter were empty. Pictures of ice cream sundaes plastered the walls. One showed mounds of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream heaped between slices of banana. Another displayed a tulip-shaped dish, dripping with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and a fluorescent cherry perched on top.

Ted took a seat. The man behind the counter pushed a small towel along the counter in front of him. Michiko wandered over to the magazine rack.

The bell over the door tinkled, and Michiko looked up to see George.

He spotted her and sauntered over. “Every Saturday, my dad gives me money to buy ice cream,” he bragged. He pulled a large glossy magazine from the rack. Michiko glanced at the cover. “I bring this back for my mom,” George explained.

Then he lowered his voice. “Don't look now,” he cautioned her. “There's a Jap sitting at the counter.” He cocked his head in the direction of her Uncle Ted. “He probably just got released from jail.”

Michiko turned to look at her uncle in conversation with the man behind the counter. Not everyone in this town thought the way George did. She took a deep breath. “You know that Jap at the counter,” she whispered into George's ear.

He learned into her. “Yeah,” he whispered and smirked.

“I'm going to sit beside him,” Michiko said.

“Yeah,” he whispered again. A grin spread across his face. “What are you going to do?”

“I'm going to eat ice cream with him,” Michiko told him.

His grin froze.

“He's my uncle,” she trilled. “Uncle Ted,” Michiko called out. “This is George.”

Her uncle spun around on the stool and faced them with a smile.

“Do you remember me telling you about the boy I sit beside at school?”

The smile on Ted's face faded slightly. “Yes, I do,” he responded. Then he gestured with an arm. “Would you like to join us for ice cream?” he offered. “It's a special Japanese treat,” he added.

George turned scarlet and clutched the magazine to his chest. He scuttled down the aisle like a crab and escaped through the front door.

“Hey,” the man behind the soda fountain yelled at the sound of the bell, “you have to pay for that magazine.”

“How much is it?” Ted asked, putting his hand in his back pocket. “I'll cover it.”

“It's okay,” the man replied. “I know who he is.” He put down the towel and dish he was drying. “I'll just put it on their tab.” Then the man looked at Ted closely. “That was mighty nice of you to offer,” he said. “What did you decide to have?”

“Make it a very large banana split,” Sadie sang out as the shop bell tinkled again. Her face was bright pink. “We can celebrate my new teaching job.” She plunked
herself down beside Ted and Michiko. “The woman in charge was very interested in my background in dance.”

“When?” asked Michiko.

“They want me to start right away, but I have to be trained first,” Sadie informed them. “She suggested I bunk in with one of the teachers at the hotel.”

The man behind the counter put a dish of ice cream down in front of Michiko. “Welcome to the big city,” he said to Sadie with a smile.

“Good for you,” Ted said. “That just leaves the rest of us to find work.”

“I could use a hand around here,” the man behind the soda fountain said. “Not too many people want to sell ice cream and candy.”

“My dad knows more about candy than anyone else in the world,” Michiko bragged.

“Well, you better get him in here, if he's looking for a job.”

The bell jangled loudly as Michiko tore open the door. She raced down the street. Her dad would be on the road again, but this time he would be walking home every night.

The man at the drug store hired him on the spot. He said they could move into the apartment above the store, if they wanted, since it had been sitting empty for a long time.

Michiko, Ted, Sadie and Sam inspected the rooms over the drug store.

The kitchen had a refrigerator and a toaster. A long tubular water boiler sat next to the range, recessed into a kitchen wall. Sadie touched it with her hand. “No more
boiling water on the stove,” she sighed. “This is progress.”

Michiko raced through the other rooms and came back breathless. “You won't believe it,” she said through small short puffs. “There's a bathroom and a piano!” She grabbed Sadie's hand and dragged her towards it.

“I guess they couldn't afford to have it moved,” Sadie said, pulling out the small round piano stool with its faded needlepoint seat.

The piano was smaller than the one they'd had at home, made of polished wood. Sadie lifted the key cover and tickled the keys. “It needs tuning of course,” she said. She twirled around a few times, making the stool higher. “Your mother will be thrilled with this.”

Michiko could see the reflection of her aunt's hands in the dark polished wood. It didn't show their rough redness, but Sadie wouldn't have to worry about her hands if she were teaching.

By the time they returned to the farmhouse, all was decided. Sam, Eiko, Geechan, Michiko and Hiro would live above the store. Sadie would stay at the hotel but eat all her meals with them. Ted would continue to bunk out at the Apple Depot until he got work at the sawmill.

Before bed that night, Michiko took a look at her round face in the window. She picked up the scissors and cut off a pigtail. Then she passed the scissors to Geechan.

It was time for a haircut. She was going to go to that new school in the hardware store. She was proud to be
the niece of one of the teachers.

But there was another feeling inside her as well. Because her whole family was together again, she felt grateful.

Born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Jennifer came from a book-loving family. She worked as a library helper during her summers of public school. Her childhood ambition was to have a book with her name on the spine on the shelves she stacked.

After her retirement as an elementary school principal, Jennifer published short stories for a variety of children's magazines in Canada, Britain and United States. She lives in Mississauga, Ontario, with her husband.