Bright Burning

Samuria

That night I slept over, not in secret behind her closed doors but in the family room with a game between us three. Akira taught me a game called Daruma Otoshi, or better known as, the falling Buddha. A stack of wooden figurines has to be hit out from under an evil looking Buddha. She thought he looked cute but I couldn't get over the odd eyebrows that were painted on.

She also brought out some old cards that were easy to understand. The rules were very similar to an American game I played as a child but the experience did not help as the energetic girl not only kicked her grandfathers ass, but my own three times. At the end I brought home one win which lent me some praise from the old man, he obviously hated the idea of her always winning and loved the idea of someone putting her out of the winners circle. I understood because Akira knew she was smart, she boasted when she succeeded and claimed the game was rigged when she didn't. It was all in good fun however, I could tell when she didn't really mind that I won.

"I have American cards." Her grandfather pointed out to Akira. It was getting late but we all decided to keep playing. We were having too much fun to give up. "Let her shuffle Akira."

Luckily my mom was an avid card player, it was important for me to know how to shuffle cards before I even knew the names of all my colors. I separated the deck in two and built a bridge with the cards, they made that familiar sound as they fanned my hair back and I peeked up at the girl who watched so closely. I didn't want to seem to excited but I could clearly tell she was impressed with how fast my fingers moved the cards. "Have you ever played war?"

She shook her head and patiently waited as I dealed one after another. After everyone had their cards I decided to explain in Japanese so her grandfather would have a bette understanding. "It's very easy, we lay down one card each and whoever has the highest face wins."

"What do we win?" Akira asked straightening her stack to be more clean.

"You seem to enjoy bragging rights."

The man laughed and laid his card down first. It was only a 3 so my 7 immediately out did his. Akira took her time but smiled seeing an 8 flip over. "I like this game."

We played a few more rounds but it slowed when The young girl looked up at me with a questioning face. "You know so much about me but we know so little about you."

I didn't know what to say to that since both their eyes stared at me waiting for an answer. I wasn't an exciting person and I didn't have a lot of fun stories to tell, my life felt like it moved slowly one page at a time. That answer wouldn't have suited her wants though so I tapped the end of my card on the wooden table and clicks my tongue in thought. "I played the flute in high school. I was horrible at it though."

She put her head in her hands and smiled even though I had said nothing funny. "Oh- I have a twin brother that lives back home. We grew up almost attached at the hip." I thought about some of our stories and laughed. "One time I convinced him that we had to run away if we ever wanted to live without rules. The next day when we had planned to leave I forgot and he got in trouble for raising the kitchen for supplies."

"Tell me more." She whispered.

I cleared my throat and blew a strand of hair out of my face trying to think. "My favorite songs are really popular generic pop music and I am a horrible dancer." I looked at her smile and sighed. "I can get cranky, but when I do I usually apologize right after because I feel guilty about everything I do."

"What kind of movies?" Her grandfather put his cards down and I jumped almost forgetting he was there.

"My favorite is the Sound of Music."