All Sorrows Can Be Borne by Loren Stephens

Author:Loren Stephens
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rare Bird Books
Published: 2021-03-11T19:35:25+00:00

Chapter 28

Seven hundred bronze lanterns were lit at the Sumiyoshi Taisha Shinto Shrine to commemorate the festival of Shichi-Go-San on November 15, the day children of three, five, and seven years old are celebrated and blessed by the local priests. It was Kazuko’s big day, and the Fujiwaras, Ichiro, Hisashi, and I joined them to celebrate Kazuko’s fifth birthday. Setsuko dressed her in a silk vermillion kimono and quilted vest. She wore wooden clogs and her long hair was pulled back with opalescent barrettes into tiny bunches.

I handed out the traditional red and white candy sticks in bags decorated with turtles and cranes. Hisashi sucked on his “thousand-year-old candy,” which turned syrupy in his mouth and dribbled down his chin. I wet a handkerchief in a nearby fountain and wiped his face so it wouldn’t dribble on to his navy-blue and white sailor suit.

Ichiro put two coins into the shrine’s offering box telling me, “I hope the gods won’t mind I’m making an offering for my niece and our son. I want to be sure that he has a long and prosperous life, too, even if it isn’t his special day yet.” Hisashi was just a little more than a year old. He ran after his cousin Kazuko, begging for her attention.

Mitsuo tossed a baseball to Ichiro. “Let’s play catch, Uncle.” Ichiro took off his jacket and handed it to me. I gave him a worried look. It wasn’t good for him to be exerting himself, especially in the cool November weather, but Ichiro resented it whenever I mentioned he should take it easy. I called out to Hisashi and told him to sit next to me. I gave him a toy fire engine, and he pushed it back and forth in the pebbles and prattled to himself, “Stop. Go. Wait.” I was amazed at how many words he knew and expected very soon he would be speaking in complete phrases.

At fifteen, my nephew Mitsuo was tall and gangly and very athletic. He threw the ball high in the air over Ichiro’s head and it rolled toward the fountain. Ichiro ran after it and threw it back to Mitsuo, who caught it then yelled, “Uncle, you’re out.”

A few minutes later, Mitsuo held Ichiro’s arm to steady him. Ichiro confessed, “I think I overdid it. We’ll have to suspend the game.” He sat down on the bench next to me, and I saw he was drenched in sweat and looked pale. He put his jacket back on and tucked his hands into his pockets to warm them. “I’ll be thirty this Christmas, but I already feel like an old man. Noriko, you should turn me in for a younger guy.”

I played along with Ichiro. “I would, but I can’t find anyone who is as smart and handsome as you. Any other man would bore me in no time at all. You always have something fascinating to share with me.”

Mitsuo interrupted our conversation. “Uncle, do you remember when you promised to take me to another baseball game? Mr.

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