Koji watched Nori from the doorway. She pulled a tray of sweetbread from the oven and poured a glass of guava juice, leaning against the counter and drinking. The air was warm and fragrant compared to the days of unpleasantness outside. As long as he had known Nori, she had taken care of everyone in the community. He’d always admired her strength, especially since her childhood was filled with neglect and loneliness. And though she’d never stepped foot off the island, she had more ambition than all three of the Okawa men put together. Koji rarely saw Nori standing still for very long. She was usually wearing one of Samuel’s old shirts and a pair of shorts, but she didn’t need fancy clothes to be a nice-looking woman.

When he cleared his throat, Nori turned to him.

“Sneaking up on me again, yeah.”

“I let you know I was here,” he said, and smiled. He suppressed a cough, not wanting Nori to lecture him to take better care of himself.

She shook her head and poured him a glass of guava juice.

“Waiting for the train to be unloaded?”

Koji nodded and drank down half the glass of juice in one swallow.

“Saw Mama Natua the other day. Daniel gave her a quick checkup. Calm as can be with him,” Nori said, transferring the sweetbread onto a cutting board.

“How is Mama?”

Koji felt bad not seeing Mama more often. She was the one who watched out for Nori when she was young, and later kept a close eye on Franklin, one of the few people who hadn’t been taken in by Franklin’s charm. Still, it was too late; Mariko had already fallen under his spell.

Nori shrugged. “According to Daniel, she’s doing fine physically, but she’s sinking deeper into her own world most of the time now.”

“Mama has everyone’s love and support,” he said.

“I know,” she said in a quiet voice.

Mama’s loss of memory was upsetting to everyone in the community, but none more than Nori, who was devastated when Mama began to forget things. Just two years back, Koji found Mama standing on the train platform early one morning barefoot and in her nightgown. “Some folks coming to visit,” she told him, only she couldn’t remember who the visitors were. Koji stood with her as they waited for one train, and then another, to rumble by before he walked Mama slowly back home with the promise he’d bring her visitors up to the house as soon as they arrived. Leia had been frantically running around the neighborhood looking for her, and was just returning home when they turned the corner. Mama had wandered away while Leia was out back feeding the chickens. Since then, she seemed to be drifting faster and farther away.