Finding Chihiro

Exhausted. Breathless. And yet I had found nothing. Discovered nothing.

I slept through a good part of the day and awoke at noon. I was well in the forest and it took me half an hour to walk out of there. I got to the highway and looked both ways.

While I was standing there, a car pulled to a stop in front of me. At first I thought it was a police car or something, but it seemed to be just an old man and his wife.

“Ichiro?” The man said, opening his car door and stepping out. “Ichiro! Is that you?”

“My name is not Ichiro.”

“Masashi,” The woman called through the open door. “That’s not Ichiro. Ichiro is dead, Masashi.”

“Well, Mira, he certainly looks a lot like Ichiro.”

“Ichiro was a young chap when he went missing from your daughter, Masashi. The same eyes, that’s about it.”

“Say, son, what is your name?”

“Haku, sir.”

“Haku,” The woman said, exiting her car and walking around it. It seemed so natural to them; like they pull over on the highway and have conversations with stranger boys all the time. “A fine name for a fine young boy.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

She laughed. “Oh, don’t call me ma’am. Call me Mama Mira.”

“Thank you…Mama Mira.”

“Where are your parents?” Masashi asked me.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know, boy? Well where do you live?”

“I don’t have a home.”

He laughed. “Homeless, are ya? What do you think Mira?”

“I think he should stay with us.”

“A fine idea. What do you say, son?”

My stomach rumbled. “I’m fine on my own.” My stomach rumbled again.

“Do you have money, Haku? Do you have a place to sleep? Do you have food or water, or another change of clothes?” Masashi inquired.

“I could never impose on you.”

“Oh, we’d love to have a young boy such as you around the house,” Mira said. “How about we make a deal. You can stay with us, if you help around the house. Then you won’t be imposing on us at all.”

Did I want to stay with them? My stomach rumbled yet again. “Alright, but only for a while.”

“Yes,” Masashi said, his eyes sparkling. “Only for a while.”