What a Life This Is - A Collection of Short Stories

Moving Day

Kojiro and Reki help Kojiro's parents move in.
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"Kojito~! è così bello vederti!" Kojiro's mother exclaimed as she opened the door, and Kojiro laughed and smiled as she pulled him into a tight hug, "Mamma, anche per me è un piacere vederti."

"Reki! Dolce ragazzo," she greeted Reki next, letting go of Kojiro and tackling his middle child in a hug as well, "stai diventando così grande!"

Last summer, Kojiro's parents came to visit the family in Hawaii for a week, and they decided they liked it so much that it would be a good place to settle down for their retirement. So, after a few months of planning and packing, they got on a plane to Oahu, and called Kojiro to help them move in. Of course Kojiro agreed, both because they were his parents and because his mother guilted him into it.

So now here he and Reki were at their new house near the beach, and Kojiro looked around the foyer as he walked in, "Oh wooow, nice place you guys got."

"I just wanted to thank you boys again," His mom said, walking over to them as he and Reki looked around, "It's not a problem at all, Mamma," Kojiro responded as he turned to her, "So, how many boxes do you need us to bring inside?"

"Oh, the movers helped with that, and the furniture too," his mom said, gesturing to the many boxes stacked along the living room wall, "We just need help with unpacking and putting things up."

"Alright then," Kojiro replied, cracking his knuckles and turning to Reki, "Ready to get started, kid?"

"I guess so," Reki replied with a shrug, "Good thing they canceled school because of the heat wave."

"Buuuut fiiirst," Kojiro's mom mused as she walked over to him and grabbed his shoulder, yanking him down so she could push his hair out of his face as she began to rant, "Ay, Kojito, i tuoi capelli sono un disastro! Ci assomigliamo, la gente capisce che sei mio figlio, non posso lasciarti andare in giro così-"

"Hey- O-OW! Mamma, noooo!"

———

Half an hour later, Kojiro and Reki were on the living room floor, opening boxes and pulling items out to sort them into piles according to which rooms they would go in, and it was like the more boxes Kojiro opened, the deeper he fell into his childhood. He pulled things out of boxes he hadn't seen since he was a little kid, and it was actually kind of bittersweet.

"Oh god-.. you still have this photo?" Kojiro groaned, and his mother walked over and let out a laugh, "I remember that! You sneezed just as the photo was being taken."

Kojiro grimaced at his younger-selfs halfway-through-a-sneeze face, "I thought I told you to burn this!"

"You did," his mom grinned cheekily, "But I would never, it's cute!"

"It's embarrassing!" Kojiro retorted with a pout, and his mom chuckled and gave him a pat on the shoulder as Reki pushed over another box with a label that read, "Jesus."

"What's this?" The redhead asked, tearing the tape and pulling out a bunch of packing peanuts.. then more packing peanuts.. then more packing peanuts..

"WHY ARE THERE SO MANY?!" He exclaimed, and Kojiro looked over and clicked his tongue, "Ah, that must be that statue of Christ you love so much, Mamma."

"Oh, it is! I wondered where that box was, thank you for finding it, Reki!" Kojiro's mom thanked the boy, walking over to reach into the box and pull out a dusty ceramic statue of Jesus Christ.

"Sheesh," Kojiro chuckled, "That things been through some stuff, hasn't it?"

"That old thing is supposed to be a statue of Jesus?" Reki asked incredulously, and he jumped a bit as Kojiro's mom gasped dramatically, "Don't call it OLD! Be respectful, bambino," she scolded him, rubbing her temples with one hand as she closed her eyes and chanted quickly in Italian, "Ti prego Santa Francesca di Roma perdonaci."

"What she say?" Reki turned to Kojiro, and he arched an eyebrow at his son, "You didn't understand?"

"Sh-She was talking too fast," he replied, and Kojiro shrugged, "You didn't miss anything important."

Suddenly, they all heard his father's gruff voice yell from another room in the house, "ARIAAAAA, IN QUALE SCATOLA HAI MESSO I MIEI PANTALONCINI CORTI?!"

His mother groaned loudly and rolled her eyes, leaning down to say to Reki, "Word of advice, don't get married to someone who wears short-shorts," she shuddered, standing up again and shouting back, "LI HO BRUCIATI, SEI TROPPO VECCHIO PER INDOSSARE PANTALONCINI COSÌ CORTI."

She walked off down the hallway, and Reki simply stared at the doorway with wide eyes as Kojiro sighed, "Yep, that's what I grew up on.. Absolute chaos."

"Your childhood must've been like a family sitcom."

"Trust me, it was, you could practically hear the laugh tracks in the background."