who killed it and skinned it
and set off for Canada
which was the way to get to France
in those days
Cora whimpers he killed it? he killed the white deer?
yes, sweetie, I’m sorry Dad says
what about the fawn?
just listen Dad says
after the white deer
was killed and taken away
all good fortune ended
there was famine
and illness in the valley
there were battles
and crop blights
but they say that the fawn
just may have survived
and that years later a hunter
near the lake saw a white deer
and took aim with his gun
but the birds cried out
and squirrels chattered
and his dog barked
alerting the deer to run
and they say that even today
if you go hiking there
in the valley near the lake
you might catch sight
of not a white-tailed deer
but an all-white deer
and they say that, to this day
all the animals in that valley
will do anything
to protect their deer
and that hunters
near that lake
never succeed
in bagging deer
that’s a sad story Cora says
and Mom rubs her back
then Dad goes on
telling us the story
of some white deer
that came to listen
when Mugaku Sogen
a Buddhist priest from China
gave his first sermon
in the late 1200s
at the temple Engakuji
right here in Kamakura …
and the four of us, lined up
not very comfortably
on the too-narrow sofa bed
all thinking of white deer
start to doze
waking up whenever
something cracks
or the house shakes
or branches rake across
the rain shutters
Chapter 24
HAMMER
when the phone rings too early
to tell us school will be delayed
the wind is still roaring
but morning light squeezes in
between rain shutter gaps
Dad opens a window
slides back a shutter
so we can see the road
full of
branches, garden pots
roofing and debris
and into the house
blows hot salty air
the power comes on again
the TV startles us
and the satellite image shows
the knot of typhoon
just northeast of us
so we all go back to sleep
but in our own
beds and futons
because of the delay
the school day is short
and afterward
Yōhei, Shō, and I
walk down to the beach
to survey the damage
the typhoon has wrecked the coast—
fishing sheds
and seaweed shacks
are in ruins
and people are busy
making piles of debris
I ask a woman if she needs help
and she hands me some cotton gloves
gestures at all the mess
and at the destroyed sheds
sort it into piles
she says
pointing to mounds of
usable stuff
bits of wood
plastics
cans
other garbage
so we go at the mess
of logs and plastic junk
shoes, seaweed, plants
dead fish, pottery, and bottles
it’s salty humid
the air is clearing
the sun’s beating down
and everything’s starting to stink
and way off in the distance
apart from everyone
picking through debris
I see Daiki
I work my way down the beach
away from Yōhei and Shō
making it seem like I hadn’t
known Daiki was there
hi I say thanks for the tea the other day
I was going to call you …
he nods, tosses a bloated fish
what a mess I add, and he nods again
I go back to picking up junk
throwing it on piles
but Daiki’s looking at me—
you speak English, right? he says
yeah I say, and he’s about to say more
but then his face clouds
seeing someone approaching
from somewhere behind me
Wednesday, my house
okay? he mutters
then ducks and moves away
as Yōhei approaches
were you talking to him? Yōhei says
yeah I say
well, don’t, he’s a jerk
I stare at Yōhei
what do you mean?
he’s just weird
he was in my brother’s grade
but he doesn’t go to school now
people think he’s crazy
well, people talk that way about me I say
no, they don’t
they just make fun of you
because you’re different
that’s all
I drop my armload
of typhoon trash
right at Yōhei’s feet
and walk away
from him
from the beach
across the coast road
up to the streetcar tracks
and into the lanes
that lead up our hill
I’m halfway home
when I realize
I’m still wearing
the fisherwoman’s cotton gloves
I throw them in some bushes
after aikido on Saturday
I stay in—
I don’t go out for soccer
I don’t ride around on my bike
I just hang out at home
help Dad clean up the
typhoon-messed garden
and do English homework
I message Daiki
to tell him
I’ll definitely be there
on Wednesday
just different, that’s all
Yōhei said
like that makes it okay
to hammer me down
Chapter 25
SHŌNAN GRAY
Sunday is a Gray day
taking pictures with Cora
all over Kamakura
posing that stupid
stuffed squirrel
everywhere—
riding the streetcar
in front of the Great Buddha
at a shop with a cone of
green and purple ice cream
in English group on Monday
the parents are all excited
about the pictures I took
and about Cora’s business plan
which I’m suddenly
somehow a big
important part of
other kids have simpler business ideas
dog walking services
calendars with recipes
English lessons
muffin sales
Cora’s idea
is Shōnan Gray, and the plan
is to take photographs
of Gray and our Shōnan Coast
then add English
and put pictures and text
on T-shirts
dog-poop bag
s
mugs
clear folders
Shōnan Gray sees the Great Buddha
Shōnan Gray eats an ice cream
Shōnan Gray wants to surf
Shōnan Gray rides the streetcar
to me it’s stupid
but she’s the CEO
and I’m the CFO
and chief of photography
at least I like the spreadsheet job
setting up the functions
so we can track income
and expenses
at school I make extra effort
to keep my mouth shut
trying not to be different
trying not to be hammered
but then on Tuesday
something goes missing
and at first, because of the way
Ōshima-sensei’s talking
I can’t figure out
what it is exactly
and I open my big mouth
to ask
Ōshima-sensei holds up
a plain bronze paperweight—bunchin—
and I realize that what’s missing
is the dragon paperweight
but the way Ōshima-sensei
said bunchin is hilarious to Naho
who imitates with
a pen
an eraser
a protractor
then gets the brilliant idea
to draw a heap of unchi—poop
and hold up the drawing in one hand
her calligraphy paperweight in the other
and looks from one to the other
and in an Ōshima-sensei voice says
bunchin
unchi
I laugh
because I have to
but I hate
that I have to laugh
and then
Ōshima-sensei
hollers at han six
and we all
have to write
bunchin—paperweight—文鎮
in our notebooks
fifty times
and ryū—dragon
old style 龍
and ryū—dragon
new style 竜
fifty times each
which I don’t mind
because for a change
everyone in han six is
actually working
Chapter 26
BOSSES
on Wednesday Cora has made
Shōnan Gray plans
to ring the big bronze bell
at the Dragon’s Mouth Temple
for Shōnan Gray rings the bell
but I tell her that our plans
have been revised:
we’re going to Daiki’s
so we’ll take pictures
somewhere near his house
Cora has a fit about this
and says she’s the CEO and
screams you’re not the boss of me!
as we get on our bikes
when we stop for a car to pass
I tell her that maybe I’m not the boss of her
but as director of photography
I control the photo shoots
and she huffs
and rides off
pedaling like a lunatic
ahead of me
I shout at her to stop
and try to overtake her
but then I slow down and just follow
when I realize she’s actually
riding the route to Daiki’s
Daiki is waiting by the tracks
and he carries Cora’s bike across
leads us into the garden
and closes the gate
why’s it always so quiet here?
do you live alone? Cora asks
looking around the yard and entry
don’t you have a family?
Cora! I warn, but Daiki answers
my grandfather and father are working
my sister’s married, my mother’s dead
and my brother’s sick—
he’s at a hospital
Cora stands still, mouth gaping
sick? I ask
like cancer or something?
and now Cora warns—Jason!
but Daiki says
no, mentally sick
and I think of what Yōhei said
in the kitchen Daiki makes us tea
and gives us each
a big hard rice cracker
the thick noisy kind that
take time to crunch on
finally when we are all
cracker quiet he says so …
why I called you here—
I need to learn English
since my grandfather
wants to send me to Hawaii
to go to a school there
and stay with some relative
Hawaii! Cora says
I’m studying online he says
but I have to reach the test level
for that school, so I need a tutor
but now there’s no money
so anyway, do you have time?
I’m surprised
thinking this over
and Cora’s kicking me
under the table
glaring at me
meaning say yes!
but I’m thinking of the business model
and how you shouldn’t give away
services for free so I say
maybe we could trade
maybe you could help us
with our business
so Cora explains Shōnan Gray
and I say that I think it’s dumb
but we need to think of places to take Gray
scenic places
historic sites
and local specialties for Gray to try
Daiki thinks that dumb or not
Gray stuff really could sell
and he reminds us that behind his house
is the famous ancient temple
where, in 1185, warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune
wrote his really famous letter
to his brother the ruler, Minamoto no Yoritomo
begging him to allow him back into
Kamakura City, or so the legend goes
hey! we could put a pencil
in the squirrel’s paw I say
and pose it with some paper for
Shōnan Gray writes a letter
and I can’t believe
I’m saying this
Daiki gets a pencil and paper
and we head for that temple
famous for that letter
that didn’t work because the ruler Yoritomo
never did let his brother back into the capital
but instead sent him away
turned against him, and sent retainers
to bring back his head
and Daiki is telling us this story
and how the head was identified
right in this neighborhood
and Cora is all grossed out
especially when Daiki’s saying
the head was so decomposed
that in fact they still don’t know for sure
if it was Yoshitsune’s or not and who knows
maybe he escaped to Mongolia
and became Genghis Khan
but as we’re talking and walking
along the short bit of road
between the turn in the streetcar tracks
and the entrance to the temple
we run into Shunta and Gō
Shunta’s on his racing bike
which is really amazing
with all the painted lightning bolts
and thin stripes and details
some of which I think are new—
tongues of flame
running up and wrapping around
the forks
Gō is on a rusted mountain bike
and I’m thinking how maybe I could
turn the energy, avert a sc
ene here
by complimenting Shunta
suggesting he paint Gō’s bike
but they’re laughing
exaggerated and loud
just from seeing Daiki
with us
there are comments
I don’t quite get
but get well enough
about crazies and hospitals
Daiki’s hands
turn to fists
we keep walking
and I decide this isn’t the time
to talk of painting bikes
because when we turn
uphill to the temple approach
Shunta and Gō still follow
we wander near the bronze bell
the one we ring at New Year’s
and we linger by the cave mouth
then stand near the main hall
but Shunta and Gō shadow us
whichever way we turn
Cora keeps Gray in her backpack
I keep Mom’s camera in my pocket
Daiki hides the pencil and paper
and none of us says a word
they follow us even when we leave the temple
without having taken a single picture of Gray
by Daiki’s house Cora and I get our bikes
and with no more words between us
not even confirming the day
for studying English
Daiki goes into his garden
and locks the gate behind him
Cora and I ride off
and when we lose Shunta and Gō
we ride to the futon shop
pool our allowance
and buy a heap
of dagashi candies
that we eat at home—
tiny squares of colored mochi
morocco yogurt
coated chocolates in a circle
and mini colas
I try to distract Cora between bites
make her say her times table
in English and Japanese
but she keeps saying I hate those boys!
I hate them—why do they get to be
the bosses of everyone?
Chapter 27
EVIDENCE
in school there are long lectures
about stealing and honesty
and pleas for whoever
took the dragon paperweight
that has been at the school
used in that classroom for twenty years
and which forms a pair with the dragon
in the other sixth-grade classroom
which is not missing
to speak up and come clean
but no one does
some say the dragons keep away
the ghosts of soldiers who died
in the school when it was used
as a hospital during the war
the ghosts that the principal
always tells us we might meet
if we stay too late at school
after everyone’s gone home
and I’m not saying I believe him
Falling into the Dragon's Mouth Page 7
