Tuesdays were always the same. Our leading lady would wake herself up in the morning and shower. She would dry and style her hair; this particular Tuesday was loose, mid-neck length with a Bow-style headband. She would dress into her uniform and pack away her gear for class. She would don her coat and scarf, and head out, locking the door behind her. On this particular Tuesday it had been snowing, so she put her black shoes in her bag and wore thick wellie boots. She would trek for 10 minutes to the bus stop and hand over her ticket when it arrived. Then she would spend 20 minutes on the bus, reading a novel usually. When it arrived in the nearby town, she would exit, and trek a further 15 minutes to her school building in the ancient part of the city. She would normally arrive 10 minutes before assembly. She would hang her coat on the hook by the door, and leave her boots there too. She would put on her shoes and then sit on the floor in front of her friends, because all of the chairs would be taken by the boarding students. After assembly, she would diligently go to her 4 classes; Media Studies, then Drama, English and last Italian. On Tuesdays she went to have lunch with her girl friends in the restaurant nearby, and at break she read comic's online with Mike. The rest of in-between time was spent working on assignments. She never missed one.
When school ended on Tuesdays, she went to sports with Maxi. She never played. It was a house point to simply watch the game. On this particular Tuesday they did their Italian homework together and watched the small group of players break 5 hockey sticks. "Sports" almost always meant "hockey". It was to be expected of a Canadian school. After they finished, Maxi would play hockey, and she would read her novel again. This particular Tuesday, her novel was about a child solider in Sierra Leone. It was a school required novel, and she hated it; it was so depressing. But she read it diligently as she cheered the players on the pitch and they laughed at their single supporter.
At 5:20 every Tuesday she packed up her things and wished the players well as she departed for a nearby Piazza for her 3 times weekly Japanese lessons. She would go to her old Italian tutor's building, not 5 minutes from the sports pitch and a Japanese woman named Hitomi would tutor her in Japanese. The lesson would last an hour, and at 6:30 she left the building and began her trek to the bus stop. From the Piazza she walked up a set of steep steps, across the narrow one-way street, through a tiny alleyway, across another one way street, down a further set of steps, to a cobbled street, where she turned right and found herself in a car-park. With confidence she crossed the crowded car park and down a rickety set of rusted metal stairs, and walked up a slight hill and cars whizzed past her. Italians were reckless drivers. She crossed the busy street and descended down into the bus station. She crossed to the small cafe/corner shop and bought two bus tickets; this particular Tuesday, her father was coming home.
She had 10 minutes until the bus arrived. She bought drinks, a Coke and a Coke Zero. She put the Coke in her bag and set herself down at one of the outside chairs and pulled out the novel. She had made good progress in it today, she noted to herself. She sipped her beverage slowly. She still had more than half left when the bus marked "Roma" pulled up. She put her book back into her bag and picked up her Coke Zero and made her way over to the bus. She hadn't to wait long before a 45 year old male with glasses and a laptop bag got off the bus. He spotted his 16 year old daughter immediately and grinned at her. He retrieved his purple suitcase and made his way to her.
"Hey kiddo, how have you been?" he asked, giving her a warm hug. She hugged him back gratefully. "Great Dad, how was your trip?" her father shrugged "Work, boring, as usual" She nodded. "Our bus home is in 5 minutes" she informed him, leading him across the station to the short distance buses. The bus for their town was already waiting, and would shield them from the cold. Her young father questioned her "so you had Eco-club today, right?" She shook her head "No, Tuesday is Sports day" Her dad smiled apologetically. "Right. Hockey I assume?" She sighed in confirmation as her dad laughed. "I also saw Hatomi today" She informed "Ah, and is the Japanese coming along?" He asked. "Hai" she grinned. He laughed again as they entered the bus. As they sat down, she handed over the Coke she had bought him. He sighed contently. "You're too good to your father"
During the 20 minute bus ride back to their tiny village outside the city, the pair informed each other of the happenings over the last week while her father had been away. Things like her recent A in English and a nutty incident in Dublin involving a cup of coffee and a lady in green nylon. During their ride, it started to snow again.
When in the village, they exited the bus with a weak "Grazie" and a wave to the old men playing cards in the bar across the way. Their village consisted of a bar, a piazza, a mini-mart and a heap of commuters. A couple of the men waved back to the friendly but crazy foreigners they saw almost every day. The walk back to the house was mostly spent in comfortable silence as she carried her father's laptop case for him.
When they got home and hung their coats on the hooks by the door, he wheeled the purple suitcase into the kitchen. Their home was a fairly large one. It had 7 large rooms, and three floors. It was in need of a few jobs on it, and one of the rooms was completely un-usable, but in general it was a nice home. It was time for the "un-packing ceremony" where her father unpacked the precious items he brought back from one of his trips to Ireland which could not be bought in Italy. She quickly threw on a pot of water for the dinner, before settling down on a kitchen chair to witness the event. Her dad opened the case slowly to build the tension. She laughed.
He first pulled out 3 cans of baked beans. She squealed happily with a proclamation of "Tomorrows dinner is sorted!" Next cheddar cheese, her favourite, and the heaps of Cadburys chocolate they craved. Some Yorkie fruit and Biscuit bars and a packet of good strong blu-tac came out, and some really thick green wool came out, much to her delight. Next some new PJ's for them both and a box set of the West Wing for her dad. There was a letter from her Granny, and a few random DVD's her dad had picked up for the evenings in the hotel. He produced a few manga's for her, telling her that "I hate going into that dorky shop. You're the dork, not me. And also, why did the guy behind the counter giggle and blush when I asked for that Gravitation one? What the hell is that word on the front?"
The unpacking was fun, and she put his clothes in the washing machine and prepared dinner. Their conversation continued over dinner. She informed him that she had some clubs tomorrow, and that on Thursday some exchange students from Japan were coming for a few months. Her father found this extremely interesting, since Japanese was not taught at her school, which was why she studied it outside of school. She was very excited. "Me and Mike are their official 'Buddies' you could say. We are getting out of classes all day to show them around and teach them the ropes. We're trying to convince the principal to let us wear normal people clothes" Her father grinned at his daughter's quirky use of words. Dinner lasted until 9, when her father decided to head to bed. He hesitated on the first step. He called back to her "Did you see mam and Amy recently?" She glanced back at him. "I went on Saturday after Dog Shelter. I got some orange flowers" He nodded.
It had been 7 months since his wife and youngest daughter had died. His wife had just gone 40, and Amy was 13. Their car had swerved and they had died soon after. He had always needed to go back to Ireland, but since his eldest had not many places to stay, she was normally left alone in the house for up to a week at a time. He felt horribly guilty, but it was the only way they could support themselves. Sometimes she could stay at the school or in the other day students houses, but it was difficult to ask and at 16, she was extremely responsible, so despite both of their better judgement, she was normally left alone when the trips took place.
He smiled proudly at his eldest, and now only child, as she pulled out her laptop to get to work on an assignment. He felt he had every reason to be insanely proud of her, managing to maintain good grades when she was alone so often, after losing half of her family, and in a country where she could barely speak the language.
"Jazzy" he called to her again. She looked back up and her deep purple bangs swayed out of her deep grey eyes. He grinned at her again "I love you, Sara"
Sara "Jazzy" Christon smiled back at her young father "I love you too Dad"
Despite everything that had happened over the last few months, she never felt otherwise. Jazzy loved her dad, loved her friends, and loved her late sister and mother. And she was doing well with all her school work, and was hoping to go to Japan after she left University. She was so excited about the 7 boys coming from Japan on Thursday. Tomorrow she and her best friend Mike would go for a meeting with the principal to discuss what to do with the boys. She smiled just thinking about it, before turning back to her Media essay.
Jazzy Christon didn't go to bed until 11 o'clock. She brushed her teeth and hair, washed her face and changed out of her uniform, which she left on the end of her bed. She read more of her school novel, and fell asleep with her ear buds in her ears, listening to guitar strings and drum beats and envisioning herself in the middle of Japan, grinning from ear to ear.