Falling into the Dragon's Mouth

by Holly Thompson

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  Table of Contents

  About the Author

  Copyright Page

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  For Bob, Dexter, and Isabel

  What you learn today, you can teach another the next day.

  —from Ki Sayings by Kōichi Tōhei (1920–2011), founder of Ki Aikido

  Chapter 1

  SEAT CHANGE: HAN SIX

  we draw numbers

  picking slips of folded paper

  from Ōshima-sensei’s box

  matching them

  to a map of desks

  to find our han—

  the group we’ll

  sit with

  clean with

  study with

  for the next

  two months

  I hope for at least

  one friend

  and by friend

  I don’t mean

  what I used to mean by friend

  before I moved to Japan

  before I started here

  at this school once called

  Dragon’s Mouth

  by friend I just mean

  anyone who doesn’t

  punch me

  for using the wrong word

  kick me

  for having an accent

  or call me

  stinking foreigner

  but this time

  I get no friends

  I get

  Shunta

  Gō

  Yuki

  Naho

  and Mika

  Shunta being the one

  who hurled a chair

  out the classroom

  balcony door

  Gō being the one

  who hit my friend Yōhei

  above his left eye

  requiring stitches

  Naho and Yuki

  being the girls

  all the other girls

  are afraid of

  and Mika being the one

  who cuts everyone down

  with her sword-sharp

  words

  as we push desks

  into position

  Mika points

  to her seat

  beside mine

  checks the map

  says no way!

  next to the stinking foreigner?

  and they all laugh

  she keeps a gap

  between her desk

  and mine

  across from me

  Gō slides his desk back

  to do the same

  kids from all

  the other han

  point

  murmur

  stare

  I expect Ōshima-sensei to help—

  separate my han members

  divide them up

  spread them out

  save me

  but he frowns

  says

  I expect no trouble

  from han six

  he seems to think

  I can fend for myself

  since I’m a year older

  having repeated a grade

  when we moved to Japan

  but being a year older

  in grade six

  in this school

  in this out-of-the-way

  seaside neighborhood

  where hardly anyone

  isn’t Japanese

  makes me even more different

  than I already am

  even more the nail

  that sticks out

  just waiting

  to be hammered down

  in two periods of science

  with Takata-sensei in the lab—

  I have ninety minutes to think

  on how to survive

  nearly two whole months

  in han six

  Yōhei, Shō, Ken, and I

  take plant specimens to our station

  slice across stems, set them in water

  for observing changes day by day

  I laugh with Yōhei like he expects me to

  write observations like I’m supposed to do

  draw diagrams like we’re told to

  but I feel sick

  watching Shunta and Gō

  across the room

  waving cutter knives

  making nicks in the desktop

  and dicing an eraser

  into smaller

  and smaller

  pieces

  lunch is in the classroom

  back with han six

  eating chicken stuff on rice

  salad with cucumbers

  and a mikan orange

  trying to chew

  and swallow

  surrounded by

  Shunta

  Gō

  Yuki

  Naho

  and Mika

  Naho eats her mikan fast

  and wants another

  so I give her mine

  thinking

  maybe I can change her mind

  about foreigners

  Naho stares at my mikan

  sitting on her tray

  I don’t like fruit I explain

  but she says iyada!—no way!

  won’t take it

  won’t touch it

  tells Mika to remove it

  from her tray

  which Mika does

  with thumb and finger

  then throws it to Shunta

  who puts it in his pocket

  and says he’ll

  feed it to his dog

  I don’t finish my rice

  can’t finish my rice

  knowing my day

  will only get worse

  because after lunch is

  cleaning

  upstairs in the music room

  no teacher

  just me with

  Shunta

  Gō

  Yuki

  Naho

  and Mika

  Chapter 2

  CLEANING

  we’re supposed to

  move desks aside

  sweep the floor clean

  then put the desks back

  I take a broom

  to get started

  but Shunta yanks it

  right from my hands

  he shoves me

  and forces me

  and only me

  to use the dustpan

  here, boy, here they say

  Shunta, Gō

  Yuki, Naho, and Mika

  again and again

  making me

  and only me

  sweep up

  tiny piles of dust

  I sweep fast with

  one quick flick

  of the dust broom

  while watching my back

  when they quit

  and sit on desks

  I quit and sit on a desk

  but they yell

  Jason! Move it!

  to make me sweep up more

  I glare at them

  and don’t move
>
  until Gō approaches

  then I hop off, start putting

  desks back into position

  like we’re supposed to

  always careful

  to keep

  a desk

  or chair

  between me

  and Gō

  later, walking home

  Yōhei, Shō, and Ken

  try to encourage me

  share strategies

  tell me not to

  meet their eyes

  listen to insults

  act scared

  tell me to

  laugh at their jokes

  keep out of their way

  and never fight back

  I can’t I say

  you have to they argue

  it’s the only way

  but I’ve watched Gō and Shunta

  and I know they’re just waiting

  to push me too far

  at home I kick off my shoes

  drop my backpack

  head up to my room, planning

  to lie down on my top bunk

  but in my our room

  my sister Cora’s playing teacher

  with her second-grade friend

  their stuffed animals

  lined up in rows

  all over the tatami

  so I can barely

  walk in the door

  I holler at her

  kick a stuffed moose

  step on a squirrel

  and slam the door

  in the living room

  I flop down on the couch

  my face smooshed

  against cushions

  and lie there immobile

  till Mom shouts from the kitchen

  where she’s grading papers

  that it’s time to do homework

  and put on my aikido gi

  and, by the way …

  she needs to talk to me

  about taking care of Cora

  on Wednesdays

  since she’s been offered

  two more classes to teach

  iyada—no way!

  I yell into the cushion

  nasty

  just like Naho said it to me

  but suddenly Mom’s hands

  are hauling me up by one arm

  Jason Parker she says

  we don’t talk like that in this house

  so go clean up the genkan

  then start your homework

  I move the stupid shoes

  out of the way

  and sweep the stupid genkan

  then line up the shoes

  with toes facing out

  all proper

  in case some neighbor

  stops by

  except

  I pair the shoes

  right shoe on left

  and left shoe on right

  hah!

  Chapter 3

  CENTERING

  it’s dusk when I leave for the dojo

  switch on my bicycle light

  and coast downhill toward the temple

  where I cross the main road

  cut into an alley, cross the bridge

  and ride the lane that follows the river

  there you can hear the slap

  and splash of fish jumping

  so I sometimes stop and wait

  straining to see fish in the dark

  but today I’m late and pedal past

  to the house that’s really a dojo

  I started aikido

  after moving here

  in third grade

  after I learned

  that soccer here

  is all afternoon

  every Saturday

  every month

  all year long

  with kids like Shunta and Gō

  and a coach who did charades

  to explain things to me

  then tried simple English

  and laughed hilariously

  like it’s the funniest thing in the world

  to speak English

  the dojo is different

  at the dojo

  you start with a white belt

  no matter who you are

  girl or boy

  you do the moves

  with everyone else

  no matter your age

  or size or rank

  you take tests

  to advance levels

  no matter your age

  or size or rank

  you get respect

  you give respect

  no matter your age

  or size or rank

  I was white

  then green

  then yellow belt

  now I’m orange

  trying for blue

  at the dojo

  you bow to enter

  and on the mats

  you kneel, you meditate

  you hold your one-point center

  even when Yamada-sensei

  pushes your forehead to test you

  you chant, you stretch

  you roll

  across

  the mats

  forward

  and back

  you bow to your opponent

  you practice holds and moves

  you take your opponent’s energy

  and turn it to overcome him

  or her

  and what matters most

  through every move and fall

  is you keep firm

  you stay in control

  you hold your center

  in aikido

  we practice protecting

  we imagine attackers

  we use mind and body together

  our ki energy

  to keep calm

  perform our best

  so we can dare to face

  an enemy of millions

  but today I picture real attackers

  so while entering and turning

  and receiving strikes

  I’m thinking of

  Shunta

  Gō

  Yuki

  Naho

  and Mika

  I focus hard

  make no mistakes

  calm and action

  as one

  Chapter 4

  ENGLISH GROUP

  being away

  from the Dragon’s Mouth

  and han six

  for a total of

  sixty-five weekend hours

  makes Monday morning

  back at school

  the worst—

  Mika stabbing me with her words

  Gō slamming me every time I stand

  Yuki hitting the back of my head

  whenever I make a mistake and

  Shunta and Naho egging them on

  all day long Ōshima-sensei

  seems blind to my situation

  just yelling about noise

  way too much noise

  so at the final bell I race

  from classroom to school gate

  to our car waiting uphill

  for Cora and me

  I feel like telling Mom

  step on it

  like we’re in

  a getaway car

  even though

  we’re just driving

  the usual route

  to English group

  English group

  is kids like us—

  transplants

  or hāfu mixes

  or Japanese returnees

  who lived abroad

  a long time

  a whole group

  of English speakers

  from different Japanese schools

  who meet once a week

  in a public hall in Yokohama

  to keep up our English—

  not just speaking, but also

  reading

  writing

  thinking

  researching

  presenting

  we’re divided i
nto olders and youngers and in the olders we’re

  Will—mom English, dad Japanese

  Nenita—mom Filipino, dad Japanese

  Erika—mom Japanese, dad Japanese-American

  Trina—mom Chinese-Singaporean, dad Japanese

  Ami—mom Japanese, dad Ghanaian-Canadian

  me, Jason or “J”—mom Polish/Italian-American dad Dutch/English-American

  today Trina’s mom is teaching

  the olders and youngers together

  a new unit on economics

  and we’re learning about scarcity

  which we get when she tricks us

  into thinking there are many bags

  of popcorn on the table—help yourselves!

  but the popcorn runs out

  when only a few have had any

  because it turns out most bags

  contain only crumpled paper

  so Ami’s sister starts bawling

  then Trina’s mom asks us how

  to solve the problem of limited supply

  we suggest sharing the popcorn

  but the youngers Ethan and Sophie

  already opened their bags and ate half

  which leads to a lesson on allocation

  and resources and choice and then

  we break into olders and youngers

  for discussions and exercises

  we have to come up with

  examples of things

  in limited supply

  and think of a way

  to allocate that good

  or resource

  Will, Nenita, Trina

  Ami, and I list

  water

  time

  manga in English

  money for fun stuff

  unicycles at school

  electricity

  then we crack up

  when Erika who loves fashion

  and spends her allowance

  on shoes says shoe closets!

  we laugh and joke

  and no one

  whacks anyone

  on the head

  Chapter 5

  FIRE

  on Wednesday

  the first Wednesday

  for watching my sister Cora

  the wind blows wild—

  leaves scrape the street

  shutters bang

  and a Styrofoam box trips past

  like it’s out for a walk

  bōken—an adventure

  Cora says for the fifth time

  as she unlocks her bike

  I nod like I have a plan

  but I don’t

  the wind blows so hard

  the air tastes of salt

  the temple bell rings too loud

  and the streetcar horn blasts too close

  like the train has left the seaside tracks

  to climb right up to our neighborhood

  high on the hill

  I don’t think you have an adventure planned