Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr

Author:Eleanor Coerr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.

“That isn’t important,” Kenji said. “The poison was in my mother’s body and I got it from her.”

Sadako wanted so much to comfort him, but she didn’t know what to say. Then she remembered the cranes. “You can make paper cranes like I do,” she said, “so that a miracle can happen.”

“I know about the cranes,” Kenji replied quietly, “but it’s too late. Even the gods can’t help me now.”

Just then Nurse Yasunaga came out onto the porch. “Kenji,” she said sternly, “how do you know such things?”

He gave her a sharp look. “I just know,” he said. “And besides, I can read my blood count on the chart. Every day it gets worse.”

The nurse was flustered.

“What a talker!” she said. “You are tiring yourself.” And she wheeled Kenji inside.

Back in her room Sadako was thoughtful. She tried to imagine what it would be like to be ill and have no family. Kenji was brave, that’s all. She made a big crane out of her prettiest paper and sent it across the hall to his room. Perhaps it would bring him luck. Then she folded more birds for her flock.

Three hundred and ninety-eight.

Three hundred and ninety-nine...

One day Kenji didn’t appear on the porch. Late that night Sadako heard the rumble of a bed being rolled down the hall. Nurse Yasunaga came in to tell her that Kenji had died. Sadako turned to the wall and let the tears come.

After a while she felt the nurse’s gentle hand on her shoulder. “Let’s sit by the window and talk,” Nurse Yasunaga said in a kindly voice.

When Sadako finally stopped sobbing, she looked out at the moonlit sky. “Do you think Kenji is up there on a star island?”

“Wherever he is, I’m sure that he is happy now,” the nurse said. “He has shed that tired, sick body and his spirit is free.”

Sadako was quiet, listening to the leaves on the maple tree rustle in the wind. Then she said, “I’m going to die next, aren’t I?”

“Of course not!” Nurse Yasunaga answered with a firm shake of her head. She spread some colored paper on Sadako’s bed. “Come and let me see you fold another paper crane before you go to sleep. After you finish one thousand birds, you’ll live to be an old, old lady.”

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