Chance
At that corner of the street, walking in opposite directions, we could have brushed past each other without even knowledge of each other’s presence, let alone any form of acknowledgement.
But we stopped in our tracks.
“Red-Jacket?”
“Nana?”
She was nodding furiously, a smile slowly forming.
“Nana! I can’t believe it’s you! What a coincidence!”
“Me neither! What are you doing here?”
“Me? I was visiting a relative. What about you?”
“I live here. This building. Do you want to come up for a drink? It’s too cold to be standing here talking.”
“Sounds good.”
On our way to her apartment, we stopped by at the convenience store where we picked up some beer and snacks.
“I am sorry it’s a mess.”
“No, no, it’s ok.”
“Here, you can sit here.”
“Thank you.”
“A beer.”
“Thanks.”
“Are you still living in our hometown?”
“Yeah. I am flying back tomorrow morning.”
“Oh. We haven’t gone back after we moved here. That’s like 14, no 15 years ago.”
“Yeah, your family moved away in Grade 4 of elementary school.”
“You still remember so clearly.”
“Of course. I had to look for new friends to play with after you left.”
“Red-Jacket, is the little hill behind our houses where we always played still there?”
“It is, they haven’t level it. And can you please stop calling me that?”
“I have always called you that! Blame your red jacket. When it snows, the whole town gets covered in white, and it is always so easy to spot you in your red jacket.” She laughed. “You know, I missed being a kid. Playing before school, between lessons, after school, building snowmen in winter…it was so carefree back then!”
“Yeah…and helping your mother with the baking. I don’t know how you always manage to get your face all smeared with butter and flour.”
“I did not!”
“You did.”
“Well, who was the one who couldn’t crack an egg properly? We always had to fish for the broken eggshells in the bowl. You have nothing to say now, eh?”
“Well, what about that time when we went to the haunted house?”
“What about that?”
“Well, you were screaming your head off when that old man appeared.”
“That’s because you screamed first.”
“No, you screamed first.”
“You did. I have proof.” She got up and went to a drawer. She rummaged around it in before producing a book. “My diary back then. When was it?”
“Grade 3?”
“Ok, let me see…Here! ‘When the door swung open and the oldest man I have ever seen appeared, Red-Jacket screamed and ran. Hearing him scream, I screamed too and ran after him…’ See?”
She showed it to me, smug.
“Well, you fabricated it, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t. I am very honest with my diary, ok?”
“Let me read it.”
She nodded.
I started to thumb through the old, yellowed pages. Suddenly, she made a grab for the book. “Wait, you can’t!”
I managed to hold her off. “Why not?”
“You can’t!”
“Is there some secret in it?”
In our tussle, something flew out from the pages. We stopped. I bent down to pick it up. It was an old photo. A small photo of a boy and a girl. I recognized them immediately. Nana and me.
She took it from me. “You always looked like you were up to some mischief.”
I grinned and turned away from her with the book. She realized what was happening and tried to wrestle the book back.
I stopped resisting. Her eyes fell to the page I was at. “That’s so long ago. We were just kids then.”
**
We were back at the corner of the street.
“Thanks for everything. It was great to see you again.”
“Safe flight tomorrow. Send me some local produce to remind me of our hometown.”
I nodded.
She looked down for a moment, then smiled, a hand brushing through her hair. “So I guess it’s goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Erina.”
“Goodbye…Daisuke.”
We both laughed. I waved again, before turning away, in the direction I was headed 3 hours earlier, before a coincidental meeting had brought us together briefly.
Someone once said: There is no such thing as a coincidence. Things happen by the will of people.
When I grow up, I want to marry Red-Jacket.
But we stopped in our tracks.
“Red-Jacket?”
“Nana?”
She was nodding furiously, a smile slowly forming.
“Nana! I can’t believe it’s you! What a coincidence!”
“Me neither! What are you doing here?”
“Me? I was visiting a relative. What about you?”
“I live here. This building. Do you want to come up for a drink? It’s too cold to be standing here talking.”
“Sounds good.”
On our way to her apartment, we stopped by at the convenience store where we picked up some beer and snacks.
“I am sorry it’s a mess.”
“No, no, it’s ok.”
“Here, you can sit here.”
“Thank you.”
“A beer.”
“Thanks.”
“Are you still living in our hometown?”
“Yeah. I am flying back tomorrow morning.”
“Oh. We haven’t gone back after we moved here. That’s like 14, no 15 years ago.”
“Yeah, your family moved away in Grade 4 of elementary school.”
“You still remember so clearly.”
“Of course. I had to look for new friends to play with after you left.”
“Red-Jacket, is the little hill behind our houses where we always played still there?”
“It is, they haven’t level it. And can you please stop calling me that?”
“I have always called you that! Blame your red jacket. When it snows, the whole town gets covered in white, and it is always so easy to spot you in your red jacket.” She laughed. “You know, I missed being a kid. Playing before school, between lessons, after school, building snowmen in winter…it was so carefree back then!”
“Yeah…and helping your mother with the baking. I don’t know how you always manage to get your face all smeared with butter and flour.”
“I did not!”
“You did.”
“Well, who was the one who couldn’t crack an egg properly? We always had to fish for the broken eggshells in the bowl. You have nothing to say now, eh?”
“Well, what about that time when we went to the haunted house?”
“What about that?”
“Well, you were screaming your head off when that old man appeared.”
“That’s because you screamed first.”
“No, you screamed first.”
“You did. I have proof.” She got up and went to a drawer. She rummaged around it in before producing a book. “My diary back then. When was it?”
“Grade 3?”
“Ok, let me see…Here! ‘When the door swung open and the oldest man I have ever seen appeared, Red-Jacket screamed and ran. Hearing him scream, I screamed too and ran after him…’ See?”
She showed it to me, smug.
“Well, you fabricated it, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t. I am very honest with my diary, ok?”
“Let me read it.”
She nodded.
I started to thumb through the old, yellowed pages. Suddenly, she made a grab for the book. “Wait, you can’t!”
I managed to hold her off. “Why not?”
“You can’t!”
“Is there some secret in it?”
In our tussle, something flew out from the pages. We stopped. I bent down to pick it up. It was an old photo. A small photo of a boy and a girl. I recognized them immediately. Nana and me.
She took it from me. “You always looked like you were up to some mischief.”
I grinned and turned away from her with the book. She realized what was happening and tried to wrestle the book back.
I stopped resisting. Her eyes fell to the page I was at. “That’s so long ago. We were just kids then.”
**
We were back at the corner of the street.
“Thanks for everything. It was great to see you again.”
“Safe flight tomorrow. Send me some local produce to remind me of our hometown.”
I nodded.
She looked down for a moment, then smiled, a hand brushing through her hair. “So I guess it’s goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Erina.”
“Goodbye…Daisuke.”
We both laughed. I waved again, before turning away, in the direction I was headed 3 hours earlier, before a coincidental meeting had brought us together briefly.
Someone once said: There is no such thing as a coincidence. Things happen by the will of people.
When I grow up, I want to marry Red-Jacket.
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