Keep In Touch

Written by Liora Afilalo

Hannah

Please be Italy, please be Italy, Hannah thought and crossed her fingers under the desk. “Miranda you get Sydney, Australia. Jasmine, Mykonos, Greece. Roman, Barcelona, Spain. Tia, Venice, Italy-.”  Oh snap, Hannah muttered under her breath, now I’m gonna get stuck with a boring place that I know nothing about.” Their teacher continued on but Hannah wasn’t listening until her teacher called her name. “-Hannah, Tokyo, Japan-” Hannah knew nothing about Japan except for the fact that it had good food. “You guys will need to write to your pen pals once a week and if it’s not done in class, it’s homework.” Everyone groaned. “You will each be assigned a random person from a school in the place you got. Any questions?” Damien raised his hand. “How long do we have to do this for?” “Two months but if you want to continue, feel free.” Their teacher continued on from where she left off before the pen pal activity until miraculously, the bell rang. The rest of the day was boring. On Thursday, they had to write their first letter. Hannah sighed. She ended up writing: 

Dear random person I don’t know, 

Just to get this fact straight, my teacher forced me to do this, so don’t expect me to write very often. Only once a week. My name is Hannah and I am in 5th grade. What is your favorite thing about Japan? Again, my teacher forced me to write all of this. 

Hannah

Surprisingly, four days later she got a response.

Haruki

Haruki slumped in his chair. The bullies had got to him again. You’re such an ugly boy with ugly clothes and an ugly face. You’re just a big ball of ugly. He knew he shouldn’t believe it, but it was hard, especially when they scream it to you everyday and get you a ball that says: I’M UGLY AND I KNOW IT, for your birthday. Haruki went outside to see if he had some never existing mail. He reached in the mailbox. Nothing, of course. Wait, Haruki stuck his hand in a little farther and found something! It was a small white envelope with a stamp from Hawaii! He carefully opened it up. Inside was a letter, written with small, neat handwriting. 

Dear random person I don’t know, 

Just to get this fact straight, my teacher forced  me to do this, so don’t expect me to write very often. Only once a week. My name is Hannah and I am in 5th grade. What is your favorite thing about Japan? Again, my teacher forced me to write all of this. 

He was thrilled, even though the girl had clearly pointed out TWICE that her teacher forced her to. Haruki was learning English in school as a second language and was one of the best speakers in the class.  He instantly wrote back. After many wasted papers and erasers he finally had the right letter. There was only one problem. Haruki’s mom couldn’t afford to pay for so many stamps. They were getting very expensive, especially from Japan to America. People in Japan had to be careful on what they spent their money on. Haruki’s family had only a few stamps so Haruki had to beg his mother to let him use it. But finally she agreed and Haruki sent the letter.

Hannah 

Hannah opened the letter up, and found a messy letter on folded paper. It read:

Dear Hannah

Thank you so much for the letter. My name is Haruki and I am in grade 6. To anser your queshtin my favorit part about Japan is how they have cheap but delishious food. Do you get bullied in school? Because I do. I hope you want to write to me more, but if not, that is fine too. By the way, you have a pretty name and neat handwriting.

From,

Haruki

Hannah looked up from the letter and immediately had her answer to his question. She was the most popular girl in her class, so no, she didn’t get bullied. Hannah didn’t know if she wanted to write back now or wait until next week at school. She decided to wait until next week. Why do extra work if I don’t have to, Hannah thought. A week later in school, Hannah’s teacher asked if anyone got a letter back yet. Hannah scanned the room to see if any hands were up. None. So she didn’t raise her hand. “Oh well, maybe you’ll get a response soon. But now, it’s time to write your next letter. No one was excited. Hannah didn’t really know what to write back. What are you supposed to write back when someone tells you they get bullied and then ask you if you do too,  but you’re the most popular kid in the class, and you don’t want to tell him that. She figured that she should just tell him no, because if he’s not happy with the answer he shouldn’t have asked in the first place. 

Haruki 

Haruki came home on Wednesday with a black eye and a bleeding lip. Not even his favorite food, rice and soy sauce, made by his mother could cheer him up. That night Haruki’s father came home with a letter in his hand. The same type as the one from Hannah and from the same place, Hawaii. As he opened it, Haruki’s father asked Haruki if he liked the girl that wrote to him. He answered no and explained that the girl was doing it for a school project. Haruki read the letter twice. He knew not to expect Hannah to write for that long, but this was her second letter.

I do not get bullied in school. I don’t have a pretty name but yes, I know I have neat handwriting. Can you tell me more about Japan? Not that I want to know. My teacher told me I should write that. Also, I don’t hate you if you think that. I’m just not a big fan of writing letters to strangers. 

Haruki didn’t consider himself a stranger but Hannah did. He had a lot of facts about Japan but he didn’t think Hannah wanted that much. Haruki settled on only a bunch of interesting facts.

Hannah 

Hannah dreaded receiving a letter back from Haruki. She didn’t want to hear a bunch of boring facts from a different country. So when she got a letter back she took her time opening it. 

Dear Hannah,

Here are a couple facts about me and Japan.

Japan: Japan is made up of 6,852 islands. The highest point in Japan is Mount Fuji, which stands at 3,776m (12,388ft). Japan has more than 1500 earthquakes a year. Also has the most vending machines in the world. There are more seniors than kids. Has one of the world's lowest crime rates. Japan is 15 million years old. 

Me: I am double jointed. My favorite food is rice and soy sauce. I like playing the violin. I get bullied in school. (As you know.) I have a brother who is very annoying. I weigh 70 pounds because I am very skinny. I like a certain girl in 5th grade named Hannah, who is writing me letters because her teacher forced her to. (Wink, wink) MY Grandpa is reely sick and we can’t aford to pay for docter. 

Love,

Haruki☺️

“Wooow,” Hannah said to no one in general. She felt like she could relate a little because they both had a grandparent that wasn’t well. The next day, Hannah brought the letter in to school to show her teacher. But right before Hannah was about to show it to her teacher, she got a feeling that told her not to. When her teacher asked her if she got a reply, she lied and answered no. “Well, I would like you to continue for another month and a half.” Hannah groaned. “Hannah, go back to your seat.” “Fine.” Hannah slumped down in her seat. She didn’t hate Haruki, she just did not want to write to him and the project was stupid.

Haruki

Haruki sighed. It was time for him to go get the mail. Now he couldn’t look forward to reaching in the mailbox and actually finding something. Haruki knew it had not been so long at all but the 2 or 3 forced letters he got were special to him. Haruki didn’t want to get his hopes up, but he wondered if maybe she wrote back. Nothing. I don’t even know why I got my hopes up in the first place, she clearly mentioned she wasn’t going to write back. While Haruki was eating dinner that night, his father pulled out an envelope that looked exactly like the one from Hannah. That is impossible, Haruki thought. Maybe my information wasn’t enough? He quickly pulled that thought out of his mind. He wrote a TON of information. Haruki took the letter from his father’s hand and opened it. He looked at the neat handwriting scrawled on white paper with vines and flowers on the side. 

Haruky,

Does your grandpa have cancer like my grandmother? I used to bake with her but now she is in the hospital all the time. She lived around the corner from me. What did you do with your grandpa?  I  don’t know what to write so I will just tell you that my next letters will be very boring. 

Haruki was surprised that Hannah’s grandmother was sick. Hannah seemed like the type of person where everything was perfect. 

Hannah

As Hannah lay in bed that night, she wondered what Haruki would write back to that letter she sent him. That day had not gone well. Her grandma had a 50% chance of survival. The next morning Hannah got woken up at 8:00 a.m (much to early), by smoke, frantic people, and bombs exploding. “Hannah, Hannah, where are you!” Hannah’s mother screamed. The roof had come down and their kitchen was completely destroyed. “Mommy, I’m here!” Hannah screamed back over the screaming people outside. “What-where-why-when-who??” Hannah’s brain was exploading with questions. “Where’s daddy?” Asked Hannah, afraid to know the answer. Tears were streaming down Hannah’s mom’s checks when she answered: “He is barely breathing and every doctor is closed, I don’t think he’ll make it,” Hannah’s mother pulled Hannah into a tight embrace, letting Hannah’s tears and snot soak her mom’s shirt. They stayed like that until Hannah pulled away, the reality coming towards her like a bullet. JAPAN bombed Pearl Harbor, and Haruki was Japenese. She knew HE didn’t do but still, how could he do that to her? Later that day, Hannah sent a letter to Haruki saying:

How could you do this to me? Just as I KIND OF started liking this project. Please don’t write back. I never want to hear from you again. And if you do write back I’m not looking at it. You don’t deserve me signing my name. I’m going to pretend I don’t know you.

He better not write back, thought Hannah. She could live her life without him. And her teacher agreed that she should not write back to him again.