Osaka Airport, Japan, May 5th, 1985. The day was way happier than I wanted it to be. The sun was shining, fluffy cotton candy clouds floating around. A bright smiley face staring at me from where I was trying to hide in the kids zone of the airport.
“What are you smiling at?” I growled at the happy face my eyebrows furrowing deeply between my eyes, “There’s nothing to smile about today.” My mumbling of deeply accented English continuing under my breath. I was about to move to a new flashy place in America. I’ve only gotten a few months to study English and to say I’m not up to par would be a massive understatement. Not only is my pronunciation terrible, I can barely translate it well enough to understand anything.
Suddenly the overly peppy voice on the loudspeaker, “Flight 15 is now ready for passengers!” My eyes roll an annoyed huff leaving my mouth. I get up careful not to bump into any children as I go to find my mother. By the time I got to the waiting space I could tell she was absolutely fuming.
“Katana where have you been?! You said you were just going to the bathroom!” Her breath was hissing in my ear as she spoke. My pale skin began flushing red from embarrassment and anger that she was scolding me in front of all the people around us. I dragged my arm away silently just picking up my carryon and ticket boarding the plane.
