Sunday, August 28th, 9:06 P.M.
Today was my last day of freedom, although how much
freedom can you experience when you have no money? This day felt like the last day of summer
vacation before leaving to endure the drudgery that is school again. This feeling was probably enhanced by the
fact that, starting tomorrow, I'll be going to the same school I went to as a
kid. Sigh.
I spent the day hanging out with the family, as is
the fate I seem to be consigned to.
That's what happens when all the apartments in your city are out of your
price range, forcing you to live with your parents. At least the food is good. Real good.
Then again, with as long as it takes my Mom to make Sunday dinner, it
would be a waste of effort if it wasn't good.
About the time Mom started dinner, she sent Sakoshi
and I down to the cellar to get the giant cooking pot she uses, plus some
potatoes and various spices. I used to
be able to carry Sakoshi up the stairs from the cellar in that pot. Now I'm preoccupied with preventing him from
squeezing through the hole that leads outside.
Dad and I put up boards to cover up that hole, but Sakoshi just seems to
find a way to wiggle his narrow ass through.
I usually just give Sakoshi a couple of potatoes and tell him to go
throw it at Mom upstairs. Mom doesn't
like having random things thrown at her, but she likes Sakoshi doing things
that don't ruin his good church even more.
I poked my head around the door just in time to see
Mom scold Sakoshi. "How many times
have I told you not to throw things at me?"
Sakoshi looked at Mom, his big glassy eyes filling
up with tears, and said, "But Hato told me to do it."
I stepped into the kitchen and did what any
responsible big brother should do.
"No, I didn't. I told you to
give the potatoes to Mom, not throw them at her."
Mom swatted Sakoshi on the ass and sent him outside
to terrorize Dad. I put the big pot on
the stove then went to join my brother, the whole time trying not to smirk as I
did so. When I got outside, Dad was
nowhere to be seen. The only people I
saw were Sakoshi, still smarting from his swat and calling out for Dad, and
Grandpa Meiko, lying in a chair under the elm tree catching a nap before
dinner. I was about to call for Dad when
I saw him crouched in the high grass about to throw a small pebble at Sakoshi.
"You know, Sakoshi was just scolded for doing
that. You probably shouldn't encourage
him."
My statement grabbed Sakoshi's attention. I was expecting a pebble to gracefully fall
on my brother's head at that moment.
Instead, the pebble fell on me.
When he saw this, my brother threw his hands up victoriously and said,
"Got him!" at which point my Dad emerged from the tall grass,
snatched Sakoshi up, and retreated with him into the grass. I laughed a little bit before I realized what
Dad was doing.
I was about Sakoshi's age when my Dad started my
osher training. Dad started this
training when he and I went into the short grass behind our house. Dad began demonstrating to me how to
stealthily move in an environment and how to throw small pebbles to draw
somebody's attention away from you. I
knew that Sakoshi was about to do what I was doing at his age: Throwing pebbles
at Grandpa.
Knowing what my father was doing, I thought I'd help
in his training. I quickly climbed up
the tree and laid myself flat on one of the branches of the elm tree,
specifically the one providing Grandpa Meiko shade. I spotted Dad and Sakoshi in the grass and
mimed back that Grandpa was still asleep.
Dad signaled that he understood the message while Sakoshi stuck him
tongue out at me. Dad gathered some
small pebbles, got Sakoshi's attention, then lofted one pebble in the air. The pebble flew high into the air, tumbling
ever so gently, eventually falling straight down on Grandpa's forehead. Bullseye.
The pebble woke Grandpa right up. He popped up, looked around, then saw me lying
on the tree branch. "What're you
doing up there, boy?"
"Nothing much.
Just laying up here in this tree."
"Did you drop something on me?"
"What?"
Now Grandpa was getting annoyed. "Don't pull that on me. You dropped something on me, didn't
you?"
"What do you think I dropped on you?"
"A pebble?"
"A pebble?"
"Yes, a pebble!" Now Grandpa was getting frustrated.
"Grandpa, if I was going to drop something on
you, I would shake this branch and make all the leaves fall delicately on you
untill you wake up covered head to toe in leaves. That would be funny."
Grandpa shot me an annoyed look, the one you can
only convey when you get old, and laid back down, intending to sleep. Dad and Sakoshi were very amused by the
exchange they just saw. Sakoshi was so
amused that he nearly broke his stealth.
Dad then continued to demonstrate how to throw pebbles by targeting
Grandpa's stomach, then his knee, then his chest, shoulder, belt buckle, and
finally the toe of Grandpa's shoe. Every
falling pebble impact caused Grandpa to sit up and fruitlessly look for the
source of the pebbles. Not being able to
find the person responsible infuriated my Grandfather, as did me flaunting my
innocence by looking down on him from the tree branch, my arms and open hands
freely dangling beneath me.
Finally Dad was done having his fun demonstrating
and gave Sakoshi a chance to try.
Sakoshi took a pebble in his hand, practiced the motion several times,
took a deep breath, then ran through the grass, right up to Grandpa, screaming
as he did so, then threw the pebble at him once he got next to him. I knew Grandpa was already mad, so I was
curious how he would react upon finding what he thought was the source of the
falling pebbles.
Grandpa Meiko got up out of his chair and glared at
Sakoshi. Sakoshi looked up at Grandpa
Meiko, his big glassy eyes shimmering in the summer sun. The two stared at each other, neither one
changing their expression, for some time.
Finally Grandpa began to smile warmly at Sakoshi. Grandpa wasn't smiling because Sakoshi
cuteness had gotten to him. That wasn't
the case at all. Grandpa was smiling
because the staredown had allowed me enough time to get in position. I had lowered myself down from the tree
branch, landed on the ground without drawing attention, and crept up right
behind Sakoshi. Grandpa's smile was just
reaching its widest when I got right beside Sakoshi's ear and yelled,
"Boo!"
Sakoshi was startled by this, amusingly
startled. Grandpa, Dad, and I got a good
hearty laugh out of Sakoshi's reaction.
Sakoshi was mad at first, but eventually found amusement in the
situation. Even Mom found humor in this
as she stood by the window watching this all develop. We were all about done laughing when Mom
called us in for dinner. We went inside,
Grandpa gave a nice blessing, and we all started digging in.
Lately Mom's been trying to get her family to talk
while they are gathered around the dinner table. Not talk with our mouths full, she's very
adamant that we not do that, but talk and converse with each other so that we
can grow closer as a family. Mom usually
takes this opportunity to tell me that she has seen Delany that day. Mom is a receptionist at the building that
rents to the charity Delany works for.
My Mom swears that this is a complete coincidence. I think either Mom put herself in this
situation deliberately or it's an act of God.
Considering the trial I just went through to get a job, I doubt God
likes me enough to do such a thing for a good reason.
Dad talked about work at the Dolore Federal
Archives, although I don't know why. Dad's work at the Federal Archives is pretty
mundane and never really changes much.
Pickup document, identify document, find where in the database to put
the document, input the document into the database, type type type type type
type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type
type type type type type type type type type type type type, place document in
finished folder, go to next document.
The only way my Dad's job would be interesting is if he read the
document he's inputting, but doing that would decrease his productivity which
is bad. Lame.
Grandpa Meiko is retired. That's it.
That's all. I don't know why Mom
is so insistent on Grandpa being active.
Grandpa doesn't have to do anything so he doesn't. What's the problem with doing nothing?
Sakoshi is excited about going back to school
tomorrow. He's got new school supplies,
new clothes, new shoes, a new backpack, all sorts of new things that Sakoshi is
poised to tear up, demolish, or otherwise ruin tomorrow. This isn't my thinking my brother is a little
terror. I know Sakoshi will do this
because I did this exact same thing on a yearly basis.
Finally, the conversation turned to me when Grandpa
asked me, "Hato, how are things going?
Have you been able to find work?"
I took a second to swallow what I had been eating
and replied, "Yes. I start tomorrow
actually."
Grandpa was delighted to hear this. "Good."
Sakoshi, still beaming with excitement said,
"Hato's going to work at my school."
Grandpa was intrigued by this. "So, Hato, you've taken up the noble
work of teaching."
I corrected my Grandfather's, my words dripping with
cynicism as I did so. "No, not that
I look down on teaching, but an opfer would never get a job like that in this
climate."
My Grandfather picked up on my cynicism. He's never liked my cynicism before and
doesn't like it now. "Hato, what do
you mean by that?"
At this point I just started to vent. It may not have been the best thing for me to
do, especially with Sakoshi present, but I did it. "It's just, with the whole deal of being
rejected from every college I applied to, spending months looking for a job,
and only getting a job because a friend of the family pulled strings for me, it
convinced me of something. This is
something that's not just true of me but of a lot of people. The verbrechers are out to get us. All of us.
All of them are out to get all of us.
That's why I couldn't find a good job.
That's why I'm going to be pushing a mop in an elementary school
starting tomorrow."
Grandpa listened to what I had to say. He took it all in, took a deep breath, and
responded. "Hato, it may appear
that all verbrechers are prejudiced against us, but that is not the case. It's only a small boisterous minority amongst
the verbrecher that are that way. You
having to do grunt work is not due to you being opfer, it's due to you not
having experience. When I started
working, a long time before you or your father were born, I started off doing
grunt work, and I, like you, did not like doing it. The reason why I did it is because I knew
that if I worked hard and had an eye single to my goal, things would get
better. And, sure enough, they did, and
they will for you too, Hato. You just
have to persevere."
I listened to what Grandpa Meiko had to say and it
made me feel somewhat better, even though I disagree with part of it. I disagree that feeling of prejudice are only
held by a small boisterous minority of verbrechers. I believe the amount to be much higher. At the very least, a small amount is
boisterous, while a large amount are okay with letting it happen.
Goodnight.
Hato Shurtleff
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