"Nana." I looked up at the girl and stared into the brown eyes that belonged to my thirteen year old granddaughter. She turned to me with curiosity written all over her face, she may have been just becoming a teenager but she still had the curiosity of a toddler. "Nana..." She repeated. "Tell me about sofu."
"Who?"
"Grandad. Tell me about grandad." She explained. "You know, I never heard you really talk about him. You have his picture over your fireplace but, you've never told stories about him. What happened to him?"
"Mai. That'll be quite a long story. I'd have to start all the way from the beginning. Would you be able to handle that?"
"Yes." She nodded. "I love it when you tell stories, sobo."
"Or is this just because you don't want to do your homework right now..."
"I did all of my homework," she protested.
"Then let me see."
"Okay, maybe not all of it," she put on a guilty smile. "But, I have all summer break to complete it before we go back to Japan."
"Or you could do it right now and you won't have to worry about it later..."
"But, Nana I want to spend some quality time with you and you're pushing me away."
"Don't try to guilt me," I shook my head and chuckled. "You need to do your homework child."
"But, I have the rest of summer to do it. Besides, was sofu a bad person? Did he die? Is that why you don't talk about him?"
"He was never a bad person," I didn't know why I felt so offended by that. "If I tell you about him, will you promise to do your homework after wards?"
"Yes. Of course, sobo."
"Well, the year was 1951..."
. . .
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On this specific spring day, I remember waking up to the sun shining through my window curtains. It had been exceptionally hot in the house.
Spring was in it's transition to summmer and what a bad time for the air conditioning to break.
I had been sweating all night. I kicked off my blankets and sat up in bed, wiping the sweat off of my forehead as it dripped down to my cleavage.
A delicious aroma crept through the house. I could almost taste the food that was being cooked.
" I don't see what this has to do with sofu," My granddaughter interrupted.
"Hush, and let me tell the story!... Now, where was I? Oh, right..."
