Ozoni and Onsens

by S. J. Pajonas

  “I’ll wait for you here. Try not to take too long,” I said, turning off the car and unlocking the doors. I grabbed my phone and pretended to ignore her, hoping she’d take the hint I wouldn’t be nice to her anymore.

  She left the car without acknowledging me, slamming the door behind her. Sigh. Hopefully, I’d be back to Yoshitomo within twenty minutes.

  It wasn’t too long before I was bored with my phone. All my emails had been returned, and I’d checked my social media networks.

  So instead of mindlessly clicking around, I stared out at the darkened street and daydreamed. I tried to think of all the different things I wanted to do with the retail space below Yasahiro’s apartment, how I would turn it into my senior center tea shop. The most expensive part of the renovation would be converting the bathroom and making it handicapped accessible, which I felt was necessary when dealing with an older population. Everything else I could do myself or get help from my mom, Kumi and Goro, and other volunteers.

  I was imagining what colors to paint the walls when my unfocused eyes caught peculiar movement on the sidewalk. An older woman, possibly in her late eighties, hobbled along at a slow pace. She paused, turned around, and stopped, looking at the shop fronts in front of her. She turned and repeated, meandering, pausing, turning around. She looked like a six-year-old child searching for her mother in the grocery store, lost and alone.

  I waited and watched her, but her movements remained consistent. She’d walk for a minute, pause, turn around, and squint at whatever sign was in front of her. I retrieved my phone from the car cupholder and brought up the local map. This being a touristy part of the city, I figured there had to be a police box nearby. Yeah, about six blocks away. I glanced up from my phone in time to see the woman make her way to the nearest intersection.

  Oh no. She wasn’t aware enough to navigate traffic.

  I scrambled to get out of the car, making sure I didn’t open my door into traffic. Hurrying along, I leapt over slushy puddles along two cars before jumping to the sidewalk curb.

  “Excuse me. Are you okay?” I stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, and her face collapsed into frustration.

  “I don’t know where I am,” she said, clutching her bag to her chest. She looked left and right before shaking her head. “I’ve been walking for a while, and I was supposed to meet my son, but I got turned around.”

  I glanced over at the stationery store, and Nahoko was paying for whatever she’d bought. She’d be done in a minute.

  “Do you know where you were going to meet your son?” She was definitely lost, and I didn’t want her stuck out in the winter weather when her family was worried about her. The sidewalk was dark, and with the temperatures low and clouds threatening to rain, walking outside would become dangerous soon.

  “No,” she said, sighing. “I thought I wrote it down, but I can’t find it in my bag.”

  “What’s going on out here?” Nahoko asked, approaching us. “Why are you disturbing this woman?”

  I took a deep breath. I couldn’t let her get to me now.

  “I’m not disturbing her. She’s lost and trying to meet her son, but she doesn’t remember where she said she’d meet him.” I rested a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “There’s a police box not far from here. Why don’t I take you there? They can hopefully help you find your son.”

  “I don’t know.” She shivered, looking between Nahoko and me.

  Nahoko sighed, waving the woman forward. “Come with us. Mei-san won’t hurt you.”

  I raised my eyebrows at her and she huffed. I supposed that was the closest I would get to an apology.

  Nahoko escorted the woman to the backseat of the car, and I pushed Nahoko’s bags to one side, moving a few to the trunk to make room. When I got behind the wheel, I gripped it tight and closed my eyes for a second. What else was going to happen today? How did a quick vacation morph into babysitting and rescuing old ladies from the street?

  “Okay, let’s get you over to the police.” I started the car and used my phone to guide me the six blocks to the local police box. Like most people, I grew up trusting the police implicitly. If I had a problem or a question, I would also go to the police box to ask for their help, and they always gave it. If this woman lived around here or was visiting, the police could help, I was sure of it.

  For the umpteenth time that day, I parked in another parking lot, and Nahoko and I helped the woman inside the police box building.

  “Excuse me,” I asked the police officer at the front desk. She smiled up at me. “I, uh, found this woman wandering the street not far from here. I think she’s lost. Well, she thinks she’s lost.” I turned around, and she was drifting away from Nahoko towards the sliding glass door. “Oh no. Hold on.”

  I ran for her before she went outside, and the police officer followed me.

  “Excuse me!” I called out to her, running in front of her before the door could open.

  “I’m looking for my son. Do you know where he is?” she asked, her eyes blank, as if she’d never seen me before.

  “No. I don’t. And that’s why we’re here. Remember?”

  She shook her head, and Nahoko sighed in the background.

  “I found you wandering the streets and brought you here to the police.”

  “Who are you?” she asked, and the police woman nodded at her.

  “This woman brought you here so you can find your family.” The officer’s voice was strong but sympathetic. She turned to me, lowering her voice. “We see this all the time, especially in the evenings.”

  “Can we go now?” Nahoko asked, glancing at the clock on the wall. “You said we would just bring her here. She’s here and now we can leave.”

  I bit my lip, wondering how involved I should get in this.

  “Mom!” A frantic older man, his wife and older kids burst through the door and rushed to us, nearly knocking over the old woman. She took a moment to realize this was someone she knew and then she cried into his shoulder as they hugged. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

  “Oh good,” I said, bowing to her family. “See? Your son wasn’t too far away.”

  “Thank you,” she replied, bowing back. “I wasn’t sure what to do.”

  “What happened?” the man asked me, clutching his mother around her shoulders.

  “I was sitting in my car waiting for my friend while she was in the stationery store, and I noticed your mom looked lost. That’s all. I spoke to her, figured out what was going on, and brought her here.”

  “I’m so sorry for all the trouble.” The man’s wife joined us, her eyes red with tears. “She must’ve gotten turned around when it was time to leave the hotel for tea. We’ve been looking for her for the past hour.”

  “It was no trouble at all.” I bowed to them, happy I took the time to trust my instincts and help this woman. “I’m glad you showed up. I was worried about leaving her here.” I bowed again to the old woman. “Have a happy new year and stick close to your family.”

  “I will,” she said, and we smiled at each other. At least one thing had gone right today.

  I gestured to Nahoko that we should leave, and she followed me out the door.

  “Okay, back to Yoshitomo,” I said, opening Nahoko’s door for her.

  “Do you always do things like that? Pick old ladies off the street and deliver them back to their families?” Her eyes were deep pools looking straight into my soul. I hoped she saw I was a good person.

  “At least once a week.” I was joking and flicked a smile at her.

  She didn’t smile back, but by the tune of her sigh, I got the feeling she was slightly amused.

  Ever so slightly.

  It was something.

  Chapter Ten

  Rain began to fall on the drive back to Yoshitomo, coating the road in a slippery slush and chilling me to the bone. I navigated the streets in silence, checking the map on my phone to make sure I was going in the right direction. Nahoko could’ve guid
ed me but she wasn’t speaking to me, and I couldn’t figure out why. I thought maybe our trip back would be a little more cordial after returning the old woman to her family, but perhaps my hopes were too high. I knew nothing about Nahoko except for how she treated me all afternoon. She could have had plenty of reasons for being the bitter person she was. I didn’t know. I only wanted to help out Hiromi.

  I pulled into the driveway at Yoshitomo and parked the car straight up front.

  “It’s raining. I hope you have an umbrella,” Nahoko said, her face turned away from me. I leaned over the divider between us to look in the front foot well and then in the back. No umbrella. Of course. It was probably in the trunk or we had left it at home this morning.

  “It appears I don’t. Sorry.”

  “Well, you had better run inside and get one.”

  I was about to snap at her for being rude when I heard a tap at the window. Yasahiro’s smiling face was beaming down on me from outside, his head covered by an umbrella.

  “Hi,” I said, a sigh escaping. I was never so happy to see anyone in my entire life. I cracked the door, and he swung to the side to hold the umbrella over me as I popped out of the car.

  “Hi, yourself. I’ve been waiting for you. I thought you’d be back twenty minutes ago,” he said, reaching out for me. I jumped at him, throwing my arms around his neck and squeezing. A small sob leaked from my lips, the events of the afternoon finally catching up to me. “Oh, Mei-chan. I’m sorry. Did you have a rough day?”

  “The worst.” I pushed the door closed with my hip. “I’m so glad to be back.”

  Yasahiro’s face contorted from miserable to happy in one swift movement. Regret, I detected regret. “Mei Yamagawa, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m never letting a vacation like this happen again.”

  He leaned forward, and with his arm wrapped around my waist and the other keeping us dry with the umbrella, he pressed his lips to mine and stole my heart. This was what we should have been doing, sharing intimate moments, talking and eating and drinking and laughing, being together. I was supposed to spend this holiday with someone I loved. That was the most important thing on earth.

  I let the kiss linger, enjoying the moment, and letting him take away my bad day with his attention. I drew in a deep breath through my nose before pulling away. His sigh and smile brought a blush straight up from my toes, and I pressed my forehead to his to ground myself.

  “This is outrageous.” My stomach flipped as Nahoko’s words sliced between Yasahiro and me. “How dare you leave me out in the rain while you do unseemly things with your boyfriend. I’m shocked and offended.”

  “Mom, you should’ve called first so I could meet you at the car.” Hiromi rushed forward out of the shadow of Yoshitomo’s front porch, rain boots on her feet but missing an umbrella. Her mother pushed past her, getting to shelter quickly.

  “This is despicable treatment I get from a daughter who shirks her duties,” Nahoko said, shedding her handkerchief once she was out of the rain. “You send a stranger to deal with me on one of the most auspicious family days of the year. We were supposed to spend today and tomorrow together as a family.”

  Hiromi’s shoulders fell, and her eyes welled with tears. “I’m trying to keep the family business alive short on staff. Dad would not have wanted me to ignore my guests.”

  Andrew appeared in the doorway, his chef’s whites smeared with food and a towel over his shoulder. “We’ve been busy all day taking care of the paying customers.”

  “It doesn’t matter now what your father would’ve wanted.” Nahoko rounded on Hiromi who shrank away from her. “And I can tell you this much, he would have been ashamed of you for treating me this way.” She turned from her dumbstruck daughter to point at me. “You, bring in the bags from the car.”

  Andrew gasped, and Yasahiro’s face blanked.

  “No,” he said, squeezing me to him. “I’ll bring in your bags.”

  “And then we’ll be leaving,” I butted in, stepping forward. “You’re right. This is an auspicious day, and it’s important to spend it with family. So, we’ll pack our things and go.”

  Nahoko nodded her head once. “Good.”

  It was Hiromi’s turn to gasp. “Mom! That is not how we treat honored guests around here. What’s gotten into you?”

  I turned my head, ashamed to witness this private dispute, even though it was mostly my fault. If only I had been better in the kitchen, Hiromi could’ve tended to her mother and I could’ve helped with the food. This is not the first time my lack of cooking skills has been detrimental to my life, but that shouldn’t be a reason for Hiromi and Andrew to suffer.

  “I’m in my last years, and you and your husband do nothing but ignore me. Where are my grandkids, huh? Why do you leave me in that house on the other side of town? We’re supposed to be living together as a family. Shifting me off on a stranger is not how we do things.”

  I cringed and made eye contact with Yasahiro. He looked as uncomfortable as I felt. Perhaps everything wasn’t my fault. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  I could see the hurt in Hiromi’s eyes and the hard set of Andrew’s jaw. This was more personal than I expected Nahoko’s homecoming to be.

  She seemed pleased she had gotten her point across and pushed past Andrew into the guesthouse. He stood and stared at Hiromi and she looked at the ground, rain coating her hair and dripping down her face.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, bowing. “I’m not sure if I made things better or worse for you, and for that, I apologize.” Hiromi stared at me, her eyes vacant. “If you like, we’d be happy to have you and Andrew for a visit to Chikata in the spring. There’s a guesthouse in town we can secure for you, and the countryside is really beautiful that time of year. I hope you’ll consider it.”

  “Why would you ever want to see us again?” Hiromi asked, her voice raspy, astonished. “I’m horrified by what just happened, and by what you went through today.”

  I shook my head, beckoning her to join us under the umbrella. “I’ll be fine. I don’t have to live with her, but you do. Whatever she wants, you should look into it.” I pressed my hand to my heart. “We only have so much time on this earth. Try to fill it with joy.” I wasn’t sure if those were the right words, but I figured they’d do.

  “I’ll bring in the packages. Mei-chan, you’ll go pack our things?”

  He handed me the umbrella, and I put an arm around Hiromi. “Come on. Let’s get back inside where it’s dry.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The headlights of the highway smeared into one long, blurry mess as we made our way back home. I spent the time staring out the window and thinking of what had happened that day. It started out so hopeful and full of promise, falling to pieces as the day went on. We should have just gone home after being turned away at the first hotel. It was a bad sign we ignored because we needed a little vacation.

  Yasahiro reached across the car and squeezed my hand. “You’re more quiet than usual. I was thinking we’d stop for dinner. There’s a roadside plaza ahead that has a great ramen restaurant.”

  “Sure. We should eat. I’m sorry you didn’t get to eat any of the delicious food you made. They didn’t even offer us an osechi lunchbox when we left. I’m afraid I’ve damaged your relationship with them permanently.” My voice squeaked, catching in my throat. They had felt ashamed and so had we. It would be a miracle if we ever saw each other again.

  He pulled his hand back, gripping the steering wheel before changing lanes. “I thought I had brought us to a safe place, some place where you and I would be welcome. Sure, I knew they would put us to work, but I figured it was an hour or two, and then we’d be on our own. I’m sorry I got us into this mess. The whole thing.”

  He exited the highway, pulling into the roadside plaza and finding a spot not too far from the restaurant. The rain was a gossamer veil draped over the world, no longer falling in sheets but instead blanketing everything in mist.


  We ran into the ramen restaurant, bought our selections from the machine, and turned in our tickets, sitting down in an open booth. A woman stopped by to deliver two cups of green tea and hot towels for our hands. It was late for dinner, already past 20:00, but the restaurant had plenty of New Year’s Eve travelers, eating, talking, and laughing. In only a few hours, January would be here, and I was more than ready to put this current year behind me.

  “I can’t believe I haven’t asked this yet, but do you have any New Year’s resolutions set?” I asked Yasahiro as I smoothed my curly hair, kinked by the moisture laden air. I was desperate for a good bath and shower, but it would have to wait until we got home.

  He laughed, grabbing a napkin from the dispenser on the table and using it to wipe his glasses. “I’m not very good with resolutions. I wish I was. Everyone around me loves to make business plans and abide by them, but I’m more of a seat-of-the-pants kind of guy. I see opportunities, and I take them. There’s no planning that.” He sighed, rolling his head to stretch his neck. “But then, maybe things like today wouldn’t happen, and we’d be sipping champagne from our private bath in a five-star hotel.”

  “You did plan the trip ahead of time, so try not to beat yourself up about it.”

  He looked straight through me, and I halted twirling my hair in my fingers.

  “This was supposed to be a vacation for you, a way for you to feel warm, full of good food, and loved. I completely failed, and I have no idea why you’re not angry.”

  Our bowls of ramen arrived, and I was grateful for the break. This happened too often between us when we each blamed ourselves for the bad luck in our relationship. I lived a life of bad luck, and before he met me, he was always prosperous. I thought the blame was clear, but he consistently had good reasons why it was his fault. This was something we argued about on a regular basis.

  I leaned over the bowl and took a deep inhale. Ah, this was what I needed. We broke apart our chopsticks, said the ritual prayer, and dug in. The long chewy noodles and salty broth were heaven, warming me up from the inside out.