Hiroshi liked his home in the park.  People rarely went near him, for the sight of his tent drove away any and all sensible human beings.  However, he never felt lonely because of the sound and smell of the ocean on his left and the sound of honking horns on his right.  He was alone, he always told himself, not lonely.

     At exactly 10:30 A.M. every morning, the children from the school next to the park would play on the playground.  Hiroshi made sure that his tent remained at least fifty feet away from the playground at all times.  He didn't mind children; in fact, his wife Maki used to want a daughter and a son.  Thoughts of Maki flashed through his mind: the antiseptic scent of the hospital, the stacks of white bills, and the debt collectors.  He tried to ignore them.

 

     Mondays were the noisiest for Hiroshi.  The children, deprived of two days of seeing their friends and running around the playground, seemed to laugh and yell louder than usual.  Hiroshi sighed as he walked back from the shower stall, his hopes of enjoying a quiet morning crushed.  Most of the kids hung on the monkey bars or slid down the slides, but one child immediately caught Hiroshi's attention.  The child had left the park boundaries and had walked out to the main road.

     His heart rate increased.  What do I do?  Maybe the child will stop?

     One glance at the boy proved that he had no intention of stopping.

     Maybe the teacher will notice?

     Both teachers had their eyes focused on their smartphones.

     Well...maybe someone else will save him?

     Hiroshi looked and saw no one.

     I...can't save him.

     Yet Hiroshi found his legs moving.  His eyes widened as the child began to inch his way into the crosswalk.  The crossing signal began to count down, leaving Hiroshi with five seconds to reach the boy, pull the boy out of the crosswalk, and not die.

     5.

     Out of breath, Hiroshi reached the park entrance.

     4.

     He began to sprint again and made it to the crosswalk.

     3.

     The child stood in the middle of the crosswalk, and Hiroshi lifted him into his arms.

     2.

     He started to run again, though exhausted from his sprinting and the weight of the child.

     1.

     Collapsing on the sidewalk, Hiroshi let out a sigh of relief.  The child, eyes wide, watched as the cars whizzed through the intersection.

     "D-don't," Hiroshi started, still trying to calm his breathing, "do that ever again, okay?"

     The child grinned.  "Thank you, Ji-chan!"

     "Yeah yeah.  Just go back to your teacher before she notices that you're gone."

     He watched the child skip back to his teacher, who had missed the whole encounter.  Well...it's better this way. 

     That night, Hiroshi slept soundly.

 

     Hiroshi wanted to spend his Tuesday in peace with a good book.  Yet as he opened his book to the first page, the laughter of children hit his ears.  ...Already?  He shut his book with a sigh.  I guess this will have to wait.  All of a sudden, he heard someone tapping against the opening of his tent.

     He sat up and opened the tent, surprised to find the boy from yesterday right in front of him.

     "My name is Manabu.  Since we're friends now, you should have this."  Reaching into his backpack, the boy took out an onigiri.  "Kaa-chan used to say that I should give this to my teacher, but I'm not friends with her.  You can have this instead."  The boy pushed the onigiri into Hiroshi's hands.

     "Thank you, Manabu-kun," Hiroshi replied, eyes softening.  "I haven't received something like this in a long time."

     "No problem!  I promise that I'll bring something cool tomorrow too."

      Hiroshi watched the boy run off with his backpack hanging open.  He chuckled.

 

     Hiroshi waited for Manabu on Wednesday.

     "Hi, Ji-chan!" The voice of the small child echoed through the park.

     "Hello, Manabu-kun."

     "I brought you a senbei today.  My mommy said that you shouldn't eat too many, but I think that one is okay sometimes."

     "You didn't have to," Hiroshi replied, though the boy insisted.

     "So anyway, Ji-chan, I was wondering about something."

     "What was it?"

     "Why do you live in this tent?  Don't you have a home?"

     Hiroshi smiled.  "I suppose that this is my home."

     "I thought that everyone lived in a house?"

     "You don't have to live in a house to have a home, Manabu-kun."

     "Okay.  What about your wife?"

     "My wife?"

     "Yeah."

     Maki.  Hiroshi took a deep breath.  "She's...somewhere else right now."

     "Oh, like on a trip?  I like trips."

     "Yeah, you could say that."

 

     On Thursday, Hiroshi decided to visit Maki's grave.  He used some of his spare change to pick up a bouquet of carnations and began to walk toward the cemetery.  Each step felt heavier to him, and he wondered if he should just turn back.  Maki could wait another day, he told himself, but pushed the thought out of his mind.

     The cemetery gave off an eerie silence, and Hiroshi shivered.  Yamamoto Maki.  His legs led him to the stone, where he proceeded to place the carnations on the grave.  No one had visited since the funeral, which he noticed with guilt.  Hiroshi watched one of the cemetery workers clear away the old flowers and looked at his own in dismay.  He wished that he could give Maki something more, something that would last.

     "Ji-chan?"

     Hiroshi turned.  "Manabu-kun?  What are you doing here?  Are you alone?"

     "Visiting Kaa-chan.  I was at her grave when I saw you here."

     "Don't you have school today?"

     "I ran away during play time," he whispered.  “It’s a secret.”

     "Oh."  Hiroshi chided himself for lying to the child about Maki the day before out of a belief that he was too young to understand death.

     "Is this your wife?" Manabu asked. 

     As soon as he nodded, he watched the child kneel down and begin to speak to the tombstone.  Ah...is this what you're supposed to do?  Hiroshi took a seat next to the child.  "What are you doing, Manabu-kun?"

     "Asking Maki-obasan about her day.  The people here must be really lonely, huh?"

     Hiroshi could only nod again, as he did not want the boy to see his tears.

     "Kaa-chan said not to cry when someone dies because they're in a good place now," he heard Manabu whisper.  "But sometimes, I just feel so sad.  What should I do, Ji-chan?"

     Wiping his tears away, Hiroshi smiled.  "Take care of yourself.  That's the only thing that you can do for your mother now."

     "Thank you, Ji-chan."

     Hiroshi stood up.  "Should we go?"  He extended his hand to the child.

     "Yeah."

     With hands tightly linked, Hiroshi and Manabu exited the cemetery.  Neither looked back.