Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen

by Debbi Michiko Florence

  I sank back into the kitchen chair. I felt like a balloon with a hole in it.

  “My!” Mrs. Reese said with a smile. “You sure want to help out! I’ll tell you what, you can help me paint the shed after the holidays. On a weekend.”

  Oh. I didn’t want to help after mochi-tsuki. It would be no use to work out my arms afterward. Besides, painting sounded boring.

  Fortunately, before I had to answer, my parents’ car pulled into our driveway.

  “Thank you for the brownies! I’ll see you later,” I said, dashing out the door to greet Obaachan.

  When I got back to the house, Sophie wasn’t home yet. For once, I had Obaachan to myself. I flung myself at her as she stepped out of the car. She smelled like a pine forest. She laughed and patted my cheek.

  I leaned back to look at Obaachan. Her short silver hair was like a fluffy cloud around her head. She smiled at me, her brown eyes crinkling, and my insides felt warm and sweet, like Mrs. Reese’s brownies.

  Dad carried Obaachan’s luggage into the house. She had a lot of stuff! I hoped something in there was a gift for me, but I knew better than to ask.

  I followed Obaachan to the guest room.

  “Very nice!” she said when she saw my collage on her pillow.

  She unpacked her clothes one by one. Black pants. Gray pants. A dark blue dress. A white blouse. A gray sweater. Some clothes she hung in the closet. Others she folded and put in the dresser. She brought out a pretty blue-and-gray kimono that she would wear on New Year’s Day. It was my favorite outfit of hers. I sat on a chair and tried to be patient.

  After unpacking a million clothes, she turned to me with a package wrapped in red-and-white cloth. My heart did a happy dance.

  “For you, Misa-chan,” Obaachan said, calling me by my Japanese middle name.

  I made a proper bow and thanked her. “Arigato, Obaachan.” I almost snatched the gift out of her hands, but I remembered my manners and took it slowly.

  I untied the gold string and the cloth fell away from a box. I lifted the lid. Under gold tissue paper was a white apron decorated with pink cherry blossoms. I pulled it from the box and held it up. It was so pretty! It looked like Mom’s special mochi apron, except hers was red with white cherry blossoms. I ran over to the mirror on the closet and draped the apron over my head. It hung to my knees and gaped at my neck. It was a little big, but I didn’t care! I had a special mochi apron!

  “Wowee zowee! I love it, Obaachan!” My smile was so big my cheeks hurt.

  “Save for when you help with mochi-tsuki,” she said.

  My smile slumped into a frown. More waiting. I was tired of waiting.

  “I’m going to help this year,” I announced.

  Obaachan’s eyes clouded over. “You too young.”

  Last year, I wanted to decorate the house for Mom’s birthday, but I thought I was too little. Obaachan told me I was big enough. We worked together and didn’t tell anyone else. We were a team. Obaachan was always on my side.

  “But I’m ready to help,” I said. “I’m going to pound mochi.”

  Obaachan gasped. “You young lady! That job for men.”

  I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter,” I said, trying to use a respectful tone, like Mom taught me. “I am just as tough as the boys.”

  “Girls no pound mochi. It kisoku, the rule.”

  That was a silly rule from when Obaachan was little, probably. Walnuts! Everything had rules! It wasn’t fair! I shouldn’t have told Obaachan. I didn’t want to wait two more years. I didn’t want to roll mochi. I wanted to pound mochi!

  I ran out of the room, leaving the apron behind.

  MUSCLES NEEDED

  The next morning, Sophie paraded into the kitchen wearing her new apron. Hers was white with blue cherry blossoms and fit perfectly. She marched around the table where I was sitting, pumping her arms like she was the leader of a band.

  “You don’t need to wear that till tomorrow,” I said.

  “You’re just jealous,” she said. She circled me one more time before she sat down at the table.

  What happened to my apron? I wondered if Obaachan had packed it away.

  Obaachan and Mom spoke Japanese to each other as they washed and soaked the special sweet rice at the sink. I didn’t understand what they were saying. I hoped Obaachan wouldn’t tell Mom that I wanted to pound mochi. Maybe she would keep my secret. Mom was all about rules, and she might feel the same way as Obaachan, that girls weren’t strong enough. I realized that I had to have proof that I could pound mochi before I asked my parents.

  I stared into my bowl of cereal as I ate, so I wouldn’t have to look at Sophie in her new apron. What could I do to prove I had good muscles? I glanced around the kitchen. There wasn’t anything heavy to lift.

  Last month in school, Sophie had to take a physical education test. She had to pull herself up on a bar. Maybe I could show my parents that I could hang on to a tree branch for a long time. First, I needed to test myself to make sure I could do it.

  There was more cleaning after breakfast! It was never-ending. Finally, after lunch I was able to escape. I walked straight to Mrs. Reese’s backyard, scrambled over the fence, and climbed into my secret thinking spot.

  I rolled up my sleeve and tried to make a muscle. I squinted at my arm. My muscle was smaller than a ladybug. I squeezed my arm tight, but still nothing. It didn’t look anything like when Dad bent his arm.

  I leaned over and shook the branch, and the few leaves that were left rustled. I slid out onto the branch and gripped it with both hands. I let my body drop. But my hands slipped and I fell onto the grass below. I sat there, blinking quickly. My arms were weaker than spaghetti noodles. Mom and Dad would never believe I could pound mochi.

  I wasn’t going to give up, though. I climbed back into the tree and rubbed my hands on my T-shirt, drying them off. I crawled over the branch. Then I took a deep breath, made sure I had a good grip, and slowly eased off the branch. I held on tight. I didn’t fall!

  “Jasmine!” Mom’s voice carried into Mrs. Reese’s yard.

  I hung on to the branch and counted to five.

  “Jasmine! Are you out there?”

  I counted to ten!

  “Jasmine Toguchi!” Mom called again. “Come home right away. Your cousin will be here soon.”

  I finally let go and dropped down to the grass. I did it! Now I just had to show my parents. If they saw I could hang on to the branch, they’d know I was strong enough to lift the mochi hammer.

  If only mean cousin Eddie weren’t coming today. Last year, he kept calling me and Sophie babies because we couldn’t help with mochi-tsuki. He wouldn’t be able to tease Sophie this year.

  I would rather eat dirt than spend time with mean cousin Eddie. I would rather take orders from bossy Sophie. I would rather paint Mrs. Reese’s shed. But if I wanted to pound mochi, I had to go home.

  I climbed back over the fence. It was much easier this time to lift myself over it. I was definitely strong enough to pound mochi. This year, mean cousin Eddie couldn’t tease me either!

  MEAN COUSIN EDDIE

  Dad and Uncle Jimmy unfolded two long tables in the backyard. That was where the women would roll mochi tomorrow. Mom, Obaachan, and Auntie Laurie covered the tables with a green plastic tablecloth. Sophie taped it down.

  I watched from the window in the kitchen. The sky was blue and cloudless and the sun was shining, but I didn’t feel very sunshiny.

  “Well, if it isn’t Jasmine T who smells like pee!”

  I hunched my shoulders and leaned my chin on my hand. Mean cousin Eddie’s voice sounded like yowling cats.

  Dad is a professor of history at a college. He teaches about things that have already happened. He says that sometimes history repeats itself. Eddie and I have a repeating history. Every time we get together, he teases me and I get upset. Three years ago, he fell off the couch while he was jumping on it. Maybe he bumped his head super-hard, because after that he got mean. Sophie thoug
ht it was because we saw him cry.

  “Everyone else is helping, but not you,” mean cousin Eddie said. “You’re a weakling!”

  Two years ago, he couldn’t help either. Dad told me not to let Eddie get to me. He always told me to count to ten before talking with Eddie. So I counted to twenty.

  “What? You can’t even turn around? Are you so dumb you can’t make conversation?”

  The kitchen table scraped against the floor as Eddie bumped into it. I kept staring out the window. I counted to twenty-five.

  “You’re so lame!”

  I counted to thirty.

  Finally, Eddie gave up and pushed open the back door. A cool breeze drifted in. It smelled like dry leaves. Outside, Dad and Uncle Jimmy carried the usu from the garage. I stood on my tiptoes to get a better look at the stone bowl they used to turn cooked rice into mochi.

  It took two grown men to carry the bowl into the yard. Mean cousin Eddie walked behind them, the wooden hammer on his shoulder, like he was some superstar. When he bent to put it down, he wobbled like he was about to fall over. I smiled as he struggled. Then I realized that Eddie, who was eleven years old, had trouble lifting the hammer. Maybe hanging down from a tree branch wasn’t good enough. Maybe I should make sure I could pick up the hammer.

  * * *

  I waited until after dinner when everyone was busy watching TV and talking. Sophie was on the phone with her best friend, Maya Fung. Eddie was playing a computer game.

  I slowly opened the back door, stopping just before the hinges made their tattletale squeak. I squeezed outside and pulled the door shut behind me with a soft click. The pavement felt cold against my bare feet. I had left my shoes behind so I could stay quiet.

  Keeping the porch light off so nobody would see me, I took tiny steps in the dark. I put my hands on the mochi table and followed it around to the edge of the yard. There, the usu and hammer were covered with a tarp.

  I could just barely see them, looking like a creature standing guard. I shivered and glanced back at the house. All quiet.

  When I made it to the usu, I slid the tarp off. The mochi hammer shimmered under the stars. I reached over and put my hands around the wooden handle. It felt smooth from all the years of my family’s hands gripping it. My heart pounded in my throat. I took big gulping breaths of the cool air.

  This was it. If I could pick up the hammer, it meant I was strong enough to pound mochi.

  Just as I was about to try lifting it, an all-too-familiar, too-horrible voice sounded from the darkness behind me.

  “Hey! What do you think you’re doing? You’re not allowed to touch that!”

  Eddie grabbed the other end of the hammer. We tugged back and forth. I gripped it tightly, refusing to let go. This was a test! If I could just hold on …

  But Eddie was bigger than me. He yanked the hammer out of my hands and I fell backward. The damp grass soaked into my shorts. Mean cousin Eddie’s teeth glowed in the moonlight as he smiled evilly.

  “You’re so weak,” he said.

  “I’m not! I can hang from a tree branch.”

  “So what? Anyone can do that. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  I ran my hand along my arm, feeling for a muscle. Nothing.

  “Don’t touch this again,” he said. “You’re a girl. You’ll give it bad luck!”

  I sucked on my bottom lip. If anything, he would give it bad luck with all his meanness.

  He stood there staring down at me, trying to scare me. When I didn’t budge, he shrugged. I hoped he would leave the hammer, but he took it into the house.

  Walnuts! Now what was I going to do?

  WANTED: MOCHI HAMMER

  When I got back in the house, I planned to look for the hammer.

  “Bedtime, Jasmine,” Mom said.

  “But everyone else is staying up,” I said. I had to find that hammer.

  “You know the rules.”

  My bedtime was eight o’clock, but Sophie got to stay up till eight-thirty. Eddie probably didn’t have a bedtime. I slouched into my room to get ready for bed. Because we had company, Mom didn’t check on me. I brushed my teeth and put on my pajamas in slow-motion. A burst of laughter came from the living room. I straightened up my desk, even though it was neat.

  “It’s your bedtime, Sophie,” I heard Mom say.

  I went to my door and peered into the hall. Sophie sat slumped in front of her bedroom. Mom stood there with her arms crossed.

  “My night-light is broken. Can I keep the light on?” Sophie asked.

  “You know the rules,” Mom said.

  No lights left on at night. That’s one rule that didn’t bother me.

  “I can’t sleep in the dark,” Sophie said.

  “We don’t have any extra night-light bulbs. I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Mom walked back to the living room, and Sophie stayed in the hall. If she didn’t go to bed soon, she would get in trouble. It would serve her right for being so bossy to me.

  Maybe she wouldn’t be allowed to make mochi. That would make her sad. But that didn’t make me feel happy. I went back into my room and dug around in my closet. I found what I was looking for.

  “Here’s a flashlight,” I said as I handed it to Sophie. “Mom doesn’t have a rule about flashlights.”

  Sophie took it from me slowly, like she thought I might yank it away. As I walked back to my room, I heard her say quietly, “Thanks.”

  I climbed into bed. I left the curtains open because I liked to see the moon. Sophie was scared of the dark, but not me. I was fearless. That made me smile. I wouldn’t let mean cousin Eddie scare me. I would find that hammer first thing in the morning.

  * * *

  I was already awake when the sun came up. Mom and Dad sleepily stumbled into the hall, mumbling and grumbling. I rolled out of bed with a thump, onto my bedroom floor. I had to find that hammer! I got dressed as quickly as I could.

  In the kitchen, the rice cookers set on timers were already steaming, filling the kitchen with the smell of rice. My mouth watered. I’d have to wait until midnight before I tasted our mochi. It was the one night of the year I was allowed to stay up past my bedtime. Another reason I loved New Year’s.

  Obaachan and Mom ate grilled sardines and rice for their breakfast. I didn’t want to eat anything that had eyes staring back at me. Dad and Sophie ate oatmeal. Eddie looked like he was still sleeping as he spooned Frosted-Os into his mouth. Most of the cereal just dribbled back into his bowl. Blech!

  Dad smiled at me. “Good morning. Happy mochi-tsuki day!”

  Happy for him and everyone else, maybe.

  I wondered where Eddie had hidden the mochi hammer. Maybe I could look for it while everyone was busy eating. I shoved toast into my mouth and gulped my orange juice. Nobody noticed me slip away from the table.

  First, I went to Dad’s home office, where mean cousin Eddie, Uncle Jimmy, and Auntie Laurie were staying. I looked under the futon. I looked in the closet. I even peeked in Eddie’s backpack, but the hammer wasn’t anywhere in the room.

  Next, I searched the bathroom. It wasn’t in the tub or the linen closet. Then I checked Sophie’s room. We used to play together there all the time with an awesome dollhouse she got from Obaachan. After she started fifth grade, though, she said she was too old to play with dolls. I didn’t look too hard, because if Sophie caught me in her room, bad things would happen.

  I was pretty sure Eddie hadn’t hidden it in my parents’ room. The only place left to check was Obaachan’s room.

  I flipped on the light in her room, and my heart lifted when I saw my apron, folded neatly on the desk.

  “Misa-chan?” Obaachan said behind me. “You looking for something?”

  She followed my gaze. “You want your apron?”

  Even though I did, I wanted something else more.

  “Eddie took the mochi hammer.”

  Obaachan frowned. “He say you want to hide it. He give to me.”

  I was so mad, it felt like my head was full of boil
ed rice and steam was blowing out of my ears. “That’s not true!”

  Obaachan sat on her bed and patted the space next to her. I climbed up and she put a gentle hand on my arm.

  “I know you sad right now, but your turn come soon. I be very happy when you sit next to me and we roll mochi together.”

  I liked the idea of sitting with Obaachan, but I didn’t want to roll mochi, not even in two years. What I wanted, right now, was to pound mochi with Dad and the uncles. If I could just explain to Obaachan about wanting to do something different from Sophie, she might understand.

  But then the doorbell rang. Everyone was here! Obaachan took my hand. Together we walked out to greet the rest of the family. I left behind my apron. Way worse, I left behind the hammer, wherever it was.

  THE BIG QUESTION

  Auntie Vicky, Uncle Joe, cousins Anna and the twins, Cassie and Leo, walked in. Cassie ran to me the minute she saw me. Her smile made my heart happy again. Uncle Ray, Auntie Beth, and my cousins Jason and Frankie followed.

  All around me uncles and aunties and cousins greeted one another. The chattering sounded like a hundred hummingbirds buzzing in the room. Aunties carried in rice cookers and grocery bags. Uncles slapped one another on their backs and talked about football scores.

  The four-year-old twins dragged their backpacks over to me. The bags were so full they looked like they were about to explode. Anna ruffled my hair as she walked past. Jason and Frankie ran to find Eddie. My heart felt as full as the room. I loved being surrounded by my family.

  I helped Cassie and Leo unpack stuffed animals and cars and books and crayons. The aunties bustled into the kitchen. By the time the backpacks were empty, so was the living room. I was alone with Cassie and Leo.

  Last year, it was me and Sophie together. We built a fort out of the couch cushions. We threw stuffed animals at Eddie any time he walked by. That was fun. Now everyone else was having fun, preparing for mochi-tsuki, without me.