The Last Dawn
.
Natsuko sighed. Her father had stayed awake all night again. He had done that at times, almost her whole life, ever since their mother had gone, but now for the past several weeks he had been sleeping less and less, eating less and less.
He only cast her a wry smile when she tsksed at finding him awake. ...He was so stubborn. He was as hard as steel.
He knew she had her own family to take care of. She could only spare so much time for him. Every morning at the first hint of light she walked the path from the farm house to the old hut, where he still lived, and brought him his breakfast. He knew she couldn't stay long. She couldn't stay to look after him, even though they both knew he was dying.
He had refused to move in to the large house with them, after Grandfather and Grandmother died and Natsuko finally found a man who would marry her.
This hovel had been her home, and he wouldn't leave.
If Koji were here... But Koji had left nearly five years ago, chasing his own demons.
No, Koji would only cause trouble if he were here, but Natsuko missed her brother all the same. She would have had someone, then, who understood.
Selfish of her.
It was good that Yahiko, at least, had come to visit for a few days. He had left his own farmland and come to sit with the old man.
Natsuko couldn't comfort her father. She could never comfort him. She knew she was like her mother - but not the parts of her mother that her father had loved.
Now the summer was here, and he was both calm and excited as though preparing for a journey.
He had worked hard his whole life, worked hard for his children, even in those darkest days when the house was filled with his silent despair.
He had worked hard - years and years of work and waiting, and at last his wait was over.
She hated that she could never be sad the way he had been sad. She had never felt the loss the way he had felt it. It was just another thing - yet another thing that made her different.
So he could be glad that the sorrow was over - and as his daughter, she could resent him, a little, for being glad.
Still, she hoped, for his sake, that he would meet his wife again.
And she could be glad a little, too, that he might finally recover his happiness.
And she could be sad - for herself, for her family - but not for long.
Natsuko bid her father goodbye and stepped back onto the path toward her own home.
She had her own work to do.
.
Fin