Home » The Archives » Chapter 14 » New Beginnings
| Re: New Beginnings [message #2226 is a reply to message #2225] |
Sun, 29 July 2012 22:02   |
Lillehafrue
Messages: 478
Registered: July 2012
Location: Northeastern USA
Karma:
|
TB Pilot
Evil Genius |
|
|
Friday, January 4, 2069 Tracy Island, a little after noon( Thursday, January 3, NYC, a little after 6 p.m.)
Cassie was cutting up some cucumbers for her salad when her phone rang. Putting the knife down on the cutting board, she crossed to the kitchen table where she had put the phone upon entering the apartment. Picking up the device, she saw Jordan's name on the screen.
"Hey, Jordan. What's up?"
"Hi, sis. Other than enjoying a rare day off, not much. Taking Bridget out to dinner tonight, or I would have waited a little longer to call you. Didn't catch you at a bad time, did I?"
"No. I've got time to talk," Cassie replied.
"Great. Oh, by the way, be look out for a package. Mark, Byron and I finally got around to sorting through the stuff we put in storage. The china set Mom wanted you to have got shipped this morning."
Their parents had broken the news to all of them during their visit to Japan that they weren't intending to return to the United States. With Phillip retired and all the kids grown there were no ties keeping them there and with her own parents health failing, Keiko had wanted to return to her childhood village. The Kishis were now residing in Kozushima. As they were still living in NYC, the task of clearing out and selling the home the kids had all grown up in had fallen to Mark, Jordan and Byron. Keiko and Phillip had requested certain things be shipped to them as well as wanting each of the kids to have certain things. The rest of the stuff was to be sold. Even over a month later, Cassie was still trying to get used to the idea of her parents no longer living in NYC.
"Okay, I'll let you know when it gets here. Hopefully, everything is still in one piece."
"Bridget and Jennifer packaged everything, so we should be good."
"Smart move."
"You guys keep it up and I might be the only one left living in the city," Jordan told her. "First you, now Mom and Dad. Byron and Jennifer are talking about looking for a place outside of the city too. It's making me appreciate that time we had in Japan, the more I think about it."
"Yeah, I think this past Thanksgiving is my favorite one," Cassie commented, thinking about her trip.
***Flashback***
Cassie had arrived in Japan the day before what would have been Thanksgiving in the States. Sachio and his family had met her in the baggage claim area.
"Konnichiwa, Cassie-chan! O genki desu ka?" Sachio said, as he approached her.
"Hai, genki desu," Cassie replied, without missing a beat. She gave her cousin a quick hug and then took a step back. "Anata, wa?"
"I'm fine," Sachio replied, switching to his cousin's native language. "I see you've kept up on your Japanese."
"Of course."
Kao and Kai had joined them. Sachio introduced his wife and son to Cassie. Though they had spoken on the phone before, this was the first time they had all met face to face.
"Dad and Mom are looking forward to seeing you. We figured you could stay with them tonight, seeing as you need to be in the city for your business meeting tomorrow. Dad will fly you, Mark and Jordan out to Kozushima tomorrow evening."
"That sounds good," Cassie replied.
Sachio and Cassie headed over to the baggage claim area. Their reunion had thinned the crowd around the conveyor belt a little, and Sachio was able to step up to the machine. With Cassie's input, Sachio was able to snag Cassie's two bags when they came around.
"How long are you planning to stay?" Sachio asked jokingly, as the group made there way toward the exit of the airport.
"I did some early Christmas shopping so I don't have to mail things later," Cassie told him, even as she continued to listen to Kai's narrative of school. The young boy was very talkative and was happy to have a new audience to tell his stories too.
"Very forward thinking," Kao commented, whose grasp of the English language was limited.
After a visit to the Tokoyo branch of Tracy Industries, Cassie had joined her family in Kozushima village. She had enjoyed seeing everyone that evening and was especially looking forward to the following day's celebration.
Labour Thanksgiving Day had started out with Cassie's grandmother cooking a traditional Japanese breakfast.
"I'm cooking Tamagoyaki for breakfast," Nako, replied from the stove as Cassie had entered the kitchen that morning. The elderly lady was very thin from her recent illness and still tired easily. However, she insisted on doing the cooking in the house. Keiko, however, had insisted on doing the other household chores until her mother was feeling stronger. "If you're not up to it, there are cereals on the table."
"Tamagoyaki sounds good," Cassie replied. It had been awhile since she had traditional Japanese food. Alex hadn't cared for it and though Cassie had cooked it a few times while living with her brother, she hadn't since moving to Tracy Island. Something I need to change, she thought, as she found an empty seat between Mark and Allie. Her nieces, she noticed, were both eating cereal.
"Late night get to you?" Mark asked her, as he placed his spoon back into the bowl of Miso soup. The two of them had stayed up past midnight catching up.
"You could say that."
It wasn't long before Jordan joined them in the kitchen. Over breakfast, the group discussed their plans for the day.
"You're not coming to the mainland with us, Mom?" Jordan asked when Keiko mentioned that she and her mother would have dinner ready for them when they arrived.
"No. Your grandmother isn't quite up to that yet. We'll stay here and enjoy the time together."
"And seeing as you all are missing out on your Thanksgiving holiday, you're mother is going to teach me how to make a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. Seems appropriate as you're all sharing our holiday with us."
"Sounds great. Anything is better than the hospital's version of Thanksgiving dinner," Jordan, who had worked every Thanksgiving since he was a med student, commented.
10 am
Cassie and her family headed down to the docks. Quite a few people were walking in that direction. This was the eleventh year that Tokyo was holding a Labor Festival, similar to the one that Nagano had hosted for years. The ferry's from Kozushima and the surrounding islands were crowded the entire day. Looking around at the people heading toward the docks, Cassie was glad that her family wasn't trying to catch a ferry to the mainland.
Reaching the docks, the group headed toward the fishing vessel, Rising Sun. The Rising Sun was owned and operated by Keiko's younger brother, Hikaru. His son-in-law currently helped him run the ship. Not having a son himself, Hikaru was elated when his nephew, Riku, had showed an interest in fishing. At fifteen, Riku's participation was limited, but Hikaru was hoping to turn the ship over to him when he was older.
Hikaru and his family were already on board, as were Byron and his family.
"She might not be as classy as the ferries but this sure beats the hassle of trying to get a place on one of them," Hikaru commented when everyone was on board.
It wasn't long before the Rising Sun was leaving the docks behind and making its way toward the mainland. Cassie was positive the fish smell was following her as they disembarked the ship in Tokyo Harbor to join Sato, his wife Chisami, Sachio, Kao, and Kai.
"I made this for you," Kai, told Mark, handing him a drawing.
"Thank-you," Mark said trying to hide his confusion from the boy.
"It's tradition for school kids to draw pictures and present them as gifts to police officers, as a thank-you for the job they do all year long," Sachio, explained, clearing things up for his cousin.
Mark nodded, touched that his second cousin had thought of him.
"There's time to visit the Asakusa Shrine before the parade, if you're all interested," Sachio said, looking around at Mark, Cassie and Jordan who had decided to spend the day together. "We usually go there every year. Besides giving us a chance to reflect on peace and human rights, which is part of what this holiday is about, Kai here likes to see the decorative displays of produce that they put up at the shrine in honor of the harvest."
The three of them agreed. After a quick discussion with the rest of the group, they all agreed on a meeting place to watch the parade from. Allie and Katie begged and were given permission to go with their aunt and uncles, and then Sachio led the group toward the nearest subway station, to head up to the Asakusa Shrine.
Kozushima, 6pm
The dining room in the Fujimura house was crowded. Three extra folding tables had been set up to seat everyone. There wasn't much room to maneuver but given the cool weather outside, there hadn't been any other options as they all wanted to share the dinner together.
The food was passed around, and plates were filled. When everyone had their food, Phillip Sr. got to his feet.
"Well, I'm sure you are all hungry just like I am, so I'll keep this short," Phillip began.
"This will be a first then," Byron commented, having experienced many long,holiday dinner speeches by his father.
There was kind laughter throughout the room. Phillip waited for it to die down before continuing.
"I just want to say how thankful I am that we can all be together here, to enjoy this meal together. This is the first time that we've all been together and I think it's quite appropriate that it happened on this day. There have been a lot of changes this year, but we've gotten each other through them. It's good to know that no matter what happens you can count on family."
The ironies of her father's words were not lost on Cassie. She wondered how he could say what he did about counting on family when he had practically disowned one of his sons. Not wanting to ruin the occasion or start anything, she kept the thoughts to herself.
"A tradition for my wife, kids, and I has always been to go around the table and say something we were thankful for before we eat. Given the number of people here, I propose we do that while we all begin our dinner."
There were agreements all around. As Phillip sat down, on his left Keiko got things started, saying that she was thankful to have been able to prepare the meal for everyone with the help of her mother. As they all ate, they continued to go around the tables, everyone giving thanks for something.
***End Flashback***
Thanksgiving, seemed like ages ago, Cassie thought, feeling a slight wave of homesickness wash over her. As much as she had enjoyed seeing her family though, what meant more, was that her four brothers had left Japan on better terms than when they had arrived. Now if Mom and Dad would come around . . .
"When do you think you'll make it back out east?"
"Not sure," Cassie replied, her brother's question bringing her back to the present. She returned to preparing her salad as she continued her answer. "Work's been keeping me kind of busy. You know how that is."
"Don't I ever. If Bridget wasn't a nurse and actually saw me at the hospital, I'm not sure she would believe me when I tell her I can't do something because I'm working."
"You know, if you want this relationship to work, you're going to have to quit working so much," Cassie told her brother.
"Yeah, I know. That's why I'm taking her out to dinner. Hopefully one of the latest candidates for the empty ER spot will work out and I won't have to pull so much overtime."
As they continued talking, Cassie finished preparing her salad. Her lunch was finished by the time Jordan said he had to start getting ready for his date. Ending the call she put her phone down, and then sat down to enjoy her salad.
98% pure evil...and loving every minute of it.
 
|
|
|
|
Current Time: Sat May 04 11:59:12 EDT 2024
Total time taken to generate the page: 0.01341 seconds
|
International Rescue: The Next Phase
Search
Help
Members
Login
Home
