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Chapter 22
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Unending Nora 186 Chapter 22 The street outside the Yano’s house had already filled with cars, forcing Melissa to park almost a block away after fighting the urge to turn around and head home. The memorial service had been a disaster, just like she sensed it would be, and she wasn’t in the mood to see anyone; but even more than that, she didn’t want to be seen. From a safe distance, she sat back with her car windows up, following the raindrops that amassed and bled down the windshield. She had been present the morning Reverend Nakatani’s Sunday sermon “Planning for Jesus’s Birthday” had bombed. She’d noted his purposeful stride as he approached Yukari and Yujitaka after services, and had thought it odd that he’d shaken their hands. Why did he, after so many years, greet them as she would a stranger? The Santa Ana winds had left the air chilly and the San Gabriel mountain range exposed, as if to lend extra attention to the minister’s plan. “A special service,” he’d called it, “to commemorate Nora’s life.” “Do you mean a memorial?” Arms wrapped around her waist, Yukari appeared very small. Still, her voice carried sharply in the breeze. The minister might have ended the conversation there. He could easily have turned to another subject, thereby saving face, but Yujitaka clamped his hand down on Yukari’s shoulder. “So you mean,” he paused, “I’m sorry, what do you mean?” Julie Shigekuni 187 Reverend Nakatani rubbed his chin, eyes cast downward. “For the last months we have all felt Nora’s absence. But we shouldn’t forget what Jesus said in Matthew: ‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow and do not toil. Seek ye first the kingdom of God.’ “With the coming celebration of the birth of our Savior, I think we should take the opportunity to remember Nora. Rather than dwell on her absence, we should offer each other strength through a celebration of her life.” “Of course, whatever you decide is fine,” he said, having made his point to a silent audience. Melissa had watched the way he spoke almost exclusively to Yukari, most likely in deference, since she was the mother. But in directing his questions to her, Melissa perceived that the minister had been afraid of Yujitaka, as if he knew what Yujitaka was going to say when Yukari cut him off. “Everyone has been so worried about Nora. I guess we owe them something.” “What do you think, Yujitaka?” she asked, having made up her mind. It should have been obvious to her that Yujitaka didn’t think it a good idea. “Yukari, I have discussed with you what I think about Nora,” he began. But maybe he knew that his opinions would not stand up against the minister’s or his wife’s planning, or he simply didn’t have the energy to do anything other than accept what Yukari had already decided upon. Still, Melissa couldn’t help feeling disappointed when he had conceded, “You know my thoughts, and so I will leave it up to you.” Even if Melissa didn’t like it, she understood the minister’s misguided logic, and, too, its power to convince Yukari that the memorial was necessary. But why had Yujitaka refused to intervene? Perhaps she was to blame for not stepping in and encouraging him to speak his mind. She had, after all, witnessed the fiasco being set in motion. The event having been doomed from the start, it seemed fitting that the Sunday morning chosen for the service should have arrived with an onslaught of winterlike weather, everyone showing up wrapped in raincoats, donning umbrellas wrinkled from having [3.235.139.122] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 01:47 GMT) Unending Nora 188 been hidden away for too many seasons in closets. Even though it couldn’t have been much below sixty, Melissa noticed how the younger women all wore gloves, some even trekking across the field in brightly colored plastic boots to protect their nice shoes from being ruined by the sodden grass, but also because what other chance would they have to wear them? Among the faces were people she’d known all her life. Gossips , prima donnas, people who would never have talked to Nora outside of church, there were at least twenty young women her age in the congregation, and she hated how willing each was...