Stars Fell on Tokyo | ✓

03 | tomorrow

       THE ATMOSPHERE WAS uncomfortable, to say the least as she stared into her father's eyes. Of course, it doesn't take long for her to bring up the going-to-Japan idea.

       "I heard you and mom talking last night about sending me to Japan for summer?" Louanne avoided eye contact with him as she pressed her fingers together.

       "You heard?" His eyes widened.

       "I didn't mean to but you know how thin the walls are,"

       "It's alright, Lou," he corrected his slouched position, "I figured that you would be listening,"

       "Dad, I don't want you to worry that they may not like me. I do want to go," she tells him.

       His face falls, much to her dismay but she could see gears turning in his head like he was processing the idea thoroughly. Convincing him would be the only way for her to get her first-hand experience into the other side of her family heritage.

       "And I am in no way scared of them," Louanne added.

       Her father smiled at his daughter's choice of words. "I know you aren't. You have the same spirit as your mother when I first met her," he brought his hand to her face, cupping her cheek, "I know that you're strong in many ways, Lou. Someone with a curious mind. I just hope that my parents don't change who you are. Do you really want to go there?"

       Louanne nodded slowly. "It's the only way for me to know,"

       Her father looked down at the book sitting on the table and then back at her. He reached into the front pocket of his tan cargo shorts, drawing out a long piece of paper.

       "Dad?" her eyes grew wide with bewilderment.

       "I was contemplating this morning whether you should go or not. But then you and your mother made me realize that you can make your own decision as a young woman without me projecting my worries on you."

       "When did you find the time to purchase a ticket?"

       "This morning, it was a long line to sit through but for my family, it was worth it," he flashed a smile again, "if it means to make you happy,"

       Completely at a loss for words, Louanne threw her arms around with such joy as they rocked side to side.

       "Thank you," she whispered.

       "You're welcome, Lou! I love you so much!" He replied, hugging her tightly until he loosened his embrace. "You better start packing because you have a flight to catch tomorrow,"

       She didn't need to be told twice as she raced down the hall to her room at lightning speed and she let out a scream from the top of her lungs. Louanne popped open her suitcase and within seconds, her clothes for the summer were being flung, however, missing the opening when she attempted to aim for the middle but how could she when she was so thrilled to be traveling across the world to see her other family.

       "What time is my flight?" Louanne yelled over her shoulder.

       "Tomorrow!" her father answered.

       "Tomorrow?" she echoed, "why didn't you tell me sooner?"

       A perfectly rational question but rhetorical.

       She packed her polaroid and scrapbook in case there were some memories that needed to be made there. Though being 4,000 miles away from her parents did scare her a bit and a sense of homesickness was going to be creeping up, she had to push that aside. Once her suitcase was filled with shoes and clothes, she made sure that they were neatly folded and that there was extra room inside.

     She took a step back from the case, admiring her work, and wiped the sweat from her brow. "All done,"

      When her father had walked into the room, he leaned against the doorway with one arm 0n it and the other sitting on his hip as he smiled at her. "You really are just like your mother. Never change that," he reminded her as he pulls her into another hug. Even if she was going to be gone for three months, she had to take the moment that she has to share with her parents.

      "I'm going to miss you," she told him.

      "Me too," he replies.

***

       Louanne had to wake up at the crack of dawn before she had to board her plane in the next couple of hours. She put on her finest white collared- pastel blue dress and her Mary-Jane pumps. If she was going to be meeting her grandparents, she had to look her very best. Although, she didn't know whether she should cover up her tattoos or not but decided against it, wanting to look at a reminder of home.

       Anything to combat homesickness.

       She took one last look in the mirror and then grabbed her loaded suitcase on the way out of her room. Louanne had a funny feeling deep down that she was going to have a summer that she was never going to forget-or that may just be hunger. There was a fresh plate of biscuits on the dinner table as her mother had just finished cooking them up. Who knows how long the flight is going to be? As she grabbed a bite, she took in every second as she bit into the biscuit, to remember the taste of her mother's cooking.

      After a short break, Louanne loaded her suitcase into the trunk of their yellow Volkswagen beetle as her father starts the car. She took one more look at her island home before they were already on the road to the airport.

      "Oh, I love this song!" Her mother turns up the radio as 'Let's twist again by Chubby Checker' comes on. "If only this was played at our wedding, Jiro!" she bopped her to the beat while humming to the tune. Louanne decided to enjoy the moment that she has before she drifts off to sleep. Granted, she wasn't the type of person to wake up early in the morning despite how she was exhilarated to go.

      A couple of minutes or at least that's what it felt like- Louanne rubbed her eyes when she woke up, finding the car sitting outside of the Honolulu airport. The time has come when she is going to be leaving on her own, leaving her home called paradise on earth to go to another country for three months.

      Her summer is just beginning.