Another tremor underfoot shook Koji from his thoughts. The island had been restless with waves of slight tremors for the past two months, and he worried that they foreshadowed something bigger and stronger. So far, nothing had come of them, but the island’s history said otherwise.

“It’s just the island hiccuping,” his mother used to say, to coax the fear out of his younger sister. Koji hoped it was nothing more now that Mariko’s son Daniel was finally coming home from the mainland after more than ten years of study. The last time Koji had seen him was during his mother’s final months. Since her death, time had played tricks on him, moving both too fast and too slow without her. He couldn’t help but feel as if part of Mariko was returning to him with her son, reawakening long-buried memories. Koji walked to the woodshed where Mariko kept her gardening tools. He quickly cleaned around the tree before going up to the house, where he was certain to find Nori making sure everything was ready for Daniel’s return.

The steps up to the front porch creaked underfoot. Koji was back at the house for the first time in two years, heat and moisture leaving slivers of cracked paint peeling from the trim and railing. Mariko’s chair, where she had often sat and sewed, looked weathered and forlorn. Koji slipped off his shoes, pulled open the screen door, and stood at the threshold looking in. The package he came to deliver was in his pocket. He swallowed and felt another tremor. Go on, he told himself. He heard movement coming from the kitchen and choked back the familiarity. It wasn’t her, he reminded himself; it was Nori. He took a deep breath and stepped into the house.

2. Watching Over Him

2

Watching Over Him

Nori Okawa stood in the kitchen of Daniel’s childhood home—the faded, weather-beaten green bungalow that had been left to Mariko by her mother and now belonged to Daniel. The house had been one of Mariko’s most cherished possessions, built by her grandfather after he had emigrated from Japan. “It holds our family spirits,” she always said, “keeps them alive.” And it was within walking distance of downtown and the Okawa Fish Market. Nori’s ongoing care of the house was evident in the thriving orchids, in the spotless kitchen, in the clean bedsheets and dusted shelves of his room. For the past few weeks, word had spread through the community about the welcome home party for Daniel at the Okawa Fish Market. Everything was ready for his return.