***
The river murmured past like it always did, clear and calm under the midday sun, weaving through the cedar groves downstream.
Old Hiroshi has his spot on the weathered wooden bench near the Kitakami River, it was full of moss and had one leg that creaked every time he sat down.
He had been coming here for fifteen years, ever since his wife, Yumi, slipped away.
Sparrows were the ones who knew him the best, they would all fly away when he first arrived, but then they hopped back eager for the millet he scattered from out his bag.
Hiroshi would sit down in the same spot he had for all those years, and do the same thing his old bench did when he sat down—protested.
At seventy-two, he had shacky hands while putting out the millet, but his eyes still caught the little tilts of the sparrows heads.
"Koi, koi," he would say just above a whisper, his voice rough from silence talking to no one for a long time.
*
The village was busy in the background—tractors were moving through distant paddies, clildren's laughter echoed from a school at the end of the bridge; at that moment the only thing that mattered was him and all the birds.
Nobody seemed to linger long on that bench. Why would they? It faced the shadow end of the river and not towards the steaming hot springs on the corner of that hill.
*
*
One Tuesday, as autumn leaves burned gold on the hills, a young boy came by. He was as skinny as a rice stalk and probably ten years old.
With a school bad slung over one shoulder and covered with dirt at the hem of his pants, he stood at the edge of the bench, glancing back and forth between Hiroshi and the birds—as if he we're seizing up a wild tunaki.
"Okome?" the boy eventually asked in a low voice.
Hiroshi paused mid-toss. if a child had ever approached him before, it was to grab and go.
He squinted at the child. "Aren't you going home to eat? "
The child stayed put; he dropped his bag and perched at the far end, bouncing his knees. "Oba-chan says sparrows steal your food, but you give anyway."
Hiroshi grunted and he tossed more millet. A bold sparrow pecked right at the boy's sandal. "They're not stealing the food. I'm the one who's feeding them aren't I?
That made the boy smile; he giggled briefly, before cleaning crumbs from his pocket, spilling them out to feed the hungry birds that we're now swarming around him.
Hiroshi watched, surprised at the lightness. "What's your name? "
"Satoshi, I'm five" he said, pointing upstream. "We live near the fields; Tou-chan fishes all night." (his dad)
As Hiroshi nodded, he thought that fishermen were just shadows in their own homes.
"I used to mend nets for koi fish at the market." Hiroshi said.
"Is that the ones they use in festivals to catch carp? " Satoshi's eyes lit up.
They continued talking untill the temple bell rang far away from the hillside.
At one point, Satoshi asked about the river's spring floods, the old samurai-style bridges, why there were many sparrows in the morning. Each time Hiroshi answered, it was slow like koi coming up from under the surface of pond.
After the boy left, bowing awkwardly, Hiroshi sat alone and felt even emptier than he did before.
*
*
The next day, Satoshi came back after school, and then every day after school on Tuesday's turned into all week.
Hiroshi would bring him extra millet and Satoshi would always being him more questions like, "Oji-chan, how come you don't have a family?" while the fireflies were dancing on top of the water.
Hiroshi gazed at the river and thought about his wife Yumi as she used to smile as she float down the river.
"Because my family went on ahead of me..... and my wife was the first to go, then my son went to work in light". He continued ".....I could not have tolerable eyesight from those bright city lights without hurting my own eyes, so I remained".
Satoshi frowned with tears in his eyes while drawing
a line on his leg from a mosquito bite. "Since my dad is always away, and my mom just keeps sighing at the grocery bill, I want to become a pilot and fly high above the mountains, but.... " He stopped talking and threw a rock that bounced three times on the water.
"You will," said Hiroshi. "Rivers are curve, but they all flow into the ocean. Take your time and learn. "
*
*
Weeks melted into months, the typhoon's rage lashing the riverbanks, but they sheltered under the tarp Hiroshi had tied up.
Satoshi found his confidence growing. He offered Hiroshi some of his kaa-chan's onigiri to share, salty-sweet enough to mist Hiroshi's eyes. In exchange, Hiroshi taught him to mimic the call of a sparrow, using three distinct chirps to bring down flocks from the reeds.
*
*
On a clear autumn afternoon, with the sky clouded by pre-winter weather, Satoshi arrived subdued.
He slumpes down on the bench, dragging his bag behind him and told Hiroshi, "Oji-chan, my sensei says I'm dull, the worst in the class, and that u will never be a pilot. "
Hiroshi placed his pouch on the ground and bent over the bench and sighed as he leaned in. "Dull? a sparrow flaps slowly to gain the height of the air and then flies swiftly on the wind. You have the wind behind you young man. show me your notebook"
Satoshi pulled out his worn notebook. One page was filled with math calculations and the next was covered with doodles. Hiroshi pointed out a shaky sketch of a plane gliding over snowy peaks. "This is the soul of a pilot young man. Practice here. "
Dusk became longer and longer as Satoshi practiced his math equations and Hiroshi drilled kanji with twigs, counting with pebbles from the river.
Satoshi's shakey knees stilled and his laugh echoed like wind chimes. Hiroshi stood taller, proud as a man who had rode three-hour rows to row Yumi under cherry blossoms once upon a time.
*
*
*
Winter graspes tightly and snow lay on the bench where Hiroshi had sat, but he was determined and cotinued to come.
Satoshi came over Hiroshi and covered him with his scarf that kaa-chan had knit. "You are my family now, Oji-chan," he exclaimed, his breath forming a cloud in the morning cold.
Hiroshi brushed off the idea, but it warmed him from the inside out just like a good miso soup on a cold winter day.
Satoshi arrived just after noon on the eve of Setsubun and jumped on the bench with a bag swinging from his fingers.
"Oji-chan! You have to see this!" He held out a piece of paper with the words "Test: 92%" in red ink and a handwrittem "First in class. "
With shivering hands, Hiroshi took the paper.
However, Satoshi was not finished. He pulled out a piece of cloth from the depths of his bag and said, "Oji-chan, for you. I drew this picture and kaa-chan outlined it in ink. "
Hiroshi opened it up slowly and saw a beautiful portrait in crayons and with brushtrokes of himself sitting on the bench surrounded by the sparrows, the river and Yumi's face reflected in the clouds as bright as a lantern glow.
There was also a picture of Satoshi's hand in the drawing, kaa-chan's scarf, and a fishing boat far away. It was tilted in careful hiragana: Oji-chan no Kawagishi Kazoku
translate for: Grandpa's riverside family
As Hiroshi wiped the years from his eyes, he embraced Satoshi and could hear the sound of the sparrows chirping in agreement with him.
"This... this is home, Satoshi, brighter than all of the lights in Tokyo. "
The river will continue to flow, but now it's waters will carry light.
***
THE END