SNOW THROUGH THE ICE

Jun accompanied by his father, Shigeo, was punished in the principal’s room for shoplifting. It was around five o’clock when they left the school. They walked side by side without talking to each other. The winter sky was low and dark. Jingle Bells was heard on the wind.

“I’m freezing!” a woman cursed at the weather as she passed by them.

Shigeo remembered as he walked with his mouth closed:

 

   “So, why don’t you want to be a doctor?” Shigeo had said to Jun.

   “Why do I have to be one? You are forcing me,” Jun had protested.

   “No, I am not. I am just asking you,” Shigeo had retorted.

   “You said the members of our family have been doctors for four generations. So you want me to become one. I hate to be ordered. I am 18, and not a child,” Jun said.

   “I don’t understand. Being a doctor is a good career, isn’t it?” Shigeo said.

   “Yes, but a designer is more suitable for me. I know what is right for me,” Jun said.

 

Jun remembered as he walked with his mouth shut:

 

Jun had been in a bookstore. He looked around and picked up a book and put it in his bag. Then he took a few more and pushed them into it. He went out of the store and walked away fast. A sales clerk chased after and caught him.

   

   They came to a crossroad and stopped. The signal was red. They were silent. Both of them remembered meeting the principal:

  

   They were in the principal’s room. There sat, besides the principal, the vice principal, Jun’s homeroom teacher, Mr. Sato, and two other teachers. Jun had been being reprimanded for shoplifting. The principal declared, “Therefore, in conclusion I suspend you from school for five days for theft.”

 

   The signal turned green and they crossed the road without talking to each other. Shigeo remembered what Mr. Sato had told him after the punishment meeting:

 

   “I am afraid your son is under a lot of stress. It is often the case that students shoplift to release stress,” Mr. Sato said.

   “You’re right. Probably he has been under stress. Truthfully speaking, Jun and I have different opinions about the choice of his profession. I want him to be a doctor, but he wants to be a designer,” Shigeo had said.

   “Oh, I see, but does he really want to be a designer? If he is serious, I think you should allow him to be one,” Mr. Sato said.

   “He sounds serious, but he said ‘being a doctor is a good profession,’” Shigeo said.

 

  They walked along the street. They were still silent. Jun remembered Mr. Sato’s words after the meeting:

 

   “Jun, are you still in the rebellious phase?” Mr. Sato had said into Jun’s ear.

    

They walked without talking to each other. They passed a bank, a barber shop, a coffee shop, a convenience store with their mouths shut.

Snow began to fall.

“Wow. It’s starting to snow.” Jun broke the silence looking up at the sky.

“That’s why it’s so cold,” Shigeo said.

“The snowflakes are big, aren’t they?” Jun said.

“Yes, they’re,” Shigeo said.

There was a moment of silence.

“Father, I am sorry.”

There was another moment of silence.

“I am sorry, too.” Shigeo said.

“Why? I have to apologize, not you. I’m sorry I have been rebellious,” Jun said.

“That’s all right. I was rebellious against my father, too,” Shigeo said.

They looked at each other as if for the first time in many years.