“It's a happy day. Don't let him worry.”
My throat closed up.
“Dad, does your back hurt?”
My father let out two quick laughs. “It doesn't hurt. Don't worry, not one bit.”
But the next second, someone on the other end of the line shouted impatiently.:
“Hey, old man, can you stop blocking the aisle?”
My mother rushed to apologize.
“Sorry, so sorry, his back's bad, he's a little slow.”
The hand holding my phone tightened, little by little.
I could almost picture them.
My father, one hand braced on a seat, unable to straighten his back.
My mother, guarding the luggage with one arm while apologizing to everyone around her.
Neither of them had ever been on a plane in their lives.
Yet before this trip, they'd been as excited as two kids.
Two weeks ago, I'd gone home to get our household papers.
My father was standing in front of the mirror, trying on a suit.
He'd saved a month's pay to buy it, said he couldn't embarrass me at the wedding.
The cuffs ran too long, and the shoulders didn't fit right.
But he still smiled and asked me.:
“Tommy, will I make you lose face, showing up on the island like this?”
My mother was packing the dried fish, pickled radish, and peanut brittle into the suitcase, bag by bag.
“It's our first time meeting that many of the in-laws' relatives. We can't show up empty-handed.”
“Your bride treats you well. We have to mind our manners too.”
Back then I'd laughed at how seriously they took it.
I said. “Carol's got everything arranged. Just stick with me.”
When my mother heard that, her eyes lit right up.
The next day she told everyone she ran into.:
“My son's getting married on an island.”
“His bride says she's flying us out there.”
But now.
They weren't on a plane.
They didn't even have a boarding pass to their name.
On the other end of the line, my mother was still carefully coaxing me.
On the phone, my mother was still coaxing me.
“Tommy, don't be angry.”
“Your bride's busy with work. Arranging for that many people isn't easy.”
“The two of us taking the train, we even save a little money.”
I closed my eyes for a moment.
“Mom, get off the train.”
“This wedding, I'm calling it off.”
My mother was terrified.
“Don't say something so foolish.”
“The train's really fine for us. Don't be stubborn.”
But I couldn't listen anymore.
After I hung up, I turned and headed for the exit.
Carol grabbed my arm.
“Where are you going?”
“To go get my parents.”
Her face darkened.
“We're boarding any minute. If you leave, what happens to the wedding?”
I looked at her.
“My parents won't even be there. What wedding is there to have?”
Harry's mother gave a soft little cough.
Carol let go of me at once, turning to drape her coat over the woman's shoulders.
“Ma'am, is the air conditioning too cold?”
The motion was practiced, attentive.
I stood where I was, and suddenly even confronting her felt pointless.
So it turned out she knew elderly people were frail and couldn't be put through hardship.
She knew too that elders needed to be looked after.
It was only that all this thoughtfulness.
Never once reached my parents.
Carol turned back, her tone impatient.
“Tom, stop making a scene.”
“I've already arranged everything for your parents.”
I gently pulled my hand free.
A coach seat for over thirty hours.
A route that meant switching to a bus, then a boat.
And my parents covering for her with their careful dignity the whole way.
This was her arrangement.
I was about to leave the airport when my phone rang again.
My mother, still.
This time, her voice was even more frightened than before.
“Tommy……it looks like we can't take the train after all.”
My heart dropped hard.
“What do you mean, you can't take the train?”
