Flying the Dragon (11 page)

But before anyone could answer, Skye felt a tug on the line and looked up. The dragon kite had tipped sideways and was now starting to fall.

Skye gasped. “Oh, no! The dragon!”

Hiroshi looked worried and reached for the reel. But Grandfather placed his hand on Skye’s shoulder. “Give it more line.” Skye shook her head and tried to give the reel to Grandfather, but he gently pushed it back toward her. “More line, Sorano. Unwind it a bit, then let the dragon pull as much line as he needs.”

It didn’t feel right to give a falling kite more line, but what did she know? She prayed she was doing it right. “Like this?”

“Just like that.” Grandfather nodded. “I can tell the dragon approves of you.” Skye could hear the smile in his voice. Sure enough, the dragon started to climb.

“Hold him there, Sorano-chan. That’s just fine.”

Skye tightened her grip on the handles, and the dragon stopped its climb. She felt the dragon’s energy travel from his perch at the top of the sky, down the line, through the reel, and right into her fingers. She shuddered to think what would have happened if the dragon had fallen. Best not to press her luck.

“That’s enough for now. Thank you.” Skye handed the reel back to Hiroshi, who took it without a word.

“You are a natural, Sorano. Like Hiroshi. And your father.”

“My father flew kites, too?”

Grandfather squinted into the sun, tracking the dragon. “He used to be one of the best.”

“He never told me. I didn’t know he liked flying kites.”

“He won several
rokkaku
battles.”

“
Rokkaku?
What’s that?”

Hiroshi spoke up. “It’s kite fighting. When you try to make other kites fall from the sky. The kite that’s left flying is the winner.”

“How do you do that?”

“There are three ways.” Hiroshi sounded like maybe he’d forgotten he was mad at Skye. “You can cut your opponent’s line, tip his kite, or block its wind—that’s the most difficult move.”

“Can you teach me?”

Grandfather looked at the gray clouds that were moving in. “It will rain soon. We will begin with a
rokkaku
lesson next time.”

Next time. Skye was about to ask what time tomorrow, and then she remembered. Watching the easy way Grandfather pulled in the line as Hiroshi wound it up with the reel, it didn’t seem like Grandfather was sick and that tomorrow was treatment day.

Before, this grandfather had been some distant relative she didn’t know. Then he was someone who was coming here to ruin her chance to play on the All-Star team. Now he was Grandfather, who was gentle and didn’t seem to mind her rusty Japanese. Grandfather, who could fly a kite, and trusted her to fly one, too. Who had taken a brush and some paint and turned a kite into a dragon.

Hiroshi and Grandfather walked Skye home. When they got to her door, her dad was sitting on the porch.

“It looks as if you have a natural flier here, my son.”

Skye’s dad smiled. “I should have taught her years ago.”

Skye wondered why he hadn’t. “Grandfather showed me the reel that you carved.”

“The reel?” Skye’s dad stood.

Hiroshi held it out. “Grandfather told us you carved this.”

Skye’s dad took the reel in both hands. He looked at Grandfather, eyes bright. “You’ve kept this?”

Grandfather nodded. “Of course. It is the only reel I ever use.” Skye’s dad nodded and gently handed the reel back to Hiroshi. Grandfather put his hand on Hiroshi’s shoulder. “We should be going now. We will talk tomorrow.” Skye felt a pang of envy. Hiroshi was lucky that Grandfather lived with his family.

“Thank you, Hiroshi. Thank you, Grandfather. I had a great time.” Grandfather smiled, but Hiroshi only nodded. He looked as worried as Skye felt. As they walked away, Skye stood with her dad’s arm around her shoulders. “I hope this treatment works.”

He squeezed her shoulder. “Me, too.”

It had to work. Skye had just found Grandfather, and she wasn’t about to let him go.

Hiroshi slid the spelling test under his notebook before anyone could see the D at the top. He’d spelled
pear, pair,
and
pare
right, but he’d mixed up the meanings. Same thing with
to, too,
and
two.
He couldn’t remember the differences among them. He’d studied, even if Mr. Jacobs probably didn’t think so. But with Grandfather’s first treatment yesterday, homophones—or was it homographs? Homonyms? Whatever they were, they’d been the last thing on Hiroshi’s mind.
Why did English have to be so confusing?

“Hiroshi, may I see you, please?” Mr. Jacobs was at his desk while the others worked on the new list of words. Maybe Hiroshi was in trouble because he hadn’t started the assignment yet.

Ravi flashed Hiroshi an encouraging smile. But he hadn’t seen Hiroshi’s spelling grade.

Hiroshi reached Mr. Jacob’s desk. Pointing at the grade book, Mr. Jacobs shook his head. Hiroshi looked at the row of letters next to his name: A, A, A, C, C, D.

“Hiroshi, what is happening?” Hiroshi looked away from those letters that spelled failure. Mr. Jacobs went on. “You asked for more of a challenge.” Hiroshi nodded, remembering how easy the first two spelling lists were. When he had asked for harder words, Mr. Jacobs had seemed hesitant. But when Hiroshi had earned another A, Mr. Jacobs had seemed pleased. Then came the two C’s, and now the D.

“Would you like easier words, Hiroshi? I don’t want to push you too fast.” Hiroshi did not remember Mr. Jacobs pushing him. Except for high fives, Mr. Jacobs had never laid his hands on any students. Did American teachers push students who got bad grades?

Hiroshi glanced at the letters again. He hadn’t been studying as much as he should have lately. But he would change that. “I want harder words. I can do it.”

Mr. Jacobs frowned. “How can I help, Hiroshi?” American teachers were strange—first Mr. Jacobs threatened to push him, and now he was offering to help. But Mr. Jacobs couldn’t help. Not unless he could make Grandfather better.

“I will study more, Teacher.”

Mr. Jacobs sighed. “Okay, Hiroshi. We’ll try once more. But if your grades don’t improve, I’ll have to give you the same list as the other students.”

Hiroshi nodded. He would try harder. Mr. Jacobs had said to write the words and their definitions three times each. Three times was not enough. He would write them twenty times each. He wanted to learn English; it was just taking so long.

No wonder America and Japan were on opposite sides of the world; English and Japanese were opposites, too.

“Grandfather! You’re awake!” Hiroshi had raced all the way home from the bus stop.

“Yes, it was about time I got out of that room.” After two days on his futon, Grandfather finally seemed back to normal. He looked a little tired around the eyes, but Hiroshi knew Grandfather would feel better with a kite string in his hands.

Hiroshi grinned and dropped his backpack at the foot of the steps. “Let’s go to the park!”

“Hiro-chan, is that you?” Mother came into the front hall and eyed his backpack. He knew what she was about to say, but now wasn’t the time for homework; it was time for flying kites.

“Grandfather and I are going to the park. We’ll be back soon.” He started up the stairs to get the kite from his room.

“Homework must be done first, Hiroshi.”

“But Grandfather is finally feeling better! We have to go right away.”

Grandfather chuckled. “I am not going to disappear, Hiroshi. I will drink some tea with your mother while you do your work, and then we will go.”

Hiroshi knew there was no use arguing with Mother, especially with Grandfather on her side. He ran back down the stairs, grabbed his backpack, and raced up to his room. He pulled out his spelling test. Why had he asked Mr. Jacobs for harder words? Now he had to write the words and the definitions, when the other kids only had to write the words. That was because he had insisted on tackling those stupid words that all sounded alike.

He wrote the first word and its definition three times, then glanced at the clock on his desk. Writing everything twenty times each would take too long; he’d get to it later. He copied the rest of the words and definitions three times each, and slipped the paper back into his notebook. He lifted the dragon kite from the hook on his wall, then flew down the stairs.

“Ready!” he called. Grandfather already had his jacket on and was sitting in the front room. He rose when he saw Hiroshi, but he moved as if his muscles were stiff. “Are you okay, Grandfather?”

Grandfather nodded. “I am ready to fly that kite.”

Hiroshi wanted to run all the way to the park, but he had to slow his pace to match Grandfather’s. It felt like they were wading in Tachibana Bay back home.

When they finally reached the park entrance, Hiroshi’s heart thudded. There, at the top of the hill, stood Skye. When she saw them, her face brightened and she waved.

“There she is,” Grandfather said. “I hope she hasn’t been waiting long.”

Hiroshi stopped. “You knew she’d be here?”

Grandfather stopped, too. “Of course. I invited her to join us. Didn’t I tell you?”

No, as a matter of fact you didn’t,
thought Hiroshi. But he could never speak that way to Grandfather. Instead he mumbled, “I must have forgotten.”

When Skye was around, everything was different. He and Grandfather didn’t talk about the same things. Flying the dragon kite felt like work, not joy. Hiroshi was sure even the dragon didn’t want Skye around; that’s why it had dipped last time when she’d held the line. She probably would have crashed it if it hadn’t been for Grandfather.

“Hiro-chan, are you feeling all right?” Grandfather looked concerned.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Now Hiroshi felt guilty for worrying him. He fell into step next to Grandfather. “It’s just that—well, I don’t know.”
How can I tell Grandfather I want it to be just the two of us

again?
“It’s just that sometimes you and I—we can’t talk about the same things with Skye around.” Grandfather frowned, but Hiroshi continued. “I mean, she doesn’t know any of the people or places we know in Japan, so it might be rude to talk about them in front of her. She might feel left out.”
There. That sounded unselfish enough, didn’t it?

Grandfather put his hand on Hiroshi’s shoulder. “You know, Hiroshi, you are right.” Hiroshi looked down to hide his smile. Now Grandfather would think of a polite way to cut today’s flying session short. Maybe Skye would go home early, and he and Grandfather would stay a little later. “Sorano-chan—I hope you have not been waiting long.”

“Hello, Grandfather. Hi, Hiroshi. No, in fact I just finished my homework.” She pointed to her backpack resting on the bench. “I wasn’t sure when you’d get here, so I brought my homework with me and did it here. I just finished.”

“What an industrious girl you are, Sorano.”

Looking at Skye, Hiroshi knew she hadn’t understood
industrious
in Japanese. Maybe he would tell her later. Or maybe not. But Skye must have understood that Grandfather was pleased to see her, because now she was beaming.

“Are you ready for another flying lesson?” Grandfather asked.

“Yes!” Skye looked as if she couldn’t wait to get her hands on the dragon.

Grandfather rubbed his hands together. “Wonderful!” He turned to Hiroshi. “What shall you show her today, Hiroshi?”

How about the way home?
But Hiroshi knew he couldn’t say that. Instead he shrugged. “The launch?”

A clap from Grandfather. “Perfect! Hiroshi is an expert at launching, Sorano. You can learn a great deal from him if you wish.” Grandfather’s words filled Hiroshi’s chest. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad teaching Skye a thing or two. Just as long as it didn’t get to be a habit.

“Are you ready?” Hiroshi eyed Skye. She nodded, her eyes shining with excitement.

Hiroshi studied the clouds that crept across the sky. “There is some wind up there, but not much. On days like this, it’s better to have another person to help with the launch.”

“Okay—just tell me what I need to do.”

He handed the dragon kite to Skye. “Hold it by the frame and point it toward the sky, like this.” He angled the kite upward. “Now face into the wind.”

Skye turned slightly. The breeze barely lifted her hair from her forehead. “Like this?”

“Good. When I say ‘Now,’ let it go, and I’ll pull it up into the air.”

Hiroshi unrolled his line as he backed away from Skye. “But make sure you let go
right
when I say ‘now,’ or you’ll rip the kite.”

Skye rolled her eyes and laughed. “I get it, Hiroshi.”

Was it his imagination, or had the wind picked up? Hiroshi stopped and turned his back to the breeze. He let the reel unwind for a few more feet, then grasped the line.

“Now!”

Skye let go of the kite and Hiroshi lifted the line until his arm was stretched above him. He shuffled backward, faster and faster, and the dragon climbed higher and higher. The wind took hold of the kite and Hiroshi let out more line, surrendering the dragon to the sky.

“It worked!” Skye ran up to Hiroshi. He nodded, keeping one eye closed to block out the sun. He practiced a few dives and twists with the kite before allowing it to drift higher. He’d half expected Skye to mess up the launch, but he had to admit she’d done a pretty good job. Well, he didn’t have to admit it to
her.