Blind 10
Chapter 10: Broken English
Note: The bold words are in English just in case people are confuse on who is talking in what language.
It was a good 6 hour drive till we reach to a ranch filled with cattle. Further along in the ranch is a big 2 story house. My heart stops for a bit. This is the first time I am going to see people other than Miyagi. I park the car on the path way where the owner's cars are park.
"Hey Shinobu, if they ask anything about you, just tell them you are with me to help out livestock over summer break."
I nod my head. I don't want to cause any more trouble after the stunt I have done. The fact that he trust me this much means a lot to me. Considering that I am a flight risk now since I try to escape twice already.
"Why are we here anyways?"
"So my friend can examine my hand. He was a doctor"
We walk to the front porch together and Miyagi rings the doorbell.
"Coming!" A man from the inside yells in this strange foreign language. I think its English?
The door opens, there was this tall blonde hair gentleman with the most intriguing hazel eyes. He appears to be older than Miyagi based on the amount of crow's feet in the corner of his eyes.
"Hey! It's Yoh! Come in!" The older man invites us into his home. A sweet ginger hair lady comes out of the kitchen wondering who is here. She smiles so kindly, she reminds me of my grandmother without the freckles.
"Yoh, it's been so long! I'm about to make dinner, how does pot roast sound?" Even her sweet melodic voice reminds me of my grandma
"Sounds delicious Julie" Miyagi fluently communicates back in their strange foreign language. It's not that I never heard English before; I just never needed to use it till now. Makes me wish I pay attention more in my English class so I can at least speak correctly.
"What brings you here Yoh?" The man asks. I understood that. My translation is why Miyagi is here.
"Got a construction accident when I was rebuilding the barn roof. Would you mind if you can take a look at my hand?"
My translation is...yeah I don't really care. It's probably old men talking about cows or something.
The man looks down at me as he raises his eyebrows. "Hello fella, Miyagi hasn't introduced us yet. I'm Michael." He reach out his hand to shake. I shook his hand. Shoot how the hell do I introduce myself?
"Um...Hi..um my namu es Takatsuki Shinobu"
Miyagi rubs my hair, as if the humid heat causing the frizz didn't ruin my hair enough.
"Hahaha, sorry Michael, he barely knows how to speaks English. Just call him Shinobu." Wow, Miyagi spoke English like if it was nothing.
"I have a son around your age Shinobu, why don't you hang out with him for now. Us old men gotta catch up on life."
"Why would I want to hang his son? Isn't that illegal?" I ask Miyagi.
"No dummy, he means hang out with his kid."
"Nick! Come downstairs, we have guests!"
An adolescent boy who looks to be my age comes running down the stairs. He is a tall lanky boy having his mother's beautiful ginger hair and his father's hazel eyes.
"Nick, remember Miyagi? Well this is his friend Shinobu."
I decided to greet him as well "Hi, Michael.. tod me to hang you" Miyagi and Michael burst into laughter while Nick stands there looking a bit awkward.
Miyagi apologizes for my apparently hilarious attempt at English "Sorry Nick, Shinobu doesn't speak English well."
"It's alright friend, come Shinobu, I'll show you around" Nick grabs my wrist and leads me to outside. This will be the first time I get to talk to someone who is at my age level.
We walk down a pathway trail away from all the cattle.
"You don't have to try and speak English, I think my Dad and Yoh teased you enough"
I nod my head even though I barely understood what he said. I think he figure out that I was confuse.
"No English." He shook his head trying to emphasize every letter. I guess this guy doesn't want me to speak English? Was it that bad? "So what brings you out here to the bush?"
"I don't see any bushes?"
"I don't always live out here, I actually go to an all-boys private school in the city."
Oh I get it, he wants the conversation without the language barrier. Maybe he understands me? Nah, there's no way he could!
"I live in japan, I came to study abroad."
I can at least use this opportunity to practice my English listening skills.
"Kinda sucks I go to that school, there's no cute girls to see"
"At least you have no distractions"
We continue this on for about an hour until the sun began to set.
"Hey we should head back! Dinner should be ready in a bit. I'll race ya!" He then starts to dash forward.
I run trying to catch up to him. My short status figure and the aching sore I am in didn't help me at all. Pretty soon my soreness on my legs went away and my legs extend father able to tail on his lead. Normally I don't find running to be fun especially at school. Yet when I run out here, it feels as if I'm letting go of my troubles.
...~...
Nick and I finally got back to his house out of breathe. My lungs and throat burn from the nonstop running. I feel exhausted.
"That was fun!"
I nod my head.
"We should do this again next time and tell me more about Japan."
Wait...did he actually understood what I was talking about earlier?
"What school you supposed to go to anyways?"
"umm...Saint Luis academy"
"Really! I knew it! I also go to that school!"
Huh...
"A lot of foreign students go there especially from Japan."
Oh shit...this sounds bad. I think it sounds bad? I don't want Miyagi to know about this...
The door opens… Speak of the devil.
"I was about to go looking for you two. Dinner is almost ready."
"Hey Yoh! Guess what! Me and Shinobu a-"
I cut him off not wanting him to know.
"Ah how is your hand?"
"Michael said that I am lucky that my hand is still useable. But he thinks my pinky finger might not respond well. I'll know when it heals."
"Show me those stiches next time you come back!" Nick really does understand Japanese. It's a good thing I didn't say anything about Miyagi that could get him in trouble. But it won't matter since Nick will tell his parents and try to look for me at school in February. Shit, this is going to be a complex situation.
...~...
We all sat down in the nicely furnished dinner room. The walls were plaster with ancient wall paper, the table appears to be handmade beautifully and the dinner that Julie made looks amazing. Compare to Miyagi's and mine shitty cooking, hers look spectacular. We all sat down like around this unsymmetrical circular table of gourmet food. I sat between Miyagi, seated on my left and Nick on my right.
Michael stood up from his chair and instruct us what to do. "Let us say grace"
We all stand up and held our hands together as Michael begins his prayer.
"Dear heavenly father, I would like to thank you for the food we are about to receive. Also I thank you for being able to share and spend time with our friends who are with us now. Thank for all the blessings you have given us and for the blessings we are about to receive. Thank you for your love and for your grace. In Jesus name we pray. Amen."
Everyone chorus an "Amen." and we all sat down at the same time. We began to fill our empty plates with Julie's home-style country cook meals.
"Mom you're cooking is the best! I am going to miss it when I'm gone for school."
"I'm glad you enjoy it Nick, how do you like this type of food sweetie. It's okay to eat something you don't like."
"Its..good" I slowly spoke with broken English.
"Oh guess what, Shinobu is going to the same school with me in February. Isn't that awesome!"
Crap...
"That's great, now Shinobu won't be alone. I thought you were related to Yoh at first, but is he your sponsor?" Julie sang
Double crap...
Miyagi is dead quiet... why isn't he talking? Don't act like you don't know English! I look at Michael who also kept quiet. He seems suspiciously quiet as well.
"Yoh used to work under Shinobu's father. So he is just helping him out."
"Well you should come back here a few days before school starts, we can all travel to the city and wish them good luck."
Does Michael know what Miyagi has done? This is a bit scary. I don't know what is going to happen to him. We continue on eating dinner, chatting about the recent rain, the grown up childhood stories and life at this ranch. They are really kind people. I help wash dishes with Nick until Michael calls me out.
"Shinobu, let's take a walk outside."
Should I go? Or act like I didn't understand. I have a bad feeling about this...
...~...
Note: Hurrah! Chapter 10! Can't believe I finally got to the double chapter digits. Thank you for the comments, I really enjoy reading them. It's so cool to wake up in the morning and see comments on this story. I didn't know how to approach this chapter but I finally figure it out. By the way, I won't upload a new chapter till mid next week. Possibly a Wednesday? Anyways Happy Easter weekend to everyone, and if you don't celebrate Easter, it's okay cause I don't celebrate it either, we can make up our own holiday instead.