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I'm in, gimme a song.
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Jun 5, 2018 12:08
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| # ¿ Apr 16, 2024 12:04 |
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Offerings for the Dead 1473 words Prompt: "Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece" The day Nana's parents had decided on becoming a host family for foreign exchange students, the first thing she felt was mostly indignation, at the decision that they made without even asking her about it. Instead, they sprung the news on her over dinner one night, after she had gotten back from her shift at the convenience store. Despite her protests, their applications had gone though, and their first student was on his way. His name was Trey, and he was from Tulsa, Oklahoma. When he first arrived at the family home, Nana's parents seemed to be fascinated by his dark skin and unusual hair; Nana could see the uncomfortable look on his face as Nana's mother cooed over him. He usually kept himself to himself, either staying out and wandering through town, or studying hard at school. This suited Nana just fine, because she could go out and earn her pay while Trey studied, and neither could bother each other. And usually, Nana and Trey never crossed paths. The only time of day that Trey and Nana ever were in the same room together for more than five minutes was during dinner time. The two would sit opposite each other at the dining room table, while Nana's parents took the other two sides; four sides of a perfect square. Then, one evening, Nana saw Trey thoughtlessly stick his chopsticks straight down into his bowl of rice, like a flagpole pointing upwards, or a tall grave marker. She looked up at him, a strange chill running through her body, but he just looked at her back, looking straight into her eyes, boring through her. "What are you doing?" Nana asked, in English. Trey's eyes moved down to the chopsticks, then back up again to Nana's face. "Um?" Nana pointed at the chopsticks. "What are you doing? You shouldn't be doing that." She looked at her mother, who had noticed as well. "You know, right?" She asked in Japanese. "He shouldn't stick his chopsticks in like that!" Her mother nodded. "Nana, tell him that's how we offer food to the dead. That's why he shouldn't do that..." She looked over at Trey, who at least seemed to catch on to what Nana was saying, and shook her head at him, trying to add some motherly disapproval. Nana ignored the way that strange chill was racing up her spine at her mother's words, and looked at Trey again. "She says that putting your chopsticks in like that is how we offer food to the dead." She grabbed Trey's bowl, tugging it away from him. "If you're going to leave it like this, it'll need to be left out for the ghosts to eat." Nana's father groaned, having just enough of a grasp of English to get the gist of his daughter's words. "Nana-chan, please don't talk to Trey-san like that. He's almost fifteen already!" Nana gave her father a dirty look, before turning back to Trey. "You understand me, right...?" She trailed off when she noticed the look in Trey's eyes. Not just that, but also the way that Trey seemed to be looking not at her, but past her... At some point just behind her head. "So you actually offer food to the dead?" He asked, the strange look never leaving his face. "I guess that explains everything." Quietly, Nana pulled the rice bowl into the centre of the table. "Explains what? Whatever it is, I don't have the time to listen." She pushed away from the dinner table and stood up. Before Trey or her parents could say anything, she was gone up the stairs, and headed straight for her room. But that was only the beginning; some days, Trey would ask for a second bowl of rice, and stick his chopsticks straight down, just like the last time. Then he would push the bowl out into the centre of the table, taking pride of place until dinner was over, when Nana's mother would take the bowl up with all of the other dirty plates, to be emptied and washed. Nana never bothered to ask Trey why he kept on doing that. She really didn't want to know: she still had a job to do, and she wanted to get away from the house as soon as possible. Her mother and father didn't seem to mind the whole thing. They just thought that Trey was interested in cultural exchange, in his own little weird foreign way. It was not that different to them than trying on a kimono. Eventually, Nana relented. Mostly because her parents, deciding that using the kitchen table for offerings would be taking up too much space, took Trey to the small family altar, and showed him how to properly pray and leave offerings there. Trey took to the practice like a duck to water, leaving out a bowl of rice every day at dinnertime. He would also say a silent prayer as he did so, hands folded in front of him as he did so. Nana would quietly watch as he prayed, still not entirely sure how or why he decided to take an interest in religion. Eventually on one night, after Trey placed his offering on the family shrine, Nana finally asked him the question that she had been mulling over for days. "You've been doing that for months now," she said to him in English. "But I don't know who it is you're even praying to." She stepped closer to Trey, trying to hide the frustration on her face. "You can't be praying for our ancestors, since you hardly even know them. But it that's true, then what are you praying for?" Trey turned and looked at Nana, not saying a word. "I just wanted to know," Nana finally said. "I've seen you doing this for so long, I couldn't help but wonder." Trey turned back towards the altar. "It's because of what you told me, way back when," he said, finally. "About offering food for the dead. Because if the dead need to eat here, then there's probably gonna be a lot of ghosts going hungry out there... because they have no one who cares for them.” Nana blinked in surprise. This was hardly the kind of answer that she was expecting to hear out of somebody like Trey. "You're offering rice every day to, what, just whatever random ghost decides to pop in here for a look around?" She knew she must've sounded too incredulous, as Trey stared at her once more. But Trey sighed and looked away. "There's gotta be a lot of ghosts out there, just roaming the world." He waved his hand back and forth. "Like, how many ghosts and gods are there in Japan, anyway?" "Probably somewhere in the thousands?" Nana tapped her finger against her lip. "I don't really know all that much about ghosts and gods." She looked over at the altar. "Honestly, I wish I never told you about that stupid thing, if you were going to take it this seriously." Trey just heaved a deep sigh, sitting himself down in front of the altar. "Like I said, it's all for the ghosts that are lost out there. The people who have no place to go, even when they're dead." He looked up at Nana once more. "The ghosts that have nobody who'll care for them, well..." He placed a hand over his chest. "I'll care for them, as much as I can." Nana just gazed down at Trey in silence, searching the young man's face. Maybe for some secret smile, some kind of tell that he was making some kind of joke at her expense. But she couldn't. Quietly, Nana knelt down next to Trey, in front of the altar. "Don't tell me you can see these ghosts, too?" Trey shrugged. "Maybe. Sometimes I can catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye. Or sometimes I think I see them in the mirror, like this hazy face that's just out of view." He noticed the curious look on Nana's face. "Why?" Slowly, a smile spread over Nana's face. "Sorry, I just didn't expect someone who looks like you to be in touch with the spirit world." Then she paused for a moment, before a horrible crimson flush spread across her face. "I mean, because you look like such a good student, not..." She groaned, gritting her teeth. "Sorry..." Trey just smiled and nodded. "Yeah, yeah. At least you apologised." He gave the altar another look, before he gave Nana a smile. "Do you wanna make an offering too?" Nana just nodded. From that moment on, a small tangerine sat on the family altar every day, next to a bowl of freshly made rice. A pair of offerings to the ghosts no-one else would pray for.
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Jun 11, 2018 00:10
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